Zimpapers Logo

Australia are in chaos 11 months before the start of the tournament,as they look for their third head coach in little more than a year, following the resignation of Ewen McKenzie immediately after the 29-28 Bledisloe Cup defeat to New Zealand in Brisbane.
McKenzie, a 1991 World Cup-winning prop who succeeded Robbie Deans in July last year, said his decision had nothing to do with the loss to the All Blacks. His mind had been made up after a month which had seen the fly-half Kurtley Beale suspended from the squad, after allegedly sending lewd text messages to Di Patston, the Wallabies’ manager, who herself resigned, amid accusations she had been having an affair with McKenzie, which were denied.

Bill Pulver, chief executive of the Australian Rugby Union, said he hoped McKenzie’s replacement would be in place by Friday ,when the Wallabies leave for their European tour, a venture that starts with the Barbarians at Twickenham on November 1. Wales are the first Test opponents in Cardiff a week later.

The two leading candidates are Michael Cheika, the Waratahs’ head coach, who had a successful spell with Leinster, and Jake White, South Africa’s 2007 World Cup-winning coach who is available after resigning from the Sharks in Durban, a year after joining from the Brumbies in Canberra.

McKenzie, who was given a vote of confidence by the ARU last week, was contracted until the end of the World Cup, and White would appear more likely to accept a short-term appointment than Cheika, although White has agreed to be Tonga’s technical adviser on their tour to Europe next month.

“I didn’t ask Ewen to resign, but understand his decision,” said Pulver. “He informed me this morning of his intention to resign, regardless of the result against New Zealand. We’ve lost a good man. It’s extremely disappointing that a Wallabies coach feels he has to resign, particularly when you look at the way the team played tonight. He said he felt he was going to struggle to retain the level of respect he needed from the playing group and support staff and that, in my view, is due to the extraordinary character assassination he’s had to put up with over the last two weeks.”

“There’re a bunch of reasons for my decision,” said McKenzie. “I’m not going to go into any detail: you guys [the media] can work it out. You can ponder and speculate and I’ll write a chapter in my book, so you’ll know all about it.”

McKenzie was in charge for 22 Tests, winning 11 and losing 10, but the Wallabies fell out of the top three in the world rankings following the defeat to Argentina. They face Wales, France, Ireland and England next month. — The Guardian