Wallaby coach Robbie Deans watches his team train in Sydney, Australia. AP Photo/Mark Baker
A Queensland inspired attack on Robbie Deans has been launched in the lead-up to Saturday’s Test between the Wallabies and the All Blacks. This Test is a must-win match for the Wallabies if they are to remain in contention to win the Tri-Nations tournament and to win back the Bledisloe Cup.
There is no way Deans will be replaced as the Wallaby coach before the 2011 Rugby World Cup tournament. Nor should he be.
But if the Wallabies don’t win two of their next four Tests against the All Blacks and the Springboks, then he can expect a bitter campaign to be maintained against him for the next two years.
The first knife to be flashed in this campaign was drawn by Andrew Slack, a successful Wallaby captain and an unsuccessful Super Rugby coach, who has pointed to the record of the Wallabies under Deans losing six out of their last seven Tri-Nations Tests, with five successive losses.
The Slack criticism was picked up by Wayne Smith, a rugby columnist for The Australian, who works out of Queensland. Smith discussed an issue raised by Slack, namely whether the Deans’ mantra of “playing what is in front of you” is actually right for the Wallabies.
The Slack/Smith conclusion is that it is not: “Australian sides have flourished most when they have a certain structure about their play,” Smith writes.
From the article, it is difficult to work out what structured play means in this context.
I think it means going back to the robotic play of the Eddie Jones era, when players were given plays that they had to follow come what may. If the play called for a pass and a gap appeared that could be converted into an easy run-in try, the pass was required to be made.
Smith knows all about this because he does not want the need for “certain structure about their play” to stifle the Wallabies “as the final days of the Jones era demonstrated.”
And here we get to the nub of the problem for Deans of resurrecting the Wallabies.
He inherited a game plan from Jones and John Connolly that did not produce results after 2004 for the Wallabies. A side with poor set-piece skills, especially the scrums (remember Bill Young’s failings?) and no composure, with a fatal tendency to give away penalties.
From 2004 to now, the Wallabies have lost 26 Tests. In 18 of those Tests, they have been out-scored on penalty goals by an incredible 73 to 23, and on tries only 43 to 32.
Deans has improved the scrum to where it can hold its own. But the Wallabies are still struggling with their composure and discipline.
In this year’s Tri-Nations, the Wallabies have been outscored through penalty goals by 12 to 3, a differential of 27 points. The combined loss for the two matches was only 18 points.
Why hasn’t Deans been able to turn the Wallabies into clones of his Crusaders’ sides, which were noted for their discipline and composure?
The answer, I believe, lies with the coaches of the Australian Super Rugby sides.
They have been too tolerant of players not performing. It is a disgrace, for instance, that no Australian side was in this year’s finals.
Worse than this, none of the coaches this year has been able to lift the performance of more than a couple of players like Benn Robinson and Digby Ioane.
It would help, too, if some of the intense fitness training that Deans put his Crusaders side through was applied to the Australian Super Rugby players.
The worst culprit among the Australian Super Rugby teams, and this is true since Jones coached them after his stint with the Wallabies, are the Queensland Reds. It is ironic that the first criticisms of Deans are coming from Queensland, once a powerhouse of Australian and world rugby and now, in rugby terms, a failed state.
My sense of all of this is that Deans is slowly working his way through the playing list left to him by Connolly and dropping players when some talent emerges that is better than what is there.
This time next year, for instance, it will be surprising if Al Baxter, Nathan Sharpe, Wycliff Palu, and Luke Burgess are in the starting line-up.
My guess, too, is there will be a new captain, even if Stirling Mortlock comes back into the side after his injury. Berrick Barnes (a possible captain) will be the first five-eighths and Matt Giteau restored to the inside centre position.
It tends to be forgotten that under Deans, the Wallabies achieved their highest winning score against the All Blacks – 34 points at Sydney last year. They also defeated the Springboks last year in South Africa for only the second Wallaby victory there in Tri-Nations rugby.
An irony about Saturday’s Test is that Deans was assistant coach of the All Blacks when they won back the Bledisloe Cup in 2003, after a Wallaby reign of five years. Now six years on, he is attempting to win it back for the Wallabies.
The ANZ Stadium is one of the few, perhaps only, ground out of South Africa where the All Blacks have a losing Test record. The scoreboard at Homebush reads 6 victories for the Wallabies and 3 for the All Blacks.
The other good omen for Deans and the Wallabies is that all the Tri-Nations Tests played so far this year have been won by the home side.
