{"id":444400,"date":"2026-02-25T07:43:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T07:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/444400\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T07:43:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T07:43:13","slug":"major-coup-afoot-as-jake-white-linked-with-urc-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/444400\/","title":{"rendered":"Major coup afoot as Jake White linked with URC return"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>mens<\/p>\n<p>united-rugby-championship<\/p>\n<p>    Jake White Head coach of Vodacom Bulls arrives during the EPCR Challenge Cup quarter-final match between Edinburgh Rugby and Vodacom Bulls at Hive Stadium &#8211; Edinburgh Rugby Stadium on April 12, 2025 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo by Euan Cherry\/Getty Images) <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"expand\" src=\"https:\/\/eu-cdn.rugbypass.com\/images\/common-svg\/select-arrow.svg\" height=\"6\" width=\"11\"\/>      https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/news\/major-coup-afoot-as-jake-white-linked-with-urc-return\/    <\/p>\n<p>Former Springbok boss Jake White is on a three-man short list to become the next head coach of the ambitious <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/united-rugby-championship\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">United Rugby Championship<\/a> outfit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/benetton\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Benetton<\/a> Treviso.<\/p>\n<p>Treviso want an international standard coach to take over from Calum MacRae, who, it has been announced, is leaving at the end of the season to join Dan McFarland\u2019s coaching ticket at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/newcastle\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Newcastle<\/a> Red Bulls.<\/p>\n<p>White, 62, who spent four years in the Springbok hot seat between 2004 and 2007, is looking to get back into the club game after parting company with Treviso\u2019s URC rivals the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/bulls\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bulls<\/a> last July following an end-of-season review.<\/p>\n<p>And he would be a huge coup for the 15-time Italian champions Treviso, who won the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/pro-14-rainbow-cup\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pro14 Rainbow Cup<\/a> five years ago after ironically beating White\u2019s Bulls 35-8 in the final at the Stadio Comunale di Monigo.<\/p>\n<p>White took the Springboks from sixth in the IRB World Rankings in 2003 to first in 2007 after beating <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/england\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">England<\/a> to win the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/rugby-world-cup\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rugby World Cup<\/a> in France, and turned the Bulls from a mid-table team into contenders in the URC table.<\/p>\n<p>RugbyPass understands that White, who has also coached the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/brumbies\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brumbies<\/a> in Australia, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/montpellier\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Montpellier<\/a> in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/france\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">France<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/toyota-verblitz\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Toyota Verblitz<\/a> in Japan, has been interviewed by the Italian outfit.<\/p>\n<p>They have also spoken to former England interim boss <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/players\/richard-cockerill\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Richard Cockerill<\/a>, who has been out of the game since he was dismissed by the Georgian Rugby Union from the national team and Black <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/lions\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lions<\/a> in December.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/leicester\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Leicester<\/a> Tigers legend was also linked with a move to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/brive\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brive<\/a> in France, but Gr\u00e9gory Patat, who was recently sacked by Bayonne, looks to be on his way to the big-spending <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/pro-d2\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pro D2<\/a> side next season.<\/p>\n<p>Cardiff head coach Corniel van Zyl, 47, who spent eight years in Treviso\u2019s second row, winning eight caps for Italy, has also been interviewed, but it would be a massive gamble by Treviso to appoint him.<\/p>\n<p>Even though he spent two years on their coaching staff before moving to the Welsh capital in February 2024, he is inexperienced at the top level, having only been handed control of Cardiff earlier this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"mens united-rugby-championship Jake White Head coach of Vodacom Bulls arrives during the EPCR Challenge Cup quarter-final match between&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444401,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-444400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}