Australian rugby chiefs are to fire national coach Robbie Deans and replace him with the Reds’ Ewen McKenzie on Tuesday, reports said on Monday following the Wallabies’ series loss to the British and Irish Lions.
Deans will be sacked six months before his contract ends, as the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) seeks to rebuild after the national team’s 41-16 thrashing by the Lions in Saturday’s series-deciding third Test, the Sydney Morning Herald said.
SAPA & AFP
ARU chief Bill Pulver met Deans on Monday, and reports said McKenzie had beaten off competition from the ACT Brumbies’ South African coach Jake White to take over the Wallabies.
News Limited said McKenzie, an Australian who is director of coaching at the Queensland Reds, would be unveiled as the new national trainer on Tuesday.
An ARU spokesman would not confirm the reports. “We won’t be commenting on speculation,” he told AFP.
McKenzie said in March that he would quit the Reds at the end of the Super Rugby season, saying he was ready to move to “the next level”. After joining in 2009, he guided the franchise to a first Super 15 championship in 2011 in addition to back-to-back Australian conference titles.
Deans, a New Zealander, has been in charge of the Wallabies for five years and is contracted until the end of the year. But the ARU is reportedly keen for a fresh start ahead of the Rugby Championship next month.
Earlier Monday, British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland rallied behind his fellow Kiwi, highlighting his achievements and expressing empathy for his plight.
“I’ve got a huge amount of respect for what Robbie’s achieved in rugby,” he told reporters.
“I know it’s been really tough for him being here. There’s a lot of people split about whether he should carry on the job. There’s been a lot of criticism.
“It’s tough to have a Kiwi involved coaching an Australian side. I admire him for what he’s achieved in rugby.”
He added that he and Deans, the Wallabies’ first foreign coach who has been in charge of a record 74-Tests since 2008, chatted after Saturday’s game.
“He said he might get to see us in November but that depends on what happens in the next few weeks,” said Gatland, who is also the coach of Wales, referring to the Wallabies’ European tour later this year.
“I do feel for him and want to wish him all the best. I hope it works out for him.”
Peter McGrath, the ARU chairman when Deans was hired and re-hired in 2011, also had words of encouragement, saying he had not received enough credit for his achievements.
”I personally think Robbie is a fantastic human being and has done a great service for Australian rugby,” McGrath told the Herald.
”We were number five in the world when Robbie was appointed, we rose to number two and now we are number three. The board have to make a decision about how you get to number one — that is their task.”
Australia’s next Test is against the world champion All Blacks in Sydney on August 17 — their opening match of the Rugby Championship, which includes South Africa and Argentina.
Deans has had a chequered history with the Wallabies with a 58 percent success rate — winning 43 Tests and losing 29.
The team’s failure to win on Saturday in what was deemed their most important match since the 2003 World Cup final means Deans still lacks a defining moment as Wallaby coach.
His high point remains the 2011 Tri Nations triumph in the weeks before the World Cup in New Zealand.
He is better remembered for being in charge of shattering defeats to Scotland (twice), Samoa at home, a 53-8 rout by South Africa in Johannesburg and an ill-fated World Cup campaign in New Zealand two years ago, when the Wallabies never recovered from a 15-6 mugging by Ireland in the group stage.
Robbie Deans has coached more Wallabies Test matches than anyone else in the nation’s 114-year rugby history. But the first foreigner to coach the national team may well have done so for the last time.
Deans has presided over 74 of Australia’s 554 Test matches since joining the Wallabies in 2008 with a reputation as one of the world’s top leaders after guiding provincial side the Crusaders to Super Rugby titles in 2000, 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2008, and finals appearances in 2003 and 2004.
He has led Australia to 43 wins, 29 losses and two draws, for a winning percentage of 58 per cent.
Deans’s record against South Africa is the highlight, with nine wins from 14 Tests. Under his reign, the Wallabies have won five from six against France, four from six against England and eight from nine against Wales. They claimed the Tri Nations tournament in 2011 and finished third in the 2011 World Cup.
