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There have been comparisions made between Rod Macqueen and Ewen McKenzie as the best Wallaby coaches of the professional era.
An interesting topic, but a bit too early to make a genuine assessment.
Macqueen’s magnificent CV reads like a who’s who, with a Rugby World Cup, Bledisloe Cup, Tri-Nations. and a once-only series win over the British and Irish Lions.
A perfect record.
McKenzie hasn’t achieved any of those Macqueen milestones – yet. And his squad is no match for Macqueen’s as individuals.
But when it comes to combinations, McKenzie has garnered together two combinations that could well match the Macqueen squad in the longer term.
The Brumbies starting backline combination did well in the first Test flogging of the French.
Half Nic White, centres Matt Toomua, and Tevita Kuridrani, played key roles, and when they were done, on came the Waratahs combination of half Nick Phipps and centre Kurtley Beale off the bench to join the three Waratah starters – Bernard Foley at fly-half, Adam Ashley-Cooper on the wing, and Israel Folau at fullback.
That was a massive Brumby punt by McKenzie. The Canberra-based franchise has a kicking-based game under coach Steve Larkham, unlike the Waratahs under Michael Cheika who run the ball at will – and do it superbly well.
The point being Cheika is tactically more like McKenzie than Larkham.
But McKenzie can take a bow by sticking to his selections on the spring tour that netted him four wins from the last four games.
That took McKenzie’s CV to six wins and six losses in his first dozen internationals. Now it’s seven-six, and should be nine-six when this three-Test French series is done and dusted.
Then real rugby life licks in with the Rugby Championship and the Bledisloe Cup.
Nothing matters more than the Bledisloe. In 2014, it’s far more important than even thinking about next year’s Rugby World Cup.
The All Blacks have won the coveted Cup 11 years in a row from 2003 to 2013, even worse than Queensland’s eight-year dominance over NSW in rugby league’s State of Origin.
The men-in-black weren’t that positive over England last weekends, and will be put to the test again tomorrow.
At the same time last weekend, the Wallabies were super positive over France and it was obvious they enjoyed the free-running McKenzie insists on.
It’s a damn shame Stephen Moore has been denied the leadership through injury – his captaincy lasted just two minutes.
Michael Hooper is the Wallabies best player, but that doesn’t automatically translate to the champion open-side flanker being the best captain.
He has the arm-band tomorrow, and it’s up to him how responsibility rests on his shoulders.
When David Pocock was in exactly the same position before his spate of knee injuries savaged his career, captaincy didn’t sit well with him.
Having said that, Hooper deserves the captaincy far more than any other contender, so let’s allow history to tell the story.
All we ask for, as lovers of running rugby, is that Ewen McKenzie and his Wallabies continue to play positive, attacking, rugby.
Mistakes will be made, and they must be accepted as part of “having a crack”.
Far better to make mistakes attacking than giving away possession by kicking to the opposition.
Then we can talk about Ewen McKenzie genuinely contesting the tag of the best Wallaby coach pf the open era.
But until then, it’s still Rod Macqueen by the length of the straight.