English Premiership strugglers Northampton are set to make offers for former All Blacks coach Wayne Smith and Wallabies' World Cup-winning skipper John Eales in a bid to revive a disastrous season.
A source close to Northampton, who have plunged from winning the European Cup in 2000 to failing to reach the quarter-finals this time and are third from bottom of the Premiership, told AFP that the Saints board had held a crisis meeting on Monday.

"They told current coach John Steele that things would have to turn round by Christmas," the source said. "However they have already approached Wayne Smith (pictured) and the idea is to move Steele up to director of rugby.

"Regarding Eales they became interested once they discovered he wanted to take up a two-year degree course at Oxford University and are prepared to break the bank to get him signed up," he added.

Apparently owner Keith Barwell is furious at the dreadful campaign and is concerned that Northampton, who play Harlequins later on Friday, could fail to qualify for next year's European Cup, which would cost them a fortune.

It was not quite what Barwell had in mind when he brought back former coach Ian McGeechan recently to unveil two new stands at the Franklin's Gardens stadium which cost him 9.3 million pounds (14 million dollars).

"Barwell is very impulsive but he wants a world-class coach to come in and when he saw Wayne Smith was available after he failed to retain the All Blacks post he approached him," the source told AFP.

Smith, who has already coached in Europe in Italy, is a proven club coach having guided Canterbury Crusaders to the first two of their three successive Super 12 titles before assuming the reins at the All Blacks following their disappointing 1999 World Cup under John Hart.

The former All Black centre lost out to John Mitchell when the All Blacks post was advertised following the recent Tri-Nations campaign, which saw Australia come out on top to give Eales a rousing send-off. Smith had initially said he would not put himself forward to retain the job.

However, despite changing his mind and re-applying the New Zealand Rugby chiefs opted to go for Mitchell so Northampton stepped in to make an offer. - Sapa-AFP