MELBOURNE: Robbie Deans’s tenure as Wallabies coach could end as early as today, with the Australian Rugby Union set to name Ewen McKenzie as his replacement following the disappointing series loss to the British and Irish Lions, according to the local media yesterday.
Australia’s first foreign coach, the 53-year-old New Zealander is contracted until the end of the year, which would include the Wallabies’ season-ending northern hemisphere tour, but the ARU is unlikely to wait much longer with two years left until the 2015 World Cup.
McKenzie, who coached Super Rugby side Queensland Reds to the southern hemisphere title in 2011, will be unveiled today as the Wallabies’ coach until the next World Cup, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The ACT Brumbies’ World Cup-winning coach Jake White was also considered a strong candidate but eventually lost out to McKenzie, according to the reports.
The 2-1 series loss to the Lions, capped by a thumping 41-16 defeat in the Sydney decider on Saturday, offers the perfect excuse for the ARU to strike.
“One of the things we do at the end of a series like this is a review and that will be part of the review,” ARU boss Bill Pulver said in comments published by The Australian newspaper yesterday, referring to Deans’s tenure.
The publication added: “We’ll start that this week. It will be imminent. We need a brief cooling-off period to observe what happened.” REUTERS
