14/04/2008 12:42

Perth - Waratahs winger Lachie Turner has criticised the decision by NSW Rugby to not renew the contract of coach Ewen McKenzie as "rushed and made too soon".

He spoke as McKenzie was travelling from Perth to Paris for a meeting with Stade Francaise owner Max Guazzini about the prospect of coaching the Paris-based Top 14 side from next season - a job opportunity first reported by the Herald.

"The decision not to re-sign [McKenzie] wasn't a great one from the board," Turner said on Sunday. "The last two weeks we have shown the type of football we can play under him."

McKenzie said NSW Rugby chief executive Jim L'Estrange had given his blessing for him to be absent from Waratahs training to travel to Paris. It is expected that attack coach Todd Louden will direct the Waratahs' preparation for Saturday's game against the Lions in Sydney.

McKenzie is scheduled to meet Guazzini on Tuesday and rejoin the Waratahs on Thursday. However, McKenzie said he and is coaching panel had already set in place the tactics for the Lions match.

"All the Lions analysis has been done. We watched the Lions [on Saturday]," McKenzie said. "We have to actually work out who is going to play against us. But we have done a lot of work on them already. Everyone has a job to do.

'We have experience'

"We run a regular [weekly] routine. We will stick to that and I will stay in contact via phone and email. I will be back in plenty of time. The way it is going now, we will probably have a day off training anyway [to recover from fatigue], but mostly it is just business as usual.

"We have nearly 40 years of experience on our staff. So if we can't rely on that for one day then there's something wrong."

McKenzie defended the timing of his trip to France, but NSW Rugby would be hard pressed to begrudge him the right to seek employment beyond this season. As it stands, the contract window for securing coaching contracts in the northern hemisphere is extremely small.

But McKenzie said his trip had been rubber-stamped by L'Estrange. "It was all part of it when we mutually agreed on what needed to happen [at the Waratahs]," McKenzie said.

"That was one of my needs. I have to work out what I am going to do and sort it out. I am not a player. The player market is usually in one state or country or whatever. Unfortunately my opportunity is in a place that's less convenient.

"I have got three kids and some big bills to pay. So I have to make sure [my future] is sorted. I tried to pick a week that is the least obtrusive. Everyone [at NSW Rugby] is on board."

Asked if he has had time to consider the details of the French job, McKenzie - who spent much of the flight from Sydney to Perth last Thursday studying his French phrase book - said: "I don't really know much until I meet and talk - We will see how it pans out."