Rugby Australia's year-long search for a new Wallaroos coach has finally come to an end with former assistant coach Sione Fukofuka returning home to take on the top job -- albeit amid more than a touch of controversy.
RA on Tuesday evening confirmed Fukofuka had won the right to succeed former coach Jo Yapp, who departed her role after last year's Rugby World Cup because she wanted to take her family home to England.
And it is a similar story for Fukofuka, who was last week granted a release by Scotland where he had was coach of the women's national team who, coincidentally, are due to face Australia in a three Tests later this year.
While Fukofuka won't start his role formally until the start of 2027, the Scottish Rugby Union on Tuesday said it was "surprised" that the Australian had landed a coaching job so soon.
"This is an unusual situation in so far as we released Sione on compassionate grounds a week ago - whilst we always expected Sione to work again and would never wish to hold anyone back, we were surprised to learn of this news so quickly," the SRU's statement said.
"We have a release agreement in place with Sione which will allow him to take up his post at the start of 2027, and an agreement in place with Rugby Australia who will pay Scottish Rugby an agreed fee. Our focus is on our new coaching team and our national team ahead of WXV where preparations are going well."
Fukofuka worked as a Wallaroos assistant for three years before he landed the top with the United States women's team, leading the Eagles to the 2025 World Cup where they drew with Australia in pool play and missed the quarterfinals thereafter.
He did however oversee a win over the Wallaroos a year earlier, and joined Scotland at the end of 2025 before leading them through the women's Six Nations earlier this year.
RA had over the course of the past 12 months come in for plenty of criticism given how much time had elapsed since Yapp's departure, but following the appointment of Olympic-winning Sevens coach Tim Walsh to the women's high-performance role, Fukofuka's ascension to Wallaroos coach suggests the governing body is finally getting its act together with the clock ticking to Rugby World Cup 2029 in Australia.
"I would like to express my gratitude to Scottish Rugby for their understanding of my family situation and desire to return home to Australia," Fukofuka said via an RA media release.
"Although a difficult decision to leave the Scottish role, this opportunity allows me to be in Sydney closer to my family. I wish the players and staff all the best for the future.
"I know many of the players and coaches well from my time in the Queensland and Australian systems and, as we transition to a fulltime program this year, the opportunity for growth is enormous."
The Wallaroos program is finally transitioning to fulltime professionalism after years of poor resourcing, which has seen many rugby players jump codes to the fast-growing NRLW.
Australia face New Zealand's Black Ferns in the next Test of their 2026 campaign on Saturday week, for which they also unveiled a 30-player squad that includes sevens superstar Maddison Levi.
Levi has a short window to try her hand at XVs before she returns to the sevens setup.
WALLAROOS SQUAD FOR NEW ZEALAND TEST
Jemma Bemrose, Lily Bone, Emily Chancellor, Piper Duck, Waiaria Ellis, Martha Fua, Caitlyn Halse, Tia Hinds, Brianna Hoy, Eva Karpani, Kaitlan Leaney, Alysia Lefau-Fakaosilea, Michaela Leonard, Maddison Levi, Hera-Barb Malcolm, Brittany Merlo, Desiree Miller, Faitala Moleka, Tania Naden, Leilani Nathan, Bridie O'Gorman, Siokapesi Palu Sekona, Allana Sikimeti, Piper Simons, Cecilia Smith, Maya Stewart, Pia Tapsell, Bienne Terita, Amelia Whitaker, Samantha Wood