( AFP ) - Robbie Deans, the first foreigner to coach the Wallabies, has been warmly embraced by the media and Australian rugby community.
The 48-year-old New Zealander was appointed on Friday to the job for four years, which will take in the next World Cup in his homeland.
Deans, the coach of the highly-successful Canterbury Crusaders, beat a clutch of Australian candidates as successor to John Connolly, who stood down as head coach after October's World Cup in France.
Deans was by-passed for the All Blacks' coaching job with Graham Henry reappointed last week. He sought the Wallabies' position earlier this week, a month after the official interviews had taken place.
The move had raised concerns about a foreigner having Australia's best interests at heart, as the nation looks to recover past glories after the Wallabies were dumped out of the World Cup in the quarter-finals by England.
But the Australian media swung behind Deans Saturday, with the Sydney Morning Herald declaring him "the best man to get the Wallabies back on track."
"Forget all that nationalistic babble about how Australia must always have a local national coach. That belongs to another era. If Australia want to be No.1 in the world again, they must have the best available coach," it said.
"Deans is that. He has the credentials, knows how to generate success - as shown by his making the Canterbury Crusaders the most dominant force in Super rugby - and understands how imperative it is to have a positive, healthy team culture.
"As importantly, Deans is an outsider and, unlike recent Wallabies coaches, doesn't come with baggage."
The Australian newspaper said it is looking forward to Deans introducing a new attacking style that he had nurtured at the Crusaders.
"Deans will have the Wallabies playing the style of attacking rugby that players, fans and administrators have been yearning to see," the national broadsheet said.
Australian Rugby Union high performance manager Pat Howard agreed that Deans would introduce an "attacking slant" to the national side.
"You've also got to know how to win the ball. He'll have assistant coaches who can support that," Howard said.
"It's an exciting period. The ability of Deans to see different ways to attack is very positive. It will add to the talent of the players and bring out the best in them."
The Wallabies themselves also supported their new coach, with fullback Chris Latham saying he was expecting Deans to hone their attacking skills.
"I think we've had that kind of attacking focus for the last year or two," Latham said. "People may say we haven't (but) Robbie will bring a different element to how we do it."
Back Clyde Rathbone said Deans had proved to be one of the best-ever Super coaches, and predicted an "exciting and positive" time for the Wallabies.
"With a good change in the coaching structure we've got a hell of a lot of fresh ideas and new things coming into the camp," he said.
Back-rower George Smith said Deans has developed a good culture at the Crusaders. "I'm sure he will continue that with the Wallabies," he added.
Deans, who has won a record four Super rugby titles from six finals appearances with the Crusaders, was always the ARU's preferred choice once Connolly announced his intention to step down.
The NZRU has agreed to allow Deans to coach the Crusaders in the Super 14 series next year before relocating to Sydney to take over the new job in June.