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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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.”
Tom G
Guest
Where? Where? In disney land?
WoobliesFan
Guest
Here here
WoobliesFan
Guest
According to ARU, it's acceptable. Georgina Robinson is fair game according to ARU standards.
Rocco75
Guest
Pulver is out of his depth as a sports administrator. He might be a great manager in the business world but a sports administrator he is not. ARU should get rid of him. when he spoke on Saturday night and then Sunday morning I just laughed. He sounded pompous and elite with the way he blamed the media (it happens in all sports Pulver, toughen up you cat). compare him to the other CEO's eg: David Gallop, David Smith, Andrew Demetriou (now Gillon Maclachlan), James Sutherland..... Pulver presided over this whole saga. He should be sacked by the ARU board.
Rob G
Guest
He didn't appoint himself
stillmatic1
Guest
yeah because they have closed out so many games before against the abs haven't they, worlds? the Jekyll and hyde wallabies continue it would seem. front up one week, meek the next. this result wont bring many back to the game as it has been seen before.
Digs
Guest
So you're the last one standing Mitchel? Good on you, you are welcome to it!!
Digs
Guest
So Pulver at al are the ones who sent the sexist text messages? Get a grip Mitchell, how under any circumstance is Beale a 'scapegoat'.? One thing is for sure though, he is a sexist.
Beny Iniesta
Guest
Ewen clearly not taking advice from James Hird!
Football United
Roar Pro
"Do you expect a 22yo rugby lad to be able to articulate himself perfectly under this pressure?" No but I expect a Captain to be able to. If he can't do that then he shouldn't be captain.
MJB
Guest
Yes, they do.
Ball'n'all
Guest
Nice straw man. Who is saying Beale is blameless? Who have to wonder about the rational thought capacity of those who are unable to comprehend that the player group being unhappy with em and his management structure is not the same thing as supporting offensive texts by beale.
Ball'n'all
Guest
Why would we need to ask a seperate organisatiin what the role of an employee is? Your brain function is severly limited. Is this the same red's employee who mediated a physical assault by one of the reds players on a male staff member rather than report it to the appropriate authorities? The staffer who was assaulted dudn't gave their contract renewed. Double standards and all that
Ajax
Guest
Really dont know why Pulver is giving it to the media.. they have reported what they know... the spat on the plane and the photos were all on the public record..are they not supposed to comment on this? The stuff about the Linkedin profiles, again, all on the public record. Its journalists job to report stuff isnt it?
MJB
Guest
Unwarranted sexism. Really dumb comments like this are not helping the situation. Mods?
whaler
Roar Rookie
Definitely more to this than meets the eye. There seems to be leaks within the Wallabies camp for a lot of this dirt to be coming out. Do Kurtley Beale and Israel Folau share the same manager? Seems funny that there are all these rumours that if Kurtley is sacked then Izzy will go to ......
fredfunk
Guest
In the interests of balance, it is also an absolute disgrace that we had a management team so out of touch with player management - multiple examples going back to O'Conner. Who's going to wear the uppercut for that? Kurtley? This is a massive cop out less than a year before the world cup. Let's hope that Michael Cheika declines the ARU's offer and stays a Waratah.
Jake
Guest
Yes terrible actions, almost as disgusting as the way Harvey was treated by Fremantle or the way their current coach disgracefully left St Kilda, like a dog, perfectly fits the mould of that club. Rugby Australia could take a leaf out of Fremantles book of how to dismissively treat people.
Monday's Expert
Guest
I have an awful feeling that Beale will still be in the squad - being blameless and all.
Monday's Expert
Guest
Ask the Reds, she did the same job there for a few years and was highly regarded - or did she lose form like KB when brought into the national squad?