Race is on to find Wallaby coach

Editor

ARU chief Bill Pulver says he has “a lot of work to do” to find a successor to Ewen McKenzie ahead of Friday’s departure for Europe.

Australian Rugby Union (ARU) chief Bill Pulver admits he has “a lot of work to do” to install a successor to Ewen McKenzie ahead of the Wallabies tour.

McKenzie announced his resignation in the wake of a heartbreaking 29-28 loss to the All Blacks in Brisbane, which adds to Australia’s woes going into November.

Pulver now has the task of finding a replacement, with Super Rugby-winning coach Michael Cheika and former Bok mentor Jake White heavily linked.

“I’ve got a lot of work to do in the next couple of days,” he told a press conference on Sunday.

“The great challenge we’ve got is the team leaves on Friday. I would love to think we’ve a chance to find somebody that can actually get on the plane with them.”

Pulver said if that was not possible then an interim coach would be appointed to get the Wallabies through their five-match tour in Europe against the Barbarians, Wales, France, Ireland and England.

“I’ve got a list of options in mind and I’ve got a lot of work to do (but) I did not expect Ewen McKenzie to resign yesterday,” Pulver said.

“I found out about it at 10am. I’d had no conversations with any other coaches about this prospect.

“At this point, I don’t even know who can get on a plane on Friday. So next step for the rest of this day is trying to understand where we sit in terms of the options we’ve got and trying to make some progress.”