It will end a hugely successful period in British sport for the 48-year-old Australian, which peaked in 2003 when he was the performance director of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) under Sir Clive Woodward when England won the World Cup for the first time in its history.

 

Spice, the son of Brisbane valuator in antique furniture and a former Australian hockey international, is being lined up to return home to try to revive the fortunes of the women in a dream double appointment that will see Ric Charlesworth take over the men's team as they begin preparations for the 2012 London Olympics.

 

Under the guidance of Charlesworth and his assistant Spice, Australia's women won the World Cup in Dublin in 1994 and the gold medal at the Olympics in Atlanta two years later.

 

Charlesworth, who appeared in four Olympics for Australia and captained them between 1977 and 1984, transformed the women's team, winning four Champions Trophies, two World Cups and retained their Olympic title in Sydney.

 

By then Spice had been recruited by British Hockey to prepare them for Sydney but admitted that it was a more difficult job than he imagined.

 

"I was based in Milton Keynes but it could have been Antarctica," he subsequently said.

 

That did not stop him being headhunted by the RFU and then British Handball and British Basketball, where this month he oversaw the successful qualification for the European Championships in Poland next year, the first time the country has qualified for the event since 1981.

 

The Hockeyroos have fallen away since Charlesworth left, failing to win a medal at the past two Olympics.

 

After a disappointing fifth placing at Beijing, incumbent coach Frank Murray said he would stay if Hockey Australia asked him.

 

But they appear set to install Spice in his place for 2012.

 

Charlesworth will replace Barry Dancer, who is ending a seven-year spell as coach which reached its zenith in Athens when he guided the Kookaburras - as they are known - to their first Olympic gold medal for 48 years.