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McKenzie's new option is Ireland
By Bret Harris
May 21, 2008
McKenzie's new option is Ireland - Super 14 - Fox Sports
NEW South Wales coach Ewen McKenzie is poised to reject an offer from French club Stade Francais and will look to pursue his career in Ireland.
According to an informed source, McKenzie is in the running for the head coaching job at Irish province Munster.
Munster is one of the leading teams in Europe and will play against Toulouse in the final of the Heineken Cup in Cardiff on Saturday.
The Munster job became vacant after Declan Kidney's recent appointment as Ireland head coach.
But McKenzie will have to compete against another Australian, Tony McGahan, for the Munster position.
McGahan, who has been Munster's defence coach for two-and-half-years, is highly regarded in Cork.
The Queenslander has been instrumental in helping Munster reach the Heineken Cup final and has a lot of support among the players.
He has also received an offer to assist Kidney at the Irish national team.
McKenzie was expected to take the Stade Francais job, but he has had second thoughts about coaching the Paris-based team. He has been talking to Stade Francais since before the Waratahs announced on April 1 that they would not be renewing his contract at the end of the Super 14 season.
After McKenzie guided the Waratahs into the Super 14 semi-finals with an 18-11 win against Queensland in Brisbane on Saturday, he even floated the idea of remaining in Sydney.
But this feeler did not meet with favour from Waratahs officials who had already decided to let him go. Even Waratahs players are saying both publicly that McKenzie should accept the NSWRU's decision and leave.
Unusually, McKenzie did not front the media at training in Sydney on Tuesday, leaving his players to spruik the Waratahs' semi-final match with the Sharks on Saturday night.
Waratahs No.8 Wycliff Palu has urged the team to continue to play attacking rugby and not adopt conservative tactics because of the pressure of semi-final football.
The Waratahs were criticised for playing boring rugby in the early rounds, but they have since successfully combined hard, driving forward play with a more expansive approach.
"That happens to some of the teams," Palu said. "They kind of go into their shell a bit. We'll be focused on playing the way we have been playing."
Palu has been a key figure in the Waratahs' attack, leading their try-scoring with five.
"I've probably been hanging out on the wing too much," Palu said. "I've been lucky."
Apart from scoring tries, Palu also led the competition in off-loads.
Palu said he had played more consistently this season because he had lost weight and been injury-free.
"I'm getting around the field a lot easier than I was last year," Palu said. "Last year I was 121 (kilos). I can feel the difference. It's just down to the weight loss and not getting injured.
"This is the first season I haven't been injured. It's been good to get back to back game time."
The Waratahs recorded a convincing 25-10 win against the Sharks in Sydney four weeks ago, but Palu is expecting a much harder contest on Saturday.
"I think they will be a much better side this time around," Palu said. "They'll be pretty tough. Semi-final football is a different story. I've been in this position in the World Cup with the Aussies and England (in the 2007 quarter-final).
"All the games in the round don't mean nothing if we go out this week and lose."
One of the highlights of the game will be Palu's head-to-head clash with exciting Sharks No.8 Ryan Kankowski.
"He is really skilful and he is pretty quick," Palu said. "Hopefully, he's out in the backs trying to run around them instead of trying to make me look bad.
"I think they are (one of the better backrows). They wouldn't be where they are now if not for their backrow. They work well as a unit and it is going to be pretty tough on Saturday."
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