Ewen Mckenzie hands in Resignation- "Jake White just submitted his updated CV"

Just heard live on Sky Sports that Mckenzie has resigned.

The Australian Rugby Union revealed that Ewen McKenzie has resigned as Wallaby coach.

McKenzie announced his resignation after the Qantas Wallabies were gallant in defeat, going down 29-28 to New Zealand at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday 18 October.

Australian Rugby Union CEO Bill Pulver paid tribute to McKenzie who has led Australia in 22 Tests since starting in the role in August 2013.

“I did not ask Ewen to resign, but understand his decision. He informed me this morning of his intention to resign, regardless of tonight’s result.”

“Ewen is a world-class coach and a world-class individual who has been committed to playing entertaining Rugby for our fans since he started in the role.

“During his tenure, he has overseen a seven match winning streak, drew against the All Blacks and beat South Africa – all achievements that had not been met in the previous year.  

“We sincerely wish Ewen well for the future professionally and personally.”

Mr Pulver said the process to find a replacement has now begun.

“We hope to have the new Head Coach in place before the team leaves for the Spring Tour on Friday.”

“Criteria for the role includes identifying a coach who can lead us to victory in next year’s Rugby World Cup; represents Rugby’s core values; has the support of the playing group; and is available.

“As part of this process, we will also identify structural improvements to the off-field element of the Wallabies, with a senior leadership role to be created to support the team.

“We will work with the incoming coach on that structure, with a solution to be in place as soon as possible,” Pulver said.

The former Australian international fell on his sword after last night's dramatic 29-28 last-minute loss to the All Blacks in Brisbane.

"The easiest thing for me to do is to exit -- stage left," he said at the official press conference.

McKenzie's job has been in jeopardy ever since revelations surrounding the Kurtley Beale texting saga and claims of a romantic involvement with former Wallaby business manager Di Patston who has since resigned. 

Beale will face a code of conduct hearing this week.

ARU boss Bill Pulver said: "At 10am this morning (Saturday), I got an email from Ewen with resignation attached. I tried to talk him out of this."

He described it as "extremely disappointing that a Wallabies coach has had to resign like this".

NSW coach Michael Cheika is tipped to take over for the Wallabies' end of year tour to Europe and is likely to take Australia to the World Cup in England next year.

South Africa's World Cup winning coach Jake White could be a wild card.

Pulver added that he felt the media's treatment of McKenzie had been "an extraordinary character assassination".

"I was not expecting his decision today so basically we are right back at the start," he said.

ARU board member John Eales said seeing McKenzie walk away from presser was one of the saddest sights he has seen in sport

- Stuff

Australian rugby was plunged further into crisis a year out from the World Cup on Saturday when under-fire coach Ewen McKenzie resigned a few hours before the Wallabies were beaten 29-28 by New Zealand in Brisbane.

McKenzie, who took over from Robbie Deans in July last year, had come under pressure for his role in the row over offensive text messages Kurtley Beale allegedly sent to a team official in June.

Beale faces a Code of Conduct hearing into the affair next week but it has already caused two weeks of turmoil which have made Australian rugby a laughing stock around the world.

McKenzie informed the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) of his decision on Saturday morning and announced his resignation after the last-gasp defeat to the world champions at Lang Park.

"My intention was win, lose or draw tonight, to announce my resignation tonight. I've just told the team," he told a news conference in Brisbane.

"It's been a disappointing time I think for many reasons, I won't even go into the detail, you guys can work it out.

"I've written to the board and I've been unhappy with a bunch of things so the easiest thing for me is to exit stage left and I'll leave you guys to ponder, speculate and I'll write a chapter of my book and you will know all about it."

Last week, the 49-year-old was forced to deny he had been involved in an intimate relation with Di Patston, the official at the centre of the Beale row, and he faced the accusation that he had lost the support of senior players over her role with the team.

"I think Australian rugby has lost a very good man today," ARU chief executive Bill Pulver told reporters in Brisbane.

"In essence, Ewen said he was going to struggle to retain the level of support he needs from the playing group and, in my view, because of the character assassination he's suffered in the last two weeks.

"The attack on Ewen was relentless and essentially left him with the view it set him too far back to be an effective rugby coach."

