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Wallaby coach Robbie Deans watches his team train in Sydney, Australia. AP Photo/Mark Baker
Let’s make one thing clear. Robbie Deans knows rugby. 10 years of provincial rugby and five test matches proves he is capable of understanding the game at the highest level. He can coach – that surely isn’t in dispute.
He led the Crusaders to five Super 12/14 championships. No other team has even won the title more than three times.
The problem has to be the cattle he has.
They are weak, soft, ill-disciplined and unable to perform as a side for 80 minutes.
If the Wallabies were a movie, they would be Groundhog Day. The film begins with the side being hyped up ahead of an upcoming match. The game begins and then it all goes pear-shaped.
There is always some excuse and some reason why they couldn’t get over the line. Post-match they promise to toughen up but it’s all talk.
Watching the Wallabies in 2009 has been more painful than watching the entire Police Academy series.
How can you point the finger at Deans? He is a coach, not a magician.
He isn’t the one dropping passes, missing tackles or making bone-headed plays. Sack him and all you are doing is finding a different jockey to flog the same dead horse.
If the Wallabies are going to have any success, it will only come as a result of a complete change in culture to the sport in this country. It is too fragmented and there are way too many factions.
To call club rugby a mess would be severely understating the extent of the problem. The introduction of money into the sport hasn’t solved the problems, just created new ones.
These pampered stars don’t hold a candle to the likes of David Campese, Simon Poidevin, Tim Horan or Phil Kearns. What Deans is finding is that he can’t instil character into players who never had it to start off with.
His Crusaders were capable of thinking (and staying) on their feet and improvising with plays that both won and saved test matches. They had great rugby brains.
Who of the current Wallaby side would you say has a great rugby brain? Stirling Mortlock and that would be about it.
The only solution Deans has it to find Marty McFly and Doc Brown and fly back to the future. He can hop into the DeLorean, find some real Wallabies and bring them to 2009.
Slapping a green and gold jersey on someone doesn’t make them a quality international player. Deans said the Wallabies “did not show the same pride in the jersey as the All Blacks did”.
What they are doing is desecrating the jersey.
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.