Australian Rugby Union boss Bill Pulver has admitted Jake White’s perceived defensive style and the preference for an Australian at the helm were factors in the ACT Brumbies coach being overlooked for the Wallabies position.
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Pulver met Brumbies players in Canberra on Wednesday, but he did not meet White, just 24 hours after announcing Ewen McKenzie had been appointed the Wallabies successor.
It’s understood the pair have not yet had the chance to speak about why McKenzie was preferred over the 2007 South African World-Cup winning coach.
Pulver, however, admitted McKenzie had impressed the selection panel with his vision to ‘‘coach the Australian way’’, a reference to playing attractive and attacking football.
The statistics don’t tell the same story. The Brumbies have beaten McKenzie’s Queensland Reds in the try-scoring tally for the past two Super Rugby seasons, including a massive 11-try gap between the teams this year.
‘‘Both were world-class options, Jake’s case was very compelling ... he has an outstanding coaching record,’’ Pulver said.
‘‘I just think there has probably been a little bit more creativity inside Ewen’s programs. He’s very vocal in saying ‘winning is not enough’. You’ve got to win in a way that excites and captures the hearts and minds of the rugby community. I agree [with McKenzie]. At this point in time I’d say Ewen [compared to White] has the strongest point in that particular area ... one of the things Ewen came out strongly on was the ability to coach the Australian way.’’
Pulver denied the ARU had only been interested in appointing an Australian after New Zealander Robbie Deans, the Wallabies’ first foreign coach, was axed with six months left on his contract.
Pulver said the preference was to ‘‘find the best coach’’, adding ‘‘but when you’ve got two coaches of such a similar standard, there is clearly some advantage in being Australian’’.
The ARU sounded out White in February before the start of the Super Rugby season about his interest in being the next Wallabies coach. He was invited to a secret job interview in Melbourne two weeks ago in the middle of the Wallabies series against the British and Irish Lions.
White led South Africa to a World Cup triumph in 2007. The Springboks beat England 15-6 in a try-less final. White’s game plan is centred around defensive structures, but in his two years in Canberra the Brumbies have scored 82 tries compared to Queensland’s 68. White and McKenzie have formed an intense rivalry through their Brumbies-Reds battles in the Australian conference and applying for the Wallabies job.
Queensland and the Brumbies will play in the Super Rugby finals and could potentially clash in the opening round of play-offs next week.
But White has publicly congratulated McKenzie on his appointment and Pulver hoped there would be greater collaboration with Super Rugby franchises under McKenzie’s coaching.
‘‘It was clear in our eyes that we had two world-class candidates [in McKenzie and White],’’ Pulver said.
‘‘There’s no doubt Jake could have coached Australia and been successful, it just came out in the final conclusion Ewen was a better option.
‘‘It was just a case of us choosing the one who was in the best place to do. I sincerely hope we can keep Jake in Australian rugby.’’