9 Sep 2009

McKenzie sacked as Stade Francais coach

6:02 am on 9 September 2009

The former New South Wales coach Ewen McKenzie and his assistant Christophe Dominici have been sacked as coaches of struggling French rugby giants Stade Francais.

Stade owner Max Guazzini says Australian McKenzie and former France winger Dominici will be replaced by Jacques Delmas and Didier Faugeron.

The Parisian club went down 30-22 to Biarritz last weekend, just days after sinking to their heaviest home defeat in nine years when they lost 40-35 against Montauban.

The two defeats left Stade second from bottom of the Top 14 with just seven points garnered from five games.

Newly-promoted Albi are rooted at the bottom of the table, winless after four games.

The disastrous start to the season comes despite the Stade squad boasting an array of international players and having been boosted by the off-season signings of English duo James Haskell and Tom Palmer, France scrum-half Julien Dupuy and Scotland full-back Hugo Southwell.