Stephen Larkham

Great to see Stephen Larkham announce his return back home as soon as the current United Rugby Championship wraps up in Europe mid next year at Irish provincial club, Munster, not only he’s doing that to prioritize his kids’s future but also will take up the Brumbies Head Coach role for the second time in 2023 by the time Dan McKellar fully commits to the Wallabies backroom setup especially during a World Cup year.

When Larkham first took the top job in Canberra, the Brumbies have been present to the Super Rugby Playoffs every year under his watch (2014-2017), although the round-robin ladder position has improved consistently when they finished 4th during his last two years but unable to get out of the Quarter Finals at the same time.

His highest Playoffs finish was the semi-final where the Brumbies was beaten twice by the eventual champions, Warataths in 2014 & Hurricanes in 2015 while at Munster as Senior Coach, Larkham continued to carry his strengths in the regular games having topped the Conference B group last season & gone one better to the final this time but only lost to Leinster.

Right now his Munster group has some work to do for the Irish Shield title where they sit 3rd behind Ulster and Leinster by 5 points (19) but that competition group is running hot in the same position when it comes to the overall ladder & have an extended shot towards the main trophy via knockout rounds.

If he can keep up the progress with Munster for the rest of the season and knick at least a silverware on their trophy cabinet, then there’s no doubt Larkham is going to come back as a better coach this time around that will send a huge warning signal to all other Super Rugby clubs.

He’s learned a lot from a variety of elite coaches both as a player and coach himself for a long time, now he’s ready to continue the hard work Dan McKellar set up & transfer all that European adventure into being the Brumbies’ own Crusaders-esque team in Australia.