SYDNEY, April 25 (Reuters) - Melbourne Rebels captain Matt To'omua said the players wanted Dave Wessels to stay on as coach despite the franchise missing out on the Super Rugby AU playoffs.
Wessels is under pressure after the Rebels finished fourth in the five-team competition and the Wallabies playmaker said he understood the "chat" around the South African's position.
"It's essentially people wanting results and we're not getting them at the moment," To'omua told reporters after the Rebels concluded their campaign with a 36-25 win over the New South Wales Waratahs at Western Sydney Stadium on Saturday. it's a short-sighted view to think that you just change one thing. It's not the way to go forward so we're 100% behind him.
"That's not to say we don't need some improvements in our programme - 100% - but Dave's our guy. He's the one we want leading us."
Wessels, once considered a potential Wallabies coach in the making, said he thought the club were progressing under his charge despite winning only three of their eight matches.
"Without sounding flippant about it, we run a good rugby programme," he said.
"We are moving forward. We are a lot further down the track than we were last year.
"We lost four games on the last kick of the game after the hooter. A few things gone differently here or there, you're looking at a very different situation."
Next up for the Rebels is the Trans-Tasman competition in May and June and Wessels was confident his team would acquit themselves well against New Zealand's five Super Rugby teams.
"We want to win and I think we can win," he added.
"It's going to be a good battle. The gap is not as big as people make it out to be. I think there's a lot of good young talent in Australian rugby. It's a very exciting time for us."