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What does one make of Greg Growden’s story that Ewen McKenzie has been blacklisted within the ARU for the Wallabies coaching job because as a former prop he knows nothing about running a backline?
First of all a confession, I worked with Greg at the Sydney Morning Herald as a rugby columnist when he was the paper’s long time Chief Rugby Reporter.
His bits-and-pieces column, Ruck’n Maul, was in my opinion the best column of its type on any sport in the Australian media.
He is extremely well-informed, assiduous, fearless and has contacts throughout the rugby world.
But … I find two things wrong with the story. I can’t think of anyone in the current ARU administration who is hostile to McKenzie as a coach.
And the notion that a former prop can’t coach backs is as fanciful (and inaccurate in the case of McKenzie) as the fallacious proposition that a former back can’t coach forwards effectively.
I would give more credence to the story if the blacklisting was related to the former administration led by John O’Neill.
It was no secret, although it was never publicly promoted, that everything being equal that David Nucifora was in line to take over from Robbie Deans, whenever the current coach finished up.
McKenzie was seen as a possible after Nucifora, if at all.
Nucifora has a Super Rugby premiership on his curriculum. He was seen, as well, as a determined opponent of over-weening player power emanating from the Brumbies franchise.
It was this player power that got him effectively sacked in the year the Brumbies won a Super Rugby title.
Nucifora was the high performance manager during an era when the Wallabies were number two team in the world for a long time. He also helped out in an advisory capacity with Deans from time to time and was a constant source of advice and information for the Wallaby coaching staff.
The black mark against Nucifora was the poor results achieved by the Australian Under-20 sides he coached at the IRB World Championship.
Nucifora has left the ARU or to be honest, has been booted out. He is no longer a possibility for the Wallaby coaching job.
The new regime, too, led by CEO Bill Pulver has made it clear that, for better or worse (which is a possibility no doubt), all vestiges of the O’Neill legacy and policies are to be wiped away.
The power brokers on the board of the ARU now are John Eales and George Gregan, both of whom could be described as McKenzie supporters.
I can’t see these former Wallaby captains black-balling McKenzie from the Wallaby coaching job.
Another wrinkle in the Growden story is that Pulver has made a point of insisting that he wants Australian teams, especially the Wallabies, to play entertaining, effective and successful rugby.
Of all the Australian Super Rugby teams, the Queensland Reds are the team that have fulfilled that mantra.
This brings us to the nonsense that a former prop can’t coach backs. I offer the name Warren Gatland in opposition to this nonsense.
Gatland’s tenure with Wales has seen a great improvement in the back play of the side. It has fallen away while he has been on a sort of sabbatical preparing for the British and Irish Lions side tour of Australia in June.
Let’s take a reverse proposition to really expose the nonsense. Backs can’t coach forward packs. Off hand I can think of any number of backs who are gurus with forwards: Sir Fred Allen, Sir Clive Woodward, Sir Graham Henry, Laurie Mains, Robbie Deans and so on.
This gets us back to McKenzie. The Reds have been a revitalised, energetic, successful and ball-in-hand team since McKenzie took over in 2010. He has restored some mongrel to the pack, too, as the Waratahs found out last weekend.
To my mind, the main criticisms of McKenzie relate to the way his teams tend to go into their shell in crucial finals matches. This applied especially when he coached the Waratahs.
Come finals time, his brilliant backs would kick away the ball and refuse to confront their opponents with a running game until it was too late and the match was lost.
There is also the fact that he gets too close to his senior players and is inclined to let them get away with behaviour that really should not be accepted.
As a coach, though, he is generally on the side of the angels with the running game and effective rugby. We can see this in his selection of the rookie Aidan Toua, a brilliant runner, as fullback on Friday night against the Hurricanes.
McKenzie has signalled with this selection that he needs more firepower in the backs to match the undoubted brilliance of the Hurricanes backline.
The selection of Toua means that Mike Harris is dropped to the subs bench. It was the accuracy of Harris’ boot that ensured the win over the Waratahs last weekend. Harris, though, aside from his valuable points-accumulation with kicking penalties and conversions, contributed very little to the Reds attack.
McKenzie has kept the successful and attacking centre pairing of Ben Tapuai and Chris Feauai-Sautia.
In my view, right now McKenzie is next cab off the rank as the Wallaby coach. The only other Australian possibility, Michael Cheika, has yet to prove himself in Super Rugby.
I don’t think that the ARU will appoint another non-Australian coach for a while, which kills off Jake White’s chances.
This brings me to one final point. Australian rugby is not good at utilising the talents of its best coaches. Look at the way New Zealand rugby tends to treasure and use former coaches.
The Chiefs success last season is in large part due to the mentoring of coach Dave Rennie by Wayne Smith. Sir John Kirwan has Graham Henry as a mentor as he tries to revive the Blues fortunes.
The Australian franchises and the Wallabies seem to be reluctant to do this. I know that Bob Dwyer, had an unsuccessful stint as the Waratahs coach but this was the wrong job for him at the time.
He should have been (and should still be if he is available) in a mentoring role.
The talents of other great players, the Ella brothers and David Campese, have not really been put to best use the coaching and selecting of the Wallabies.
The All Blacks always have an All Black (generally a great All Black, too) somewhere in their coaching and selecting set-up. One of the three current selectors, for instance, is Grant Fox, one of the smartest five-eighths to have played rugby.
But no smarter on a rugby field than, say, Mark Ella, who never seems to be considered for selection/coaching duties for the national side.
And what about Rod Macqueen? He is the most successful coach the Wallabies have ever had. I find it remarkable that he isn’t a national selector.