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Sacked: Waratahs call full-time on McKenzie
By Grumbles Growden
Ewen McKenzie's five-year reign as Waratahs coach will finish at the end of the Super 14 season. The NSW Rugby Union is scheduled to make an announcement at lunchtime today that his contract will not be renewed. It is understood NSWRU chief executive Jim L'Estrange met McKenzie yesterday, and the discussion between the pair had been "amicable".
However, McKenzie was told the NSWRU had decided his coaching contract would finish at the end of July.
NSW officials were adamant last night that McKenzie would not be replaced before the end of the season, and that the Waratahs hierarchy had never had any intention of "cutting him" before the completion of the Super 14. "Ewen will definitely see the season out," an influential NSW official said.
A replacement is not expected to be named today, but the strong favourite is the Waratahs assistant coach Todd Louden. From the start of this year's Super 14, sources have said that Louden would be the next Waratahs coach, especially as he was involved in the Bulls winning last year's title. Louden, who was the Bulls attack coach, has been the favourite of many NSW powerbrokers for some time.
The decision would not have come as a surprise to McKenzie who, after taking the team to consecutive play-offs, including the 2005 final, has seen the Waratahs taper off dramatically. The Waratahs finished 13th in last year's Super 14.
NSW officials had also made it clear this year they wanted the team to be far more attack-orientated. Several recent lacklustre performances, particularly against the Crusaders in Christchurch two rounds ago, effectively ended any chance of McKenzie surviving for a sixth season.
After the meeting, McKenzie attended a junior coaching seminar at North Sydney Oval last night and was in good spirits. He joked with the media and almost seemed relieved that at last he had some direction about his future.
It was also apparent that he was focused on Saturday night's match against the Auckland Blues at the Sydney Football Stadium, even starting some mind games with the opposition coach, David Nucifora.
Apart from duelling for victory in this important Super 14 match, McKenzie and Nucifora are candidates to replace Pat Howard as the head of the Australian Rugby Union's high performance unit.
Although Nucifora is an overwhelming favourite to take the position, McKenzie is the next-best option, especially if the Blues coach cannot come to terms with the ARU.
Before that decision is made, McKenzie believes he may have a way to effectively needle Nucifora and his team, by doing what the South African teams have done to the Blues in recent games: irritate them at the breakdown and disrupt their momentum.
McKenzie has taken notice of complaints by Nucifora over how recent opponents have been able to stifle the Blues by being prepared to concede a succession of short-arm penalties at the breakdown to slow their ball. As well, Nucifora believes they have been unfairly refereed at scrums, arguing that against the Bulls last weekend, their All Blacks prop Tony Woodcock "obviously can't scrummage any more".
Due to the turmoil surrounding his position, McKenzie said yesterday he was not reading the press. But someone has clearly passed the Nucifora complaints on to him.
"You have to watch those games and say, 'Well, what works?'," McKenzie said. "Obviously the last two teams that have played the Blues have been able to put a fair bit of pressure on them. So it would be silly not to look at that and think, 'There's an effective strategy'.
"Whether we choose to do that or not is another question. But you've got to recognise what's effective. And if he [Nucifora] is annoyed by it, then that's probably not a bad thing."
The Waratahs will not name a team until Thursday, but there is expected to be only minor tinkering, with No.8 David Lyons in line for a reserves spot after last weekend playing for the first time in six months.
"David hasn't had a lot of footy, but we will definitely consider him as an option, coming into at least the 22," McKenzie said.
Benn Robinson is likely to hold on to the loosehead prop spot, over highly-rated Sekope Kepu.