Shaun Berne joins Australia's coaching panel

Australia have confirmed Shaun Berne as their new attack coach with less than three months left for the World Cup scheduled in Japan.

Berne will take over the vacant position created after the removal of Stephen Larkham and follows the recent appointment after Head Performance Coach Dean Benton and physiotherapist Ed Hollis.

The 40-year-old featured for Bath, Waratahs, Leinster and Calvisano in his 14-year domestic career and worked as a coach in Leinster's elite player development program during the 2015/16 season before joining Western Force as an attack coach in 2017.

Berne expressed his excitement on the new opportunity and said he is determined to help Cheika and the Wallabies a successful year with all the focus on the World Cup.

“This is a huge opportunity for me personally but more importantly, I want to do whatever I can to make the Wallabies successful this year.

“I want to contribute to the team by focusing on the things that will serve us best when we are under pressure, like passing, catching, alignment, running lines and deception - on and off the ball.

“I just want to add wherever I can to the coaching team around me – it sounds simple but simple things done really well, all the time, will get us to where Cheik wants us to be as a team,”

Berne has already worked under Cheika when he joined Leinster in 2009 during which the latter was the head coach of the Irish side. Cheika had all praise for Berne and his abilities.

“Shaun’s a great young coach and he’s going to add new energy into how we coach the players. His job will be to help players achieve their top levels of play and stay at that level more consistently,”