Jackman: 'Friend could be just what Wallabies need'

RTÉ rugby analyst Bernard Jackman says that Australian rugby needs a diplomatic, unifying figure who can bring warring factions together and suggested Andy Friend as a possible candidate.

Eddie Jones resigned as Wallabies head coach on Sunday after a disastrous nine month stint in charge, which yielded just two wins from nine games - over Georgia and Portugal - and a first ever pool stage exit at a World Cup.

Jones, who guided Australia to the 2003 World Cup final in his first stint but whose relationship with the native rugby media was nothing short of rancorous, told the Australian on Sunday: "(I) gave it a run. Hopefully be the catalyst for change. Sometimes you have to eat **** for others to eat caviar further down the track."

Whether caviar will be on the menu any time soon for Australian rugby remains to be seen and Jackman posits that the next coach will bring disparate forces together, with the famously affable former Connacht boss perhaps fitting the bill.

"The ARU needed to make a decision and they needed it to be sorted out quickly," Jackman said on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.

"Because they've only got two years until a British & Irish Lions tour, four years to a home World Cup.

"There's a guy we all know in Irish rugby, Andy Friend, who's heading back and he's no real job to go to.

"Will he be someone who comes into the picture?

"The next person who goes in there needs to be someone who can bring people together. There's absolute war at the moment between the Australian Rugby Union and the franchises.

"They want to go down the Irish model; the Brumbies and the Reds don't want to be part of that.

"Their next coach needs to be someone who is a diplomat as much as a coach, to get everyone on the same page.

"And someone