ARU didn't overlook White because he's foreign, insists Bill Pulver Ewen McKenzie and Australian Rugby Union chief executive Bill Pulver. AUSTRALIAN Rugby Union chief executive Bill Pulver has refuted the suggestion that Ewen McKenzie beat Jake White for the Wallabies coaching job because he was Australian. "A lot of people were telling me that the next Australian coach had to be an Australian but my personal view was always that it was more important to get the best man for the job," Pulver told The Australian in an exclusive interview last night. Ewen didn't get the job because he was Australian - he was the best man to deliver what we wanted. Both Ewen and Jake were world-class candidates for the position but a point of differentiation was that Ewen was going to coach the Australian way, a smart creative style of rugby. I'm going to take some flak for constantly talking about the importance of the Wallabies playing attractive rugby, but the harsh reality is that rugby exists in a very competitive sporting market in this country and if the national side does not play an attractive brand of rugby, we are going to struggle to hold on to our supporters. Media reports have suggested White felt jilted and betrayed when the ARU decided to go with McKenzie once it had resolved Robbie Deans would not continue in the job beyond the third Test of the British and Irish Lions series. But talk of secret meetings with White are simply wide of the mark. Pulver explained to The Australian that right from the start of his appointment as ARU boss, he had made a point of meeting not only every current Super Rugby coach but every past Wallabies coach, from Alan Jones through to John Connolly. It very quickly emerged that we had two world-class candidates for the job - Ewen and Jake - and I met with each of them, Jake in Canberra, Ewen in Brisbane. And I met with them both in my office in Sydney. I was eager to get to know the candidates. But of course Jake wasn't promised the job. We put a process in place and we had a formal meeting where both men made presentations to the selection panel comprising myself, Paul McLean and Brett Robinson. There was media speculation during the Lions series that White had been anointed as Deans's replacement and it may well be that White misinterpreted the favourable reaction he generated at ARU level. Certainly there is no doubt he had strong supporters within the national body, right up to board level, but then so did McKenzie, who coached the Queensland Reds to the Super Rugby title in 2011. There is no doubt White's star was in ascendancy after he took the Brumbies, within two years of taking over the reins, from the basement to the Super Rugby final - this on top of having coached the Springboks to the World Cup in 2007. But there was always a widespread fear in the ARU that under White the Wallabies would play very much a South African-style power and field position game, one that would not resonate with Australian fans. Theoretically, the ARU had extra motivation to appoint White because it already was paying a percentage of his wage at the Brumbies. He was, as it were, already on their payroll, admittedly only to a relatively modest degree, but so cash-strapped is the national body that even small savings were not to be sneered at. Pulver, while dismissing the reports of White being jilted, admitted he was disappointed Australia and the Brumbies would be losing one of the game's best coaches. "I send Jake on his way with the best wishes of the ARU," Pulver said. Our only disappointment is that he won't be remaining here to continue his outstanding work with the Brumbies. Brumbies chief Andrew Fagan, who only last Friday learned in a phone call from White in South Africa that he would not be returning to Canberra, said last night he was still working through what the process would be to replace White. Indications are that Robinson - who as a former ARU high performance manager, Brumbies captain and Wallabies backrower, is regarded as one of the best assessors of coaching talent in the country - is likely to be asked to take a lead role, just as he did in finalising the Australian coaching job. He met Fagan yesterday. All indications are that the Brumbies will settle on an internal appointment, which means that the two current assistant coaches, former Wallabies five-eighth Steve Larkham, the backs coach, and former Brumbies head coach Laurie Fisher, forwards coach under White, will be the contenders. Fisher could not be contacted yesterday but Larkham said he was excited by the prospect of possibly stepping up to a head coaching role just three years into his coaching career. "You're never really sure if you're ready but my rugby knowledge is pretty good and I played a lot of rugby under some really good coaches," Larkham said. It would have been nice to work under Jake for another year or so but things have changed and I'm really excited by the prospect. In terms of the hands-on coaching of the side, Larkham and Fisher already are the people responsible for that side of the game. "But then there is the other side that Jake handled, the psychological side," Larkham said. But the team has now had two years under this program and at some stage you have to assume responsibility and accountability.