The prospect of appointing a New Zealander as the next Wallabies coach has set alarm bells ringing in Australian rugby union circles.

Former players and coaches have called on the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) to stick with an Australian instead of giving the job to a foreigner.

Five Australians, Laurie Fisher, Alan Jones, Ewen McKenzie, John Muggleton and David Nucifora, have all been interviewed for the job. But New Zealand's Robbie Deans is suddenly looming as the favourite after the ARU agreed to grant him a late interview when he missed out on the All Blacks position.

Former Australia coach Eddie Jones said he had his doubts about whether Deans really wanted the job after losing out on his first choice.

"There is no doubt they have to try and find the right candidate, the only thing I'd question is does Robbie really want to coach Australia," Jones told the Daily Telegraphyesterday.

"You've got to have someone who wants to coach Australia, not coach Australia because he missed out on another job."

Former Wallabies lock-turned newspaper columnist Peter Fitzsimons said it would be a "dark day" for Australian sport if a New Zealander was made coach of the Wallabies.

"The Wallabies having a former All Black as coach, a New Zealander?" Fitzsimons wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald. "Us, against our most cherished rivals, hauling up the white flag and saying that, yes, you're right, you are the superior rugby nation, so superior that we are reduced to taking your second-best coach and making him our best coach?

"It is against Nature. I want it stopped. You want it stopped. Let's stop it."

Deans will be interviewed by the ARU this week with a decision expected before Christmas.