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However, there have been some crushing lowlights under Deans and a sense that the Wallabies have never quite settled since the transition that began with the retirements of George Gregan and Stephen Larkham the year previous to his taking over. Deans had his fair share of bad luck with injuries and created depth by blooding a new generation of players. However, the returns have never quite materialised.
Against New Zealand, Deans has managed just three wins in 18 attempts at the helm, marking a dark period in Bledisloe encounters. Other lowpoints under his tenure have included losing twice to Scotland, 9-8 at Murrayfield in 2009 and 9-6 in Newcastle last year, as well as a 32-23 defeat to Samoa in front of a stunned home crowd. On Saturday, the Wallabies suffered a record loss in the third and deciding Test against the British and Irish Lions, possibly Deans’s last Test at the helm.
At the head of the queue for the Wallabies role if Deans’s contract is terminated are Jake White and Ewen McKenzie.
White, 50, is the former South Africa coach, who led the Springboks to their historic 2007 World Cup win and 2004 Tri Nations title. He coached the Springboks in 54 Tests between 2004 and 2007 for 36 wins, a winning ratio of 67 per cent.
McKenzie, 48, part of the famous 1991 World Cup-winning front row with Tony Daly and Phil Kearns, is currently coach of the Queensland Reds and for five years coached the NSW Waratahs. He served as Wallabies assistant under Rod Macqueen and Eddie Jones.
Macqueen coached the Wallabies through a golden period from 1997 to 2001, during which they won the 1999 World Cup, the Tri Nations in 2000 and beat the British and Irish Lions in 2001. He finished with a
winning ratio of 79 per cent.
Jones followed Macqueen’s tenure until 2005, winning the 2001 Tri Nations and guiding the Wallabies to the 2003 World Cup final, which they lost in the last minute of extra time to a Jonny Wilkinson drop goal. He finished with a winning ratio of 57 per cent.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/the-highs-and-lows-of-deanss-wallabies-reign-20130708-2pldn.html#ixzz2YSbklCSY
wicked, now get one of your own and blame hum when you loose
9 wins from 14 versus SA, including their first win on the highveldt for quite some time..
Kiwis, owning South Africans even when using Australias smaller talent pool. 😀
job done Robbie, come back to NZ and you can coach the Canes..
Might I just add a couple of points, as contained in further news reports earlier today. ARU has confirmed that Deans wasn’t fired, he voluntarily stood down late Monday. McKenzie’s subsequent appointment was formally announced today.
While Robbie’s coaching results didn’t reach the heights that we rugby fans aspired to, he always acted in a gentlemanly and professional manner. Injuries, unacceptable player behaviour and attitudes plus a lack of depth didn’t help him at all. I feel certain Robbie will go on to bigger and better things in the coaching world, and I wish him all the best in the future. He gave all he had, no one can ask anymore of anyone.
Jake never had a chance after the Lions tour and the cricket debacle. There was no way that the Aussie rugby hierarchy were ever going to let another ono-Aussie in. Not for a while, anyway.
Poor old Jake – it seems his name is just thrown into the hat by all and sundry, just to raise the calibre of the appointees, only to be dropped at the last minute. SA, England and now Australia.
McKenzie, of course is the correct appointee, and is the only person at the moment who can re-unite the union and supporters, and hopefully take the Wobblies back to the top.
4 @ Old Griquas 14 in Sydney:
Howzit OldG,
Tell you what Deans could come coach my Sharks we would be happy with that…lol. Pity it never worked out totally for him with Oz.
Good luck with McKenzie. He is a great coach.
3 @ nga puhi:
Howzit mate, how you doing?
Well I would not mind if Deans came to coach the Sharks. Think at Super Rugby level he was brilliant.
5 @ Just For Kicks:
I think Jake would be fine with McKenzie getting the Oz job. Think for now he is enjoying just coaching the Brumbies. Would not mind to have Jake or Deans come coach the Sharks though.
@ Puma: Yup, would love to see Jake back here, coaching, but we’re probably in the minority!
9 @ Just For Kicks:
Would be great to get Jake back. I somehow doubt he wants to coach any team in SA again. Much like Mallett. Just too much interference here. He seems to have freedom to do it his way at the Brumbies and it is working.
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