McKenzie bids Reds farewell
19 Mar 2013
Keo.co.za brings you the latest Super Rugby news from Australia.
Ewen’s out of there
Ewen McKenzie will apply for the Australian national coaching job post the British and Irish Lions series. If unsuccessful he will look to further his international coaching career overseas.
McKenzie, who coached the Tahs, Stade Francais and the Reds, led the latter to a first Super Rugby title in 2011. He has been the Director of Rugby in the last year and said it was time to move if he was to further his coaching career. He stated his ambition to coach a national team as the primary reason for his departure.
Hansen gives Aussies hope
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen believes Australia’s more experienced players will struggle in Super Rugby pre the British and Irish Lions series, primarily because the focus is on peaking for the biggest international tour in 12 years.
Hansen said it was understandable and wasn’t reading too much into the stuttering start of many senior Wallabies.
He said the Super Rugby tournament schedule was also so demanding that players could not sustain a peak throughout and the more experienced timed their peaks.
Barnes blow
Berrick Barnes is out of Super Rugby for the next six weeks because of surgery to a thumb. Barnes injured his hand in the 27-26 defeat against the Cheetahs in Sydney. Barnes is among the favourites to play flyhalf for the Wallabies against the British and Irish Lions in June and July.
7 Comments
19 Mar 2013, 10:09 am
Wallabies or bust
that’s the spirit
19 Mar 2013, 10:15 am
I heard it’s Ireland
19 Mar 2013, 10:17 am
The Wallabies’ should do themselves a favour & select O’Connor at flyhalf, already!
19 Mar 2013, 10:21 am
I suspect White will not have had time to prove to Australia that his credentials are solid enough (as he will not have won anything with the Brumbies yet) to select another non-Aussie coach for the Walabies job, so McKenzie is a near-shoo-in.
19 Mar 2013, 10:41 am
It would take a 3N win and a BIL win for Deans to still be there come year end… Macca will be there in a director-of-rugby capacity at the very least…
19 Mar 2013, 12:57 pm
@seamus-4: so a 3N and RWC titles is not solid enough credentials.
20 Mar 2013, 00:37 am
Aussies want an Aussie this time round Jakey will have to win the SR and even then McKenzie is already 2 seasons ahead of him having won SR title in 2011 already. Jakey will have to hope Heyneke stuffs up at Boks and try smooch up to Saru who already had enough of his two timing antics.
Looks like McKenzie already got one foot halfway in the door if Deans screws up vs Lions.
Reds coach Ewen McKenzie has added to the pressure building on Wallabies coach Robbie Deans by confirming he will quit Super Rugby at the end of this season to pursue a test job.
McKenzie has made no secret of his desire to step up to the next level.
And with New Zealander Deans constantly under the spotlight with his patchy record in charge of the Wallabies since 2008, there appears to be a viable local alternative for the Australians.
The microscope will intensify on Deans this year as he faces the British & Irish Lions in three tests as well as the usual tussles with the All Blacks, Springboks and Pumas.
Deans’ contract finishes this year.
McKenzie told The Australian newspaper that he wanted to be open with his decision to allow people time to cover his departure. Queensland have a ready-made replacement in McKenzie’s right-hand man, Richard Graham, who was lured from the Western Force with an eye to eventually taking over.
“It’s appropriate to be up front about it now because the contracting decisions on the 2014 season are being made now,” McKenzie said.
“Me making my decision allows 50 other people in this organisation to make their decisions. I’d love to have the opportunity to coach the Wallabies but I don’t control the timing of the ARU. Things at this level are all about timing. But this way I create my own timing.”
Having returned from the French club scene to take the erratic Reds to the Super Rugby title in 2011, McKenzie feels he has proven himself at provincial level and wants a chance with an international side.
The Wallabies mightn’t be his only option with international teams at a junction ahead of the 2015 World Cup in England.
“I’ve been coaching at this level now for about 13 years and I’m ready to move up to the next level.”
Queensland Rugby Union chairman Rod McCall said there was no surprise in McKenzie’s decision and believed he had claims to a high position.
“We’ve been planning for this because it was always obvious to us that Ewen is the best coach in Australia and was always going to end up coaching at test level,” McCall said.
“To be honest, we are fortunate to have had Ewen involved for this long. In my opinion he probably should have been coaching the Wallabies already.”
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