Australian Eddie Jones is set to become England's new rugby coach, with Jake White the latest high-profile candidate to rule himself out of the job.
Rugby coach Eddie Jones Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The 55-year-old will be in place when England kick off their Six Nations campaign next February after the Rugby Football Union (RFU) agreed to a 233 thousand dollar compensation payout with his current team, the Stormers in South Africa, according to the Daily Express and Daily Telegraph.
Stuart Lancaster left the post last week following England's disastrous World Cup campaign on home soil.
Jones, who would become England's first overseas coach, said earlier this week whoever succeeds Lancaster must have greater control over the country's Test players.
"How can you manage your players when they are controlled by other organisations?" Jones said in an interview with the website ESPN Scrum.
"That is the single greatest task ahead of whoever is going to be appointed as the next England coach."
Jones was Australia's coach when they lost the 2003 World Cup final to England and four years later was a member of South Africa's back-room staff when they became world champions.
This year Jones was behind Japan's impressive performance at the World Cup, which included a shock defeat of South Africa - the biggest upset in the tournament's history.
He only recently took up a post as coach of Super Rugby side Stormers.
Australia coach Michael Cheika joined a growing list of high-profile figures who said they did not want the England job.
Wallabies skipper Stephen Moore backed the credentials of Jones whose extensive CV also includes spells at the Brumbies and Reds in Super Rugby.
"Eddie is very thorough and always brings a lot of attention to detail," said Moore, speaking ahead of this weekend's clash between the Barbarians and Argentina at Twickenham.
"He looks at different sports and different teams to see what they do well, making sure that whatever team he's in charge of is at the forefront of the way things are done in sport."
Former Springbok coach Jake White Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Montpellier's South African coach White ruled himself out of the running for the England job.
"I have a contract with Montpellier. I'm not going to change, I'm staying here," said White in a press conference ahead of Friday's European Challenge Cup clash with Italians Calvisano.
"It's important for the club, for the players and for the atmosphere to remove the doubt," added White, whose contract at the Top 14 outfit runs until June 2017.
White, 52, who guided his homeland to World Cup glory in 2007, had previously spoken of his interest in the England job but started to distance himself last week.
"Everyone in world rugby knows this is one of the prime jobs, in fact even in world sports," he had said, while insisting he had not met with any English Rugby Union (RFU) representatives.
White had sparked rumours about his future last week when he stayed behind in England after his team's Challenge Cup defeat at Harlequins.
But he explained that he hadn't done so to speak to the RFU but rather to "meet certain players' agents and representatives from Adidas".
White had twice before been snubbed at the final hurdle by the RFU, when Martin Johnson took control in 2008 and when Lancaster was handed the reins in 2012.
And he said last week he wasn't prepared to be pipped at the post again.
"If the RFU thinks I am the man for the job and there wasn't going to be any rigmarole of going through the whole process which I have before then I would be a contender," he said.