After declining a contract extension last year, it was reported on Thursday that the former coach of Cardiff and England Women will depart the defending Premiership winners at the end of the current campaign when his current contract expires.
Ferguson, whose second stint as England Women’s forwards coach took him to the World Cup final earlier that year, began his coaching career at the Arms Park under Justin Burnell.
He has previously worked as a coach for London Irish, Bristol, and London Welsh. Ferguson has been with Northampton since 2017.
RugbyPass claims that the coach has surfaced as a possible target for Wales and may be given the opportunity to join a new coaching staff, just hours after his impending departure was officially announced.
The article adds that Ferguson might potentially be permitted to combine jobs with Northampton and Wales if he was brought on board before the summer, with the Premiership scheduled to take a break during the Six Nations.
It comes less than two weeks after the Welsh Rugby Union confirmed that Warren Gatland would be staying on as head coach into the new year despite a torrid run of results, but said it would consider changes to his coaching staff “immediately”.
One of the key recommendations of the WRU’s review into the winless autumn campaign, conducted by CEO Abi Tiernery was that “adaptations to the current set-up assisting Gatland will also be considered immediately with the ambition of improving mindset, mentality and culture within the squad by introducing additional personnel.”
Tierney later told WalesOnline: “There could be [changes to coaching staff]. We’re just working through what those options are, based on what the data tells us and who is available. That’s one of the things we’re looking at.
We’re looking at the coaching set-up, based on the analysis we’ve done and some of the particular areas, whether there are any changes we can make. We’re not yet at the point to say whether that means change. We’re working through that.”
