As this Wallabies World Cup campaign lurches from disaster to disaster the heat will surely be applied to the executive and spin doctors of the ARU.
The Cup is not yet over and it may be that I and many others will have to stand up in due course and concede that Robbie Deans is indeed a genius and that John O’Neill is a manager extrordinaire.
After our second half display against Russia, though, one would have to be an extreme optimist to imagine the Wallabies winning three games in a row.
We were awful and the reality is that if another quarter final exit does not beckon then a semi final exit almost certainly does.
John O’Neill in defending his appointment and reappointment of Robbie Deans has said on numerous occasions that Deans has brought Australia from an IRB Ranking of 5 to a ranking of 2.
That was correct as at the beginning of the Cup and using a ranking as at the conclusion of the last World Cup.
Inherent in O’Neill’s comments is an unfair and cowardly criticism of John Connolly the coach who preceded Deans.
Let’s forget for the moment that Knuckles win-loss record is far superior to Deans. Knuckles was appointed at the end of the Eddie Jones’ tenure. He filled the gap at a time when Australian Rugby was struggling.
Much maligned by New South Welshmen, Connolly was an excellent coach a good manager of young men, and in fact a devotee of expansive play. He just happened to think that you had to have a good mongrel pack of forwards to help those backs get going.
And if he was as negative as so many southern critics think how did Lynagh, Horan, Little and so many others flourish under him? And how was Queensland so successful?
O’Neill’s spin doctors would have us believe that Knuckles left us after a disastrous reign as coach with Australia ranked 5 and that Deans the saviour (and thus O’Neill) have saved Australian rugby.
That is a cowardly slur on a decent man and a good coach and servant of Australian rugby.
The facts as the ARU will not tell you: When Connolly took over in February 2006 Australia were ranked 5. When we commenced the World Cup in 2007 we were ranked 2. (Connolly had done exactly what O’Neill has praised Deans for doing, lifting our ranking from 5 to 2!)
A quarter final exit which is certainly on the cards will most probably leave us at a rank of 5.
What then will the spin doctors say?
This has been a disastrous campaign. I may well have to eat humble pie and if needs be my hand will be raised accepting responsibility for unfair criticism of Deans. However I suspect that humble pie will not be on the menu.
Deans has had four years with support beyond that given to Jones or Connolly. We still have no idea what our best back row is. We have no idea what our best 12/13 combination is.
Our scrum has reached something below parity at best. We are inconsistent. We lack mongrel pride and fight. We picked at least 5 players back from injury who were not match fit and are now paying the consequences.
And this from the coaching guru who seems to have a never ending store of Chauncey Gardiner quotes responding to the latest disaster.
“We will learn from this experience.” Which one? There have been so many.
I don’t suggest that we bring back Knuckles. He wouldn’t come. I do suggest that it is time for some honest appraisal of our performance both at coaching and managerial level.
Whilst the spin doctors rule, no one benefits.
cookee
Guest
BIG BOPPA ,quite right ,its been four years of mediocrity and a promise.geece is in a similar state today because of poor performance and great spin."the man hears what he wants and disregards the rest"BUT just in case robbie doesnt win LOTTO jon has given him another two years contract so their reign will survive and hoping the law of averages will come into play. averages versus karma and ability;good luck
cookee
Guest
jb ,nice mate ,connolly is my choice over deans dismal record. success at rwc will shut most critics up but deans record is running out of spin?
Big Boppa
Guest
Been four years so far - almost the longest consecutive tenure for some time (longer than Macqueen who won everything)
Matthew Skellett
Guest
A word about Mr Connolly's record, he was only chosen as Wallabies Coach as a stop-gap measure , because really at the time there was no one else to do the job . Mr E Jones had proved either incompetent or sabotaging traitor(look at the last wallabies SA tour under him) or both . Mr Connