Ex-All Black added to Wallabies backroom staff ahead of Rugby Championship
The Wallabies form a huddle during a Test and the team's new forwards coach Tom Donnelly in action during his playing days (inset).
Rugby Australia have announced the appointment of former All Blacks second-row Tom Donnelly as the Wallabies’ new forwards coach ahead of the upcoming Rugby Championship.
He will be added to the Wallabies’ backroom staff as a replacement for ex-England lock Geoff Parling, who will return to the United Kingdom to take over the coaching reins at Leicester Tigers following the end of the British & Irish Lions tour of Australia.
Donnelly made 15 Test appearances for New Zealand in 2009 and 2010 and played in nearly 100 Super Rugby matches between 2004 and 2014 during stints with the Highlanders, Crusaders and Blues.
An experienced playing career
The 43-year-old has a long association with Otago in New Zealand, which began in 2002 at the age of 21 and went on to play 82 provincial matches for the Dunedin-based union before heading overseas in 2014 to play in France with Montpellier and Bayonne, before retiring as a player in 2017.
He was part of the Western Force’s coaching staff during the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific campaign after spending the previous two years as an assistant with the Highlanders in Dunedin.
After his retirement as a player, Donnelly returned to Otago in 2017 to take up an assistant coaching position before taking over the reins as head coach of the province in 2020.
He also served as an assistant coach with the New Zealand U20 team in 2021 before becoming that side’s head coach in 2022 and leading the team to an Oceania championship.
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Donnelly is excited to join the Wallabies‘ coaching staff, where he will work under head coach Joe Schmidt, who will step down from his position after this year’s Rugby Championship, with Les Kiss coming to take charge of the team after that.
“I’m honoured to have an opportunity to help contribute to the Wallabies and to work alongside Joe and the wider coaching staff and management,” said Donnelly.
‘The improvement they are making is exciting’
“Watching from afar, the journey the team is on and the improvement they are making is exciting.
“I’m looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and doing my part to continue the ongoing growth of the team.”
Rugby Australia’s director of high performance, Peter Horne, is delighted that Donnelly has joined the Wallabies coaching set-up.
“Tom has spent the best part of the last 25 years involved in professional Rugby and his expertise around the lineout and set piece will be highly valuable for the Wallabies,” he said.
“He’s got a great understanding of the current Super Rugby Pacific landscape as well as experience playing at the highest level which makes him a great fit for the role.”
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