The defeat to the All Blacks was a third straight loss for the Wallabies after defeats in South Africa and Argentina over the last month and left McKenzie with a 50 percent winning record in his 22 matches in charge.

Pulver said he hoped to appoint a new coach to take Australia through to the "World Cup and beyond" before the end of the week when the Wallabies depart for their tour of Europe.

If that was not possible, he said, the ARU would consider a caretaker coach.

Former Springbok coach Jake White, who was in the frame to replace Deans last year, and Michael Cheika, who led New South Wales Waratahs to the Super Rugby title this year, are likely to be leading candidates.

McKenzie, who led the Queensland Reds to the 2011 Super Rugby title, got the job when Deans was sacked in the wake of the series defeat to the British and Irish Lions.

Very much an advocate of the "my way or the highway" school of management, the World Cup-winning test prop stamped his authority on the squad early in his reign when he disciplined 15 players for a late night out in Dublin last November.

A seven-match winning streak through last year's tour of Europe and the 3-0 sweep of France in a June test series this year offered the promise of improvements on the pitch.

But hopes of reclaiming the Bledisloe Cup from New Zealand -- Australia's Holy Grail -- foundered with a 12-12 draw and 51-20 defeat against the All Blacks at the start of the Rugby Championship in August.

My understanding is that Ewan's resignation was motivated by the exposure of his off-field activities. Rumour  has it that he is going through a divorce and that his relationship with the now resigned Manager of the team went a tad further than normal business. He himself had created the position for her as Team Manager.

Please note I'm far from making any moral judgement on the issues involved,  I do feel strongly about Beale's role in the matter and I do feel for McKenzie as I have no doubts about his dedication and commitment to the Wallabies.

"I wrote lsewhere about the selection problems encountered by the Sharks in recent weeks - namely the useage of Andre Esterhuizen and Paul Jordaan - or lack of it in recent matches lost or drawn by the Sharks.    Did Jake Wh8ite caused those misadventures as a result of inteference in team selection?    

Probably it was instrumental in creating a bad team atmosphere. and a generally poor performance by the Sharks in the three matches invovled.      The sudden recovery against the Sharks indicated that there wwas a clear change in team selection and hugely postive results"

So now Jake was scheming about the Aussie job...not being fired because of a bad atmosphere resulting from team  selection? 

And how do you feel about the Sharks " clear change in team selection" after today's debacle.

It would never have been that bad under Jake.

 ...the Aussies couldn't do much worse than having dopey McKenzie the former prop for a coach... except maybe Jake the flake - you'd have to be totally daft to even consider White as a feasible option....would be the absolute height of desperation to pick that silly little yarpy......ironically McKenzie is leaving just when they seem to have got their backline clicking, after much experimentation....achieved through luck more than design I'd say... unsure if the Aussies were good last night or we just played like sh!t...was a good training run for our B team anyhow..

...Heaps better without Beale and Toomua last night the Aussies, a massive improvement of epic proportions - many Aussies also gunning for Nic White's head after his carnal sin of kicking possession away to the best attacking team in the world in the dying minutes yesterday...maybe Genia can replace him...QC is too flakey as well so they'd do well to scrub him but for absolute emergencies..

... but throw Speight, another ace up their sleeve back in the mix and the Aussies wouldn't have too bad a hand going forward into the RWC....that is if they can play with the gusto they showed last night...consistent in their inconsistencies though are the Aussies and prone to bouts of apathy ...maybe the new coach or the thought of a big fat RWC bonus cheque can fire them up...

...Cheika is the obvious choice to replace Link they're saying but wouldn't that mean that the Tahs would be looking for a new coach...a complication some of those scheming Tahs players probably didn't foresee when they were undermining the coach... And McKenzie's tell all book will probably be a best seller and rake in the cash so not all bad for him, although some will probably see his leaving as an admission of guilt...

...the Aussie captain may have also lost a few fans over this whole sordid affair as well and there's suggestions that there is a rift between the Tahs players in the Wallaby camp and the rest of the Wallabies which isn't ideal going forward into a RWC year...will we see Hooper replaced as he is very young and many saying too young and immature to be leading Australia...?