Rugby League: Smith Assumes Lions Top Job

Leeds head coach Tony Smith has been appointed as Brian Noble's successor with Great Britain, after agreeing a two-and-a-half-year contract. The 40-year-old Australian will combine the coaching role with that of performance director, heading up the Rugby Football League's technical department at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Smith will initially be part-time with Great Britain and see out his Leeds contract, which runs out at the end of the season, to give the Rhinos time to find a replacement. But he is expected to be in charge for the Test match against France on the weekend of June 22-24 and will become full-time national coach at the end of the season. His first big challenge will come in the autumn when Britain take on New Zealand in a three-match Test Series on home soil before taking charge of England for the 2008 World Cup in Australia.

"It's a great honour to take on this role and one that I am relishing," said Smith. "This country has some of the best young players in the world and my job over the next two and a half years will be to develop this crop of players into the best team in the world. I have thoroughly enjoyed my four seasons at Leeds and am proud of what I have achieved there. Fans of the club can rest assured that I will continue to give my all for the club until the end of the season, whilst at the same time starting with the Great Britain set-up."

The League opted for Smith after Shaun Edwards ruled himself out of the reckoning for family reasons while front runner Shaun McRae fell at the last hurdle. "It has been a lengthy process finding a new Great Britain coach," said RFL executive chairman Richard Lewis. "With no international matches until June we were prepared to take whatever time was necessary to ensure we found the right man. We had applicants from all over the world for this role which shows how highly regarded the job of Great Britain coach is. But one candidate stood out from the rest and that man is Tony Smith."

Smith becomes the second Australian in six years to take charge of the British national team. Noble succeeded the first, ex-Newcastle Knights and St George Illawarra coach David Waite, in 2004 but his part-time contract ran out in December and was not renewed after Britain failed for the second year in a row to reach the Tri-Nations Series final.