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Australian Rugby Union boss Bill Pulver has blamed the media for a “character assassination” of Ewen McKenzie that has led to his sensational resignation as Wallabies coach.
A fuming Pulver expressed his disgust at reports that McKenzie felt undermined to the point he could not regain the respect of his players.
McKenzie sent Pulver his resignation in an email at 10am and could not be talked out of the decision by the ARU chief executive.
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» McKenzie’s resignation is a real shocker
» Ewen McKenzie resigns as Wallabies coach
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The former title-winning Queensland announced his decision after Australia’s heart-breaking 29-28 loss to the All Blacks at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night.
McKenzie told his team in the dressing room after fulltime and announced it in stunning scenes at the end of his post-match press conference.
“It is extremely disappointing that a Wallabies coach feels that he needs to resign from his position, particularly when you look at the way the team played tonight,” Pulver said.
NSW coach Michael Cheika, who took that Waratahs to this year’s Super Rugby crown, is now the strong favourite to replace McKenzie and lead Australia through to next year’s World Cup.
“Ewen said that he felt he was going to struggle to retain the level of respect he needed from the playing group and his support staff in the Australian squad,” Pulver said.
“That’s really, in my view, due to the extraordinary character assassination that he has had to put up with over the last two weeks.”
McKenzie did not go into any detail for his reasons but the 49-year-old has been under immense pressure since it was revealed his Wallabies business manager, Di Patston, was at the centre of lewd and offensive texts sent by backline star Kurtley Beale.
Questions, rumours and reports of McKenzie’s close relationship with Patston, a former staffer with Queensland, rattled the coach at an uncomfortable press conference eight days ago.
McKenzie this week spoke out about the hurt a heavily-medicated Patston, who resigned last weekend, had suffered at the media’s hands.
“It’s been a disappointing time I think for many reasons, I won’t even go into the detail, you guys can work it out,” he said on Saturday night.
“I’ve written to the board and I’ve been unhappy with a bunch of things so they easiest thing to do is exit stage left and I’ll leave you guys to ponder, speculate and I’ll write a chapter of my book and you will know all about it.”
Pulver said a six-man ARU Rugby Committee would meet in the next 24 hours to help select McKenzie’s replacement before the Wallabies leave for their five-match European tour on Friday.
“I still believe we have a group of players here who I still believe are capable of winning the World Cup and so we want a coach who is capable of achieving that.”
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.