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| Birth name | David Vincent Nucifora | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | (1962-01-15) 15 January 1962 (age 62) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Brisbane, Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Brisbane Grammar School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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David Nucifora (born 15 January 1962) is a former rugby union player who played for the Queensland and Australia. He played as a hooker. He played for the Queensland team from 1986–1993 and was selected into the Wallabies in 1991 and was also a part of the 1991 Rugby World Cup winning team which beat England in a nail-biting final winning 12-6. His role within the IRFU came to light when he controversially declined to offer Ruan Pienaar another extension to his contract with Ulster Rugby due to development requirements related to Pienaar's playing position.
In 2002 he was appointed as the coach of ACT Brumbies team and he took them to 3 consecutive finals before winning the 2004 Super 12 tournament. He was also named Australian coach of the year from 2002 to 2004 (3 years). In April 2004, he was sacked by the ACT Brumbies because the Brumbies' management believed that Nucifora introduced changes to the squad and the development of younger players and that his job was done and that the development program required another set of skills. As a result of this, Nucifora became the first ever coach in Super Rugby history, to be sacked after winning the title.
In 2005 he joined the Auckland Blues team as a technical advisor and high performance manager, with the positions previously held by former All Blacks coach Graham Henry.[1] After Peter Sloane's four-year tenure as the head coach for the Blues ended, David was chosen as the new head coach for the team. This appointment was initially supported by fans but the team's inability to win and the loss of the high risk attacking rugby caused many fans to call for his immediate dismissal. Pat Lam took over this role in 2009.
In late 2007 David applied for the role of Australian Head Coach. It was well known throughout this time that Crusaders coach Robbie Deans was the favourite of ARU CEO John O'neil, however Deans made a decision to apply for the All Blacks coaching role instead. Dean's decision to apply for the All Blacks made David the front runner for the Wallabies post, however the NZRU controversial decided to keep incumbent coach Graham Henry despite the All Blacks worst ever performance at a world cup which led to Deans successfully applying for the Wallabies job. Despite Deans' appointment David has insisted that he hasn't given up on coaching internationally one day.
On 20 March 2008 Eddie O'Sullivan resigned from his post as Irish rugby manager. Nucifora's name was connected as O'Sullivan's successor although he did not claim any interest in the job.
2009 David is appointed General Manager of the ARU High Performance Unit. He will coach the Australian U20 team at the IRB Junior World Championship in Japan from 5–21 June 2009.
