Opinion: Shaun Edwards could be Fiji’s man

We all love to get a Rugby World Cup (RWC) winning coach or a high profile in­ternational coach to be the new Fly­ing Fijians head coach.

Out of the 31 coaches that applied for the job, former Springboks head coach that won the RWC 2007 Jake White and former Wales head coach Warren Gatland are told to be the leading contenders.

However, the reality is that despite their interest of coming over to coach, to acquire their services is going to be very costly.

It is understood that the Fiji Na­tional Sports Commission (FNSC) had gone as high as $394,000 per annum plus $24,000 housing allow­ance when paying for a Flying Fiji­ans head coach.

For White, a former RWC win­ner, it's going to be around or more than $1 million while Gatland who apart from coaching Wales had also coached the British & Irish Lions and the Chiefs will not be far behind.

Shaun Edwards

These coaches have their agents who are negotiating on their behalf with the Fiji Rugby Union (FRU).

After the departure of former head coach Simon Raiwalui in 2023, among those who applied for the Flying Fijians job was another former South African head coach Heyneke Meyer, who's agent alleg­edly wanted around $500,000 in sal­ary. The FRU had no other choice but to drop him and go for Mick Byrne.

Meyer, is believed to have applied again and could be considered if he is bring his charges down.

So, who can we turn to?

If there is one, then Shaun Ed­wards should be the man! He is currently rated as the world's best defensive coaches. He is the most decorated player in rugby league history; with 37 winner's medals. In 2015, he was the 25th person induct­ed into the Rugby League Hall of Fame. Edwards represented Great Britain (rugby league) and England (rugby union).

After retiring from playing he joined London Wasps in rugby un­ion as assistant coach in 2001, and was head coach from 2005-2011. During his time with Wasps, they won two Heineken Cups, four Pre­miership titles, an Anglo-Welsh tro­phy and the European Challenge Cup.

Heyneke Meyer.

In 2008, he became Wales' defence coach, and won four Six Nations championships, including three Grand Slams. He was also defence coach for the British & Irish Lions on their tour to South Africa in 2009. He joined France in 2020 and won the Grand Slam in 2022 and the Six Nations title in 2025 and again, in 2026.

If he gets the nod, this will be the first time for Edwards to become a head coach of an international team. This is where FRU can nego­tiate on his salary; which could be within the means of FNSC.

Also, another important factor, is that Edwards has a high winning percentage as a player and coach throughout his sporting career. And could be deemed as the right coach to bring that winning culture to the Flying Fijians.