Is it the turn of the Wallabies playing at Sydney for a victory?
mother teresa
Guest
COOKEE, yes clearly this is a copout by a coach as he has misread the situation. michael ;how many games must robbie lose before you accept he is responsible as selector and coach;or do you believe logically that the crusaders were good cos the players were available and deans had no input
cookee
Guest
MIKE LEE, my point is if these wallabies are so tactically naiive or stressed not to perform what you infer(quite rightly) is elementary -----and the coach keeps telling them to play whats in front of them,then im of the opinion michael the coach should return to his ward quickly .
Michael Lee
Guest
why, is it the coach's fault that they cannot execute? all Gits had to do at the death was, not panic, and drop it over from 10 metres for 3 pts. game over. blame the players!!!!, imagine if the boks had Deans and the wallabies had De Villiers.
Hansie
Guest
There is no doubt that Deans has had an extraordinarily long honeymoon as Australian coach, especially as the improvements are not yet evident on the scoreboard. Deans did not inherit Burgess. Last year he was hailed for unearthing Burgess, and is now sticking by Burgess for too long. Deans also started Tahu at inside centre at Ellis Park, which was a dreadful use of an inexperienced and flawed player.
cookee
Guest
michael lee said deans is the best coach in the world before his latest loss ,hope michael is alright today
fred
Guest
michael lee, the best losing coach in the world:robbie who?
Knives Out
Guest
I presumed that you were referring to head coaches, JJ. You missed out Laurie Fisher, btw. He's forwards coach at Munster. The difference between McGahan and McKenzie is that McGahan has a far smaller squad and he actually improved the way Munster played. Despite their ultimate failure in the HC l they looked excellent in the prior stages. Stade didn't even make the knock out stages (semi?) and had a very poor domestic season. Conversely, Munster won the ML. There's no real comparison. There are good Australian coaches, but out of all the clubs in France, Ireland, Wales, England & Scotland there are only 4 Australian head coaches, and the rest are part of coaching panels, so that isn't exactly 'so many doing well'. For example, it's claimed in Australia that Millard did well because the Blues reached the SF of the HC, yet anybody who watched the Blues during the ML campaign would have noted that their backs looked so bad it was almost embarrassing. So what he has achieved there I don't know?
Knives Out
Guest
How so?
Knives Out
Guest
I can't comment on the ego side of Australian rugby. By and large rugby players are well behaved in England. They have a drink in the clubhouse with the fans post-match, sign a few autographs and say hi to the kids. There is no swearing and no nonsense, generally. Is that not the case in Australia and most rugby playing countries? The ego problems can be found wherever an EPL footballer flounces about, but not rugby. How can such a minority sport produce egotistical players?
stillmissit
Roar Guru
Bonza - these big ego's has been a feature of the Waratahs for years and has been commented on here by myself and several others many times as they conjured up losses that should have been wins. If we cant bring these players back to the real job of beating the Kiwi's and the SA's which, after all is our main goal as a rugby nation, then the rest is rubbish. In terms of the choice I agree with you basically but as I said, if you have to teach these guys basic stuff how good are our Academies? Someone said earlier where is the next Tim Horan or John Eales in the academies at the moment. I wonder what we are up to in player development and where the talent identification comes from.
Michael Lee
Guest
which we will probably suck at, but will DEFINITELY adapt to
Michael Lee
Guest
100% well said
Michael Lee
Guest
Robbie Deans is the best coach in the world. Unfortunately he can not play the game for the Wallabies. The PLAYERS themselves have to take responsibility, they are on the field and executing. Rugby scribes NEED to focus on THEIR players. The Boks have put the Wallabies and ABs under such enormous pressure that they cannot execute. All the excuses in the world will not help. Its a kicking game, it's negative, the refs, the players are dirty etc.etc. add nauseam. It is the team that adapts best to the rules that wins. In saying that, I believe that there is too much kicking and that the rules should be changed to allow for MOSTLY running rugby.
ohtani's jacket
Guest
That's not true. Henry supporters still support Henry and Deans supporters still support Deans and nothing much of anything has changed in that regard.
