During the rapid rise of the Wallabies over the last couple of weeks, a lot has been made of Robbie Deans’ mantra, “play what’s in front of you.” Deans’ stamp is all over this team, with some commentators swearing that the Crusaders have simply traded in their old jerseys for fresh gold ones.
But are there other factors behind the recent rise of Australian rugby that are being overlooked?
With the aid of a little hindsight, this year’s Super 14 season provides an interesting lead in to the Wallabies sudden turn around.
Take, for example, the change in form of the Waratahs that followed the announcement of coach Ewen McKenzie’s termination.
Was this a case of the Waratahs players getting behind their sacked coach, or was it that they took a bit more control of their own destiny on the field?
If it was the latter, and the players chose to reject his constrictive tactics and back their instincts more, then it is worth noting how neatly this mentality fits in with Deans’ approach to the game.
Given that the New South Wales team currently provides the bulk of the national team, it may be that the momentum of this change of attitude carried strongly into the Wallaby squad.
Quite the boon for a new coach?
Of course, this is nowhere near the full story.
Deans appears to have not only harnessed but built upon this wave of player power much like Jake White took the momentum of the South African Super 14 teams last year and used it to propel the Springboks to World Cup success.
But the stories of all of Australia’s Super rugby teams have not dovetailed so nicely with the plans of the national team’s new coach
The passing of the Brumbies’ Generation X has not completely ended the days of Rod MacQueen’s phase rugby – the controlled and sometimes predictable game that had turned into the antithesis of Deans’ “have a go” aspirations.
In the West, off-field dramas taunted the Force and the club seemed to be somewhat at odds with Deans’ demands upon player behaviour and responsibility.
Things were better, however, in the North where the vastly improved performances of the Queensland Reds were a vindication of the appointment of their new coach, Phil Mooney.
The Reds went from being the most boring team in the competition to one of its more adventurous, though sadly, not yet successful, in the space of a season.
It was as if Mooney had let a bunch of school-kids out of detention, given them a ball and told them to go and enjoy themselves.
Of the Wallabies’ most applauded players at the start of this international season, Queenslanders Berrick Barnes, James Horwill and Peter Hynes all owe a lot to Mooney’s coaching.
Barnes probably would have been a star this season without Mooney. However, there is something in his comfortable and laconic demeanour that seems to excel within his coach’s expansive game plans.
The decision to give the Reds’ captaincy to Horwill may yet prove to be one of the most inspired in Queensland rugby history as it has turned something of a reckless rogue into a “follow me” leader with a good decade of top level rugby ahead of him.
Horwill’s aggressive leadership harkens back to the grand old days of Reds rugby.
Back then the team was built around a no-nonsense pack of cantankerous hard men. The idea of Horwill packing down amongst Sam Scott-Young, Garrick Morgan, Tony Shaw or Troy Coker seems about right.
The greatest recipient of Mooney’s approach, though, has to be Peter Hynes.
For so long a bloke who struggled in a team that struggled, Hynes found something in Mooney’s approach that made sense to him. Something that Mooney’s predecessor, Eddie Jones, could never provide.
Whatever it was, Hynes now seems to have found that same something in the approach of Deans and in doing so he has leap-frogged countless other wingers to thoroughly deserve his selection in the Australian fifteen.
There have been plenty of players who shined brightly as youngsters but then faded under the scrutiny of maturity, but has there ever been a pot that sat for so long before reaching the boil?
As Hynes struggled for Queensland, so too did Al Baxter, Lote Tuqiri and Nathan Sharpe struggle for Australia.
The Wallabies recent rise is Hynes’ rise writ large and in no other player can both the Reds 2008 Super 14 season and the start of Deans’ tenure as Wallabies coach be so clearly defined.
He is Mooney’s ever-ready adventurer and Deans’ everyman hero. The perfect expression of each coach’s vision for how rugby should be played.
Despite their obvious differences in experience levels, it would seem that there exists enough similarities in the coaching styles and philosophies of Mooney and Deans to excite both Queensland and Australian rugby fans.
As history has shown, national teams perform best when their provincial teams’ philosophies are closely aligned to those of the national coach.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.
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