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40 NT NEWS. Tuesday, July 9, 2013. www.ntnews.com.au
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Ewenstepsup forDeansRUGBYUNION
ByMELISSAWOODSin Melbourne
Ewen McKenzie
EWEN McKenzie is set to pilotAustralia through to the nextRugby World Cup with his ap-pointment as new Wallabiescoach expected to be made today.
Robbie Deans is understood tohave been axed with six monthsremaining on his contract, clear-ing the way for Queensland Redscoaching director McKenzie.
While the Australian RugbyUnion remained tight-lipped onthe matter following a meetingwith Kiwi Deans, McKenzie isexpected to be his replacement.
He saw off a worthy challengefrom Brumbies and World Cup-winning former Springbokscoach Jake White, with publicopinion heavily in favour of anAustralian in the post.
The Queensland Rugby Unionalso had no comment but theMelbourne Rebels’ appointmentyesterday of Wallabies coachingco-ordinator Tony McGahan astheir new head coach, ahead ofMcKenzie, indicated he had big-ger plans.
ARU chief executive BillPulver said Deans’ positionwouldn’t hinge on the result ofthe Wallabies’ campaign againstBritish and Irish Lions, howeverthe manner of their third Test41-16 capitulation appears tohave forced their hand.
New Zealander Deans wasAustralia’s first foreign-borncoach and also the Wallabies’
most capped coach,overseeing 74 Testsin his five-and-a-half years in the job.
Since taking overin 2008 he led theWallabies to 43 vic-
tories, 29 losses and two draws,for a winning percentage of 58per cent.
Deans had a bad run with in-juries and as a result he createddepth by blooding a new generat-ion of players.
However, the returns neverquite materialised, particularlyagainst New Zealand with his re-cord a miserable three wins from18 games and no Bledisloe Cups.
McKenzie, who played in Aust-ralia’s triumphant 1991 WorldCup side, served as an assistantunder Test coaches RodMacqueen and Eddie Jones.
The popular 48-year-old, whocoached Queensland to the SuperRugby title in 2011, is expected toshore up the scrum and re-ignitethe Wallabies attack.
The Reds play an expansive,entertaining style that appeals tofans disillusioned by the stutter-ing attack under Deans’ reign.
That also means a likely re-turn to Test rugby for Queens-land playmaker Quade Cooper,rejected by Deans for the Lions’campaign after his criticism ofthe Wallabies set-up last year.
The Wallabies will play theirnext Test match against theAll Blacks in Sydney on August17 in the first match of TheRugby Championship.