David Nucifora is a former rugby union player who played for 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.
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. 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. 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.
Wallaby coaching aspirations
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'Neill; 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, but the NZRU controversially 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.
Links to the Ireland job
On 20 March 2008Eddie 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.
