Ewen McKenzie's appointment as Wallabies coach opens door for Quade Cooper
QUADE Cooper's Test exile will end with the announcement today that Robbie Deans has been sacked and Ewen McKenzie is the new Wallabies coach.
Rugby
Don't miss out on the headlines from Rugby. Followed categories will be added to My News.
QUADE Cooper's Test exile will end with the official announcement today that Robbie Deans has been sacked and Reds coach Ewen McKenzie entrusted with the future of the Wallabies.
McKenzie's contract will run to the 2015 World Cup in England.
But it is his initiation as Wallabies boss that will have the rugby community spellbound. It is a trial by fire: back-to-back Tests against the All Blacks in Sydney (August 17) and Wellington (August 24).
It will be a five-week sprint to the starting blocks, but one McKenzie has spent 15 years preparing for as a coach.
That McKenzie will reinstall specialist flyhalf Cooper at No.10 instead of Deans' experiment James O'Connor is a certain spin-off when this seismic shift for Australian rugby is made official.
McKenzie, 48, will become the first former Wallaby to coach his country since the late Dave Brockhoff in 1979.
ARU boss Bill Pulver met with Deans in Sydney yesterday when it became clear his record 74-Test run was over.
Saturday night's 41-16 collapse in the series decider against the Lions forced the ARU's hand with the "coach select" committee it had set up for a more leisurely examination of McKenzie and fellow candidate Jake White.
"The Wallabies playing to their potential would have beaten the Lions and we haven't. It's time to move on and appoint Ewen McKenzie," Queensland Rugby Union chairman Rod McCall said.
"There will be freshness to game plans, and he has got the tools to deal with different players and to get the best out of them."
There will be another immediate change, with Wallabies coaching co-ordinator Tony McGahan yesterday named as the Melbourne Rebels coach for 2014-15.
McGahan's job switch from August 1 paints an even poorer picture of the Rebels deciding not to offer O'Connor a new contract. The new coach was consulted, and it is damning that he did not want the Test flyhalf he has seen operate, on and off the field, at close range for the Wallabies over the past five weeks.
Deans' ousting is not the silver bullet that solves all Australian rugby's ills. Several key players have failed him.
It will be just as difficult to beat the All Blacks. The shake-up of the ARU's high performance unit must be accelerated, discipline of wayward players must have more venom, and top coaching support must be found for McKenzie.
Former Test prop McKenzie knows that smart, attractive rugby will win fans, but he will hammer for pack improvements to make that possible.
