Walsh steps up to lead Wallaroos into historic 2029 home World Cup after sevens golden era

Tim Walsh has been named Rugby Australia’s Director of Women’s High Performance, moving into a broader leadership role less than a month after guiding Australia Women’s Sevens to the 2026 HSBC SVNS World Championship title — their second consecutive world crown.

The 47-year-old, who first joined the women’s sevens programme as a coach in 2013, now carries responsibility for the entire women’s high-performance pathway. His immediate priority is building the Wallaroos into genuine contenders for the 2029 Women’s Rugby World Cup, which Australia will host — a tournament three years away and one Walsh has described as a defining opportunity for the game in the country.

“It was a very attractive proposition,” Walsh said. “The objective is to win more; that’s the goal and the ambition for not only myself, but all the players and the organisation. Our biggest thing is to have alignment and maximise the talent that we have. We’ve got two formats, we’re going to have one system and shared success.”

Walsh’s record justifies the confidence Rugby Australia is placing in him. From a standing start, he helped deliver Olympic gold at Rio 2016 within two years of taking charge of the sevens side — a timeline Rugby Australia President Kristy Giteau, who was still playing at the time, remembers clearly.

“I met Tim in 2014 when he was very early in the coaching ranks as a sevens women’s coach,” Giteau said. “He jumped at the opportunity to do that. Within two years, we’re on the podium with a gold medal for the sevens.”

What followed was a decade of sustained success: Commonwealth Games silver in 2018 and gold in 2022, a 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens title, more than 20 major tournament wins, three SVNS World Series titles, and now two SVNS World Championship crowns in 2024 and 2026.

The Wallaroos, by contrast, have shown promise without yet converting it into deep World Cup runs, exiting at the quarterfinal stage in both 2021 and 2025. There are, however, encouraging signs. Australia defeated France during the 2023 WXV 1 campaign, and under former head coach Jo Yapp, the side won the 2024 WXV 2 title undefeated in South Africa.

Walsh is also overseeing a women’s programme with two major international events on the horizon beyond 2029 — the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and the 2032 Brisbane Games — giving the sevens and fifteens pathways a rare alignment of purpose and timeline.

“The more you train, the better you get,” Walsh said. “With the science that we have and the coaches that we have, the ability to really maximise talent… when you have a programme where you’re full-time, you can really push forward.”

For Australian women’s rugby, the next six years represent the most significant stretch in the sport’s domestic history. Walsh arrives with a blueprint already proven at the highest level.