Australian rugby's new high performance boss David Nucifora says he's encouraged by the talent bursting through the Super 14 ranks as he sets about restoring the nation to the top of the international tree.

The former Brumbies and Blues coach was confirmed as general manager of the Australian Rugby Union high performance unit and will move from Auckland to Sydney next month to start the job.

The likes of NSW's Rob Horne, the Brumbies' Christian Lealiifano, Queensland's Quade Cooper and the Western Force's James O'Connor have given Nucifora reason for optimism.

"Sitting over here (in New Zealand) and competing against the Australian sides and looking at what's coming through, the thing that does strike you is twofold," Nucifora told AAP.

"One, that there's a number of young players who've reached international level over the last few years that probably got there quite early but, now they've had some experience and they're still quite young and that's encouraging.

"I think the other encouraging thing is seeing the number of young players who have started to come through the Super 14 ranks as well."

He is also confident the southern hemisphere's player drain to cashed-up European clubs can be stemmed.

"There's a lot of reasons why top level players want to stay in this part of the world and play their rugby," he said.

"I think with some tinkering and adjustments in the playing program and the competitions, how they're structured, I think there's a lot of things there that can help make staying in this part of the world a lot more enticing."

Nucifora said he was hoping to produce a "hybrid" between what he'd encountered in four years working with the Blues in New Zealand and the current HPU set-up.

"It's a different coaching, playing, contracting structure here (in NZ) and I think there's things to gain from it and things to learn from it both from a positive and a negative," he said.

"The main thing is trying to get Australian rugby back to a position of strength where it can be the best in the world again, that's ultimately where we want to be.

"A lot that is done by making the Wallabies strong and that's done by making sure that we've got the best possible practices in place for our elite players.

"I also see the position as being critical and working very much closely aligned with (new Wallabies coach) Robbie Deans and he having input into my area ... and me to be able to work closely with him."

Nucifora, who won a Super 12 title with the Brumbies in 2004 despite being told he'd be sacked at season's end, replaces Pat Howard.

The unit is often considered the engine room of the ARU's contractual negotiations but the 46-year-old downplayed that side of his role when asked whether he had his eye on rugby league stars.

"Probably not the main focus of this job for me is the contracting side of it," he said.

"Obviously there's input because you're dealing with development and pathways and progression.

"But it's certainly not the main focus of this job so we'll be looking at a range of different avenues at different levels to be able to get the best possible players."

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