ohtani's jacket
Guest
Deans' forwards coaches were Steve Hansen (2000 and 2001), Colin Cooper (2002), Don Hayes (2003 and 2004), Verne Cotter (2005 and 2006) and Mark Hammett (2007 and 2008), but it's an entirely different proposition to take a junior like McCaw or Carter who've come up through the school system and rep grades and mould them into a Canterbury player than it is to select a Test side. As a provincial coach, you produce Test match players. As a Test coach, you select them. The former is a by product of good coaching, the latter is a skill. Obviously, provincial coaches have to select their sides as well, but more often than not they have to make do with what they have. A Test match coach can choose from every single province, but if you think about it, it's a daunting task. It's easier to pick, train and select a Crusaders forwards pack than it is to pick a Wallaby forward pack, because you basically have the core of the Canterbury side and the best guys from the affliated provinces. You have limited options, but can concentrate on getting a smaller base of players to mesh. Deans has shown faith in the players he's chosen, but it's either too soon, too late or too much to expect him to put any sort of mark on guys like Baxter, Sharpe or George Smith. They've been part of the Australian set-up for a hell of a long time and Deans gets them for a couple of weeks at a time. Had he been All Blacks coach, he would've had an existing relationship with the Crusaders players, much like Henry has an existing relationship with the Blues players and Smith and Hansen have ties to the Crusaders. That would've been a foundation at least.
Bay35Pablo
Guest
Les Kiss - Ireland defensive coach
Jolly Jupes
Guest
Knives/pothale - without trying too hard Michael Chieka - Lienster, Tony McGahan - Lienster, Alan Gaffney - Lienster/Ireland, Ewen Mckenzie - Stade francais, Scott Johnson - Ospreys, Brian Smith - England, Steve Meehan - Bath, Todd Louden - Japan, Bill Millard - Cardiff, Matt O'conner - Leicester Interesting you dismiss Mckenzie based on failing in the semi last year, yet you vaunt McGahan who failed in the HC and is a first year head coach. You also know that had Cheika not won the HC he would have been booted so there is a fine line between coaching success and failure. My real point is that there are a fair number of aussie coaches doing OK abroad and seemingly appreciated
Howi
Roar Rookie
Equating Andrew Slack's and Wayne Smith's reading of the state of national rugby to a "Queensland inspired attack" is a little bizarre. I'm certain not all Queenslanders share their point of view and I'm equally certain that their views are shared by some who are not Queenslanders. Using them and the fact that Qld rugby is in the doldrums seems to be a cheap way to raise a bit of hoo-hah. Not good form. Smith is a journalist. He has to have an opinion. You cannot say his opinions are simply Qld inspired just because that's where he lives. Come on. Do you expect him to stop writing about national rugby because Qld rugby is poor and that would just seem hypocritical? In defence of Wayne Smith, I have to say that I think he is a fantastic rugby-writer. His articles are engrossing and entertaining and I encourage anybody who doesn't read The Australian to pick up a copy if only to read Wayne Smith. Being Victorian, I am very grateful for Smith and The Australian for what they provide in the way of rugby news and views. Spiro's words don't reach Victorian media and the best we get is an article every now and then from Grumbling Growden, which is rarely entertaining. Smith has a good sense and a rich appreciation of Australian rugby. More credit please.
Bonza
Guest
I struggle with your logic a little If the team is full of "big ego's, going walk about when the going gets tough" why is this happening now on Dean's watch? Given there are good players not in the squad and there have been significant changes in the playing group I dont see why there is suddenly a problem with ego's Theoretically if we have the best coach available then we should be moving beyond this as a function of philiosophy, coaching and selection. If these conditions are a hangover from previous regimes then I again dont understand as Deans has bought in at least 14 new players which would negate any "clique" that was problematic and he has been quite deliberate in his choices. I dont see it as the fault of s14 as there are now more professional players available to the Wallabies than in the last 15 years. Rememeber we used to pick from two provinces who hated each other and yet they were able to combine to win the Bledisloe and RWC. With 4 provincial teams training players there is significantly more choice.
Nashi
Guest
Not sure if you can point any finger at Deans for this, but I am sure someone will. One thing I had hoped we would inherit from the Crusaders playbook was turnovers and support play. Instead we still turn over ball at most inoportune times and our forward support play and cleanout is decidedly second rate compared to SA and NZ. Surely with the backline we have, these are the missing ingredients. If the Elsom inspired forwards can deliver on these two requirements maybe we can get over the line on Saturday. But, out of interest, can anyone tell me who taught the Crusaders to play that way, was it Deans or did they have a specialist forwards coach? The old "play what's in front of you" matters little if all you have is an empty pair of hands. If Deans didn't teach Richie how to be the phenomenon that he is then you could possibly blame him for not bringing the expert with him. Robbie has certainly had carte blanche as far as the ARU cheque book is concerned.