News

McKenzie gives Deans thumbs up

Thursday 20th November 2008

Robbie's OK: Ewen McKenzie

Former Wallaby prop and current Stade Fran�ais Head Coach Ewen McKenzie has thrown his considerable weight behind former coaching rival Robbie Deans, saying the kiwi is on the right track ahead of Australia's Test against France in Paris on Saturday.

The former Waratahs coach visited the Wallaby camp on Tuesday to catch up with a few of his countrymen in his new hometown.

While Deans has admitted that "there will always be pockets of resistance" to his appointment as the first foreign coach of Australia's national side, McKenzie reckons this shouldn't be the case.

Dean beat McKenzie to the Wallaby job but the Stade Fran�ais boss says the wily New Zealander has proven a revelation in his first season across the 'ditch.'

McKenzie pointed to Deans' introduction of 13 newcomers to the gold and green set-up, saying they have been a breath of fresh air for Australian rugby.

As an example McKenzie spoke of the selection of Queensland Reds winger Peter Hynes who was finally given a chance to show his mettle at the highest level.

"Hynes, I think, has been a great investment," McKenzie told the AAP.

"Hynes is a bloke I was going to have a crack at getting for the Waratahs. I knew exactly why Deans was investing in him because he's played 10, 12, 13, wing all with aplomb and is in the game all the time.

"He's just correct. He does all the little things. As soon as he picked him, I thought 'that's a good selection' because you can rely on him.

"He's what I call a player who you can budget on. There's a base performance there. He's going to be closer to the best player than the worst and he's going to be like that every week."

McKenzie has also been impressed by Deans' ability to galvanise the Wallabies into a tight bunch of utterly professional units.

"I think definitely the cultural area of the team, he's made an investment there which I don't think has been made prior - or not often," McKenzie said.

"He's actually given that some importance. That's something that I understand because it's something I took on at the Waratahs as well. Making an investment there is like making an investment in your passing skills.

"So he's aligned the team. They know what's expected. They point in the same direction. There's been no issues off the field - not that I know of anyway. It has been a very clean season.

"It doesn't mean it can't happen, but it has been a very clean run in that respect."

McKenzie said critics could "debate selections and things like that until they're blue in the face", but, by and large, Deans had pulled mostly the right strings in his first season as Wallabies coach.

"I don't think he would say he's made no mistakes," McKenzie said.

"But I doubt he's made the same mistake twice."