EWEN MCKENZIE HAS has today announced his resignation from his role as head coach of Australia’s international rugby union side.
McKenzie issued the news in the wake of the Wallabies’ last-gasp 28 – 29 defeat to New Zealand in the third Bledisloe Cup match of the Rugby Championship. Although a statement from the ARU confirmed that the former Reds coach had decided to resign regardless of today’s result.
The resignation, exactly 11 months before the 2015 World Cup kicks off, follows rumours of discontent in the Wallabies camp and comes after McKenzie was forced to deny an extra-marital affair with a staff member.
ARU chief executive Bill Pulver told reporters post-match that McKenzie feared he would not be able to “retain the level of respect” from the players and, according to Sydney Morning Herald reporter Georgina Robinson on the scene, blamed the media for ’extraordinary character assassination’ on the head coach.
