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Title-winning Waratahs Bernard Foley and Nick Phipps have admonished Rugby Australia and the NSW Waratahs for their poor handling of the side's coaching carousel over the past six years following the pair's decision to sign with the club for the 2027 season. The halves duo will return to the side seven years after they last ran out in the sky blue in a bid to help resurrect the struggling club that failed to reach the final for the last two seasons under Dan McKellar and previously under Darren Coleman. The Waratahs have seen in five coaches in less than a decade, all with varying degrees of success, with the side's latest coach McKellar failing to see out his three-year contract and effectively shown the door after the group finished 11th on the Super Rugby Pacific table. With a mass player exodus at the conclusion of the season, including the exit of young flyhalf Jack Bowen and the experienced Jack Debrezceni, the Waratahs have gone back to the future, turning to Wallabies playmaker and Super Rugby winning flyhalf Foley to bring experience and direction to a club that has seemingly lost its identity. Foley and Phipps played a significant role in the team's rise to the title in 2014, with Foley kicking the match-winning penalty on the siren to topple the Crusaders by one point at a sold-out Accor Stadium in Homebush over a decade ago. They were led at the time by coach Michael Cheika, who orchestrated the side's rise to their maiden Super Rugby title. Since Cheika's exit in 2015, though, the side has struggled to find it's foothold in the competition, rinsing through coaches including Darryl Gibson, Rob Penney, Darren Coleman and McKellar. Asked what had gone wrong during their absence, Foley kept it simple, citing the ever-changing coaches had not helped the situation. "I'll tell you, it hasn't been from a lack of effort," Foley told media on Thursday. "From an outsider, you're never really privy to what happens within the walls of this place, but I'll tell you one thing that hasn't helped is the changeover of coaches and environments. "That doesn't help anyone involved. It doesn't set you up for success and there's no longevity in what they're trying to do. "The amount of change and disruption I'm sure has caused a lot of heartache for a lot of guys and hopefully, they can set this place up for a long time with sustained success." The process to sign Foley and Phipps started months ago with McKellar initially reaching out to the pair to bring them back to Daceyville. Foley admitted he'd originally planned to retire following his five-season stint in Japan at the Kubato Spears but the lure of returning to the place his illustrious career began was too much of a pull. The elephant in the room now is, of course, he's returning to a side that doesn't have a coach. "It was funny because the conversations I suppose started with the old coach [Dan McKellar], but that sort of hasn't changed for me in terms of coming back," Foley said. "I felt that I'd done my time there [Japan] and I was looking to move home and come back to Australia, but not really with the rugby sense or sort of looking more post rugby and life after rugby and getting excited by that. "It is a bit of a full circle moment and [I'm] really grateful to get that opportunity to come back to the Waratahs where I started my rugby journey all that time ago. But also, just to be involved in rugby and I saw it as a great challenge that's going to hopefully instil a bit of experience and knowledge on the young guys. "In terms of the coaches, you know, I'm really excited by what we can try and achieve here, regardless of who's in charge, but also trying to stay across the process and the interview and the candidates that are coming through." For the 36-year-old solving the coaching conundrum at the club can not happen quickly enough. "For everyone's sake [it should be sorted quickly]. I think the more ambiguity and the longer it goes, you know, you have to fill the void, otherwise it gets filled by everyone else's noise and distractions. "I think you'd love to see the decision happen as soon as possible and then the planning and the start putting things in place as soon as possible because that can only be better for the environment." The Waratahs attempt to return to their glory days don't appear to be stopping with Phipps and Foley with reports Cheika has also been viewed upon as a strong candidate to take the group on in 2027. Speaking on the ESPN Scrum Reset podcast, Christy Doran reported Cheika had not been a viable option early in the side's hiring process but now appeared to be a strong contender with the 59-year-old considering taking on the role in the short term. Whether he is the man who takes the job doesn't seem to be playing on the duos' minds with Phipps eager to see certainty return to the playing group. "I do know there's been lots of really quality candidates put their name forward," Phipps said. "Obviously, the Waratahs is, like it or not, probably one of the jewels in the crown of the competition. You want to think that lots of players and coaches would want to be a part of it. "For us, though, I don't think it really matters, but I'm certain that whoever comes in next will be great for the squad. And it'll be good for the guys in there as well, it's a little bit of uncertainty about how it's all going, so it'll be good to put that to bed early and then let them start to impress coaches and get ready for the next season." While the hunt for a new coach continue in the head office for Phipps and Foley their job now is to bring the disjointed playing group back together and bring back the "Waratah way". "I think the boys the last few years have done a pretty good job at setting those sorts of standards," Phipps said when asked what the team's identity was. "They know who they want to be. They want to be tough, they want to work hard, they want to play some exciting footy, and that's when I think the Waratahs are doing their best. "For whatever reason, they obviously haven't reached those heights yet, but there's no lack of effort. There's a really good group of guys in there, really eager to help. We're just going to make sure that we can play to that Waratah way. "We want it to be a place where people want to really turn up to and be a part of and once you get that buy-in and you get a story behind it, it just snowballs like that and that was sort of our few years there at the Tahs. "Once you get a roll and it really snows balls into some good results."