“Spent my whole time trying to find a 10. That’s five years.” Ewen McKenzie.
Steve Hansen asked Ewen McKenzie when the Wallabies last had a 10. McKenzie answered with the five years he spent looking for one at the Waratahs.
“No, I was going when I was coaching the warars [Waratahs], right? I coached them from 2004 for five years, right?”
McKenzie coached the Waratahs from 2004 to 2008 and the Wallabies in 2013 and 2014. He said it on Rugby Unity with Hansen and David Pembroke after Australia lost 43-21 in Sydney.
Who was the last world-class Wallabies 10? Name him in the comments.
Two decades, says David Pembroke
Pembroke, who was at Accor Stadium, started it.
“I think everyone’s trying hard, but I think the problems are much much deeper than just we’re going to if we get a 10 and a 12 to fix the problems. I just think this is two decades in the making.”
Hansen, the All Blacks head coach from 2012 to 2019, made it about the shirt: “When was the last 10 you had?”
Ewen McKenzie signed Kurtley Beale out of school
“We ended up getting I signed I signed Curtly Beal [Kurtley Beale] out of school like went to went literally out of school and uh he sort of came in at the end but um you know that’s what you had to do. You had to go and search the school boy ranks.”
Beale signed at 16 while still at St Joseph’s College and made his Super Rugby debut in 2007, McKenzie’s fourth season. He became a Wallaby, mostly at full-back and centre.
In September, on For The Love Of Rugby, McKenzie called the Wallabies 10 a perpetual problem.
Ewen McKenzie’s fix: Tom Lynagh at 10, Carter Gordon at 12
“For me liner [Lynagh] the young Liner understands the game. His body is not allowing him to play but he understands the game. For me he could be a guy that could stand at 10, control the game and then Carter Gordon at 12.”
Tom Lynagh has eight Wallabies caps. He missed most of the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season injured. Another setback then ruled him out of the Australia A tour of the USA. Gordon, back from rugby league, broke his fibula in Mendoza and is targeting England at Twickenham on 8 November.
With Gordon at 12, Australia would have two players who can run the attack, if both stay fit.
“But yeah, you got to be able to physically get through it. Neither of those two guys have been able to play week in week out rugby, which is which is a problem.”
Steve Hansen: the problem is at 12 as well
Hansen had said earlier in the hour that Australia lack a second playmaker.
“I think the other problem is your second five like you just do not have uh someone complimenting that 10 um either at 12 or 15 who can come in and take the pressure off the 10.”
In Sydney, Declan Meredith started at 10 because Ben Donaldson pulled out on the Thursday. Isaac Henry moved in to 12, with Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii at 13.
Henry had started at 13 at Eden Park a week earlier.
The tell: who stands at first receiver
For long spells in Sydney, McKenzie said, forwards were Australia’s only first receivers.
“So it’s you’re only getting the backline guys involved every third or fourth phase, whereas New Zealand had the ability if Holland was at first receiver was able to just move the ball on.”
Watch the first pass off each Wallabies ruck. When a prop or lock takes it and carries, the backs wait. When a back takes it, the ball reaches the edge.
When the Wallabies 10 was last settled
McKenzie pointed to his own time in charge, with Matt To’omua at 12.
“So he was he was a ball playing 12. We played we won seven tests in a row. We beat France 3-0 in Australia. Um and Czecha [Cheika] took him to the World Cup and they got to the final.”
The run took in four wins on the 2013 spring tour and three against France in June 2014. Bernard Foley wore 10 and To’omua 12 in all three France Tests. Since then, McKenzie said, there has been “a lot of chopping and changing particularly in the 10 position”.
Meredith has the 10 shirt on form after Sydney. Gordon is targeting Twickenham on 8 November, which gives Les Kiss the chance to try McKenzie’s idea, with Meredith at 10 and Gordon at 12.
Rugby Unity has the full conversation.
Your turn: Meredith, or Lynagh and Gordon?
Meredith started on form in Sydney. McKenzie wants Lynagh at 10 and Gordon at 12, if both stay fit.
Meredith at 10, or Lynagh and Gordon together? Pick one below.
Frequently asked
Who played 10 for the Wallabies against the All Blacks in Sydney?
Declan Meredith started at fly-half on 17 October 2026, after Ben Donaldson withdrew on the Thursday. Isaac Henry played 12.
What did Ewen McKenzie say about the Wallabies 10?
On Rugby Unity, McKenzie said he spent five years at the Waratahs looking for a 10. He would pick Tom Lynagh at 10 and Carter Gordon at 12 if both could stay fit.
When did Ewen McKenzie coach the Wallabies?
McKenzie coached Australia in 2013 and 2014. He won 51 caps as a tighthead prop.
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