The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Wessels' Rebels move could make him the next Wallaby coach

28th September, 2017
Advertisement
Melbourne Rebels head coach Dave Wessels. (Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images)
Roar Guru
28th September, 2017
163
1373 Reads

Dave Wessels’ decision to remain in Australia and coach the Melbourne Rebels shows the measure of the great man that he is, and should put him front and centre to succeed Michael Cheika as Wallabies coach.

Wessels certainly owed the ARU no favours. He is a South African and only moved to Australia under Jake White to work as a coaching consultant at the Brumbies in 2012.

After being appointed head coach of the Western Force this year, and inheriting a seemingly perennial struggling team, Wessels turned the team around in less than a single year. He had them in a position where they could easily have topped the Australian conference.

Were it not for a silly late hit by Ross Haylett-Petty on Joe Powell when the Force played the Brumbies in Canberra this year, the Force very likely would played finals.

Despite turning the team around Wessels was kept in the dark about the Force’s and his own future, and, upon the Force being cut it seems to be assumed in Australian rugby circles that he’d simply have to accept whichever Australian Super Rugby team was offered to him.

Unsurprisingly, foreign clubs were also interested in a good man with a good track record of coaching. Wessels was and is immensely respected in Canberra, where he worked as a coaching consultant for the Brumbies for a number of years under Jake White.

The players at the Western Force obviously greatly respect the man too, given it has been reported in the media that they were refusing to decide their own futures until Wessels had decided his path, with many looking to follow Wessels.

Wessels was courted by Munster, one of the most prestigious clubs in Europe. Munster is an extremely good team, having just lost in the final of the Pro 12.

Advertisement

In addition to Munster being a very good team, primed for success, unlike the Rebels, who finished last in Super Rugby this year, from what I have bene told coaching salaries are higher in Ireland than in Australia, the IRFU is a very well run organisation.

Finally, it should be noted that Joe Schmidt has been coaching Ireland since 2013. It seems unlikely that he will continue coaching Ireland after the 2019 Rugby World Cup. If Wessels continued his good coaching form with Munster then it would seem likely that he would have been next in line for Ireland’s national coach.

Ireland’s prospects look far sunnier than Australia’s right now, just as Munster’s prospects look far sunnier than the Rebels’.

Instead, Wessels decided to coach the worst team in Super Rugby, and is keeping all of his great coaching expertise and qualities in Australia. Along with his obvious coaching abilities and the respect the commands from the players and fans, this shows the mark of a honourable and good man.

Dave Wessels Super Rugby 2017

(Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images)

If Wessels continues his good coaching form at the Rebels then he should be appointed the next Wallabies coach after Michael Cheika departs.

I am a great Stephen Larkham fan, as perhaps the most one-eyed Brumbies fan in Australia, but while Larkham has done better the Brumbies than some of his critics allege, Wessels has demonstrated more at the Force.

Advertisement

I believe that one day Larkham will make a great Wallabies coach, but based on their respective performances and coaching experience Wessels should be offered the job first. I hope Larkham remains as assistant coach, however.

Robbie Deans faced hurdles coaching the Wallabies due to his New Zealand nationality. However, unlike Deans Wessels did not play professionally for opposition, neither was he a longterm coach of a foreign Super Rugby team, and, finally, he did not seek coaching in Australia as a second option after failing to become head coach of his own country’s team first.

For all of these reasons, I believe that the unfair treatment that Deans often received for his heritage will not apply to Wessels. He is almost an honourary Australian.

close