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Don’t do it Jake. The Boks’ 2007 Rugby World Cup winning coach Jake White won’t take up his appointment as Brumbies coach for the next four years until July, but he flew into Canberra yesterday to have a cursory look-see, adding he intended to a fly to Sydney to have a chat with George Gregan about the possibility of a consultancy role.
That’s the “don’t do it” plea.
Gregan is the most capped international in the world, with 139, from retired England prop Jason Leonard’s and Ireland’s skipper Brian O’Driscoll, the only threat to Gregan’s record, with 119 apiece.
Gregan is also the most capped Super rep with 136. And with stats like that, he’s been tabbed a legend. That was a worthy recognition from 1994 until 2003, but since then until 2007, “trouble-maker” is far closer to the truth.
If Gregan had the bottle to call a halt after losing the 2003 RWC final in extra time to England, when he was passed his used-by date, he may well have fully earned legend status.
But no, Gregan was too selfish and arrogant to see that was the right thing to do, and aided by Wallaby coaches Eddie Jones and John Connolly, who refused point blank to give the then pedestrian half-back his overdue marching orders, Wallaby rugby went down the toilet, culminating in being unceremoniously bundled out of the 2007 RWC quarters by England.
Brumbies coach David Nucifora also suffered in the interim, sacked by Brumby player-power in 2004, even before the ACT-based franchise won the Super 12 tournament. Nucifora was a name-only coach at the business end.
The player-power leader was Gregan, with Steve Larkham and Joe Roff, supported by a weak Brumbies board which should have told the players to pull their heads in and get on with it.
The same scenario was played out after just two rounds of this year’s Super 15 when player-power sacked Andy Friend as coach and again the Brumbies board was weak. Out went Friend overnight via an unfriendly coup.
That’s what no-nonsense Jake White has inherited, and his first job will be to dramatically change the Brumby culture. It’s his way or the highway.
So the last person he needs on his yet-to-be-chosen coaching staff is a proven player-power leader in Gregan. And he can lump in Steve Larkham as well, the current attack coach Friend didn’t want.
Friend went.
More player power.
It’s rather poignant that White has arrived just three days after stand-in coach Tony Rea delivered the most stinging attack on everyone at the Brumbies, from the board down after the 29-20 loss to the lowly Lions. He didn’t miss.
Of the board, Rea accused them of making soft decisions; of the players: “We’re just a mob without any fight in us when it gets tough, even if we win. I don’t know how they can look each other in the eye”.
With only two wins and nine losses, the win culture hasn’t had much of a look-in. It’s the Brumbies worst season ever.
So take heed, Jake White. Tony Rea is at the coal-face with enough guts to tell it the way it is, with no cover-ups or pussy-footing so endemic in the 15-man code.
Rugby is the game they play in heaven. Only Jake White can deliver the Brumbies out of hell.