Former Stade Français and Waraahs coach Ewen McKenzie has been appointed Head Coach of the Queensland Reds, it was announced on Friday.
McKenzie, recently returned from an unhappy stint in charge of Stade Français in Paris, beat off competition from former Australian coach John Connolly for the job.
In his five years in charge of the Waratahs, he took the Sydney Super 14 to the finals three times.
He has been given a three-yea contract in Brisbane, where he will be taaked with picking up the pieces of several years of under-performance and infighting.
"Ewen has a proven track record as a head coach and as someone who can deliver a quality rugby program," Queensland Rugby Union chairman Rod McCall said.
"He also gets results."
McKenzie puled no punches about his approach to his new role, with more than a whiff of change in the air.
"It didn't take me too much research and talking to people to realise that there's some serious momentum about changing Queensland's fortunes," McKenzie said.
"So change is imminent and in that environment you can make some progress.
"I've always been interested and involved in managing change so it doesn't scare me. So it's not a bad time to be getting involved in what I think is a very strong union."
The struggling Reds have not finished higher than third-last in the past four Super 14 seasons.
Source : PR[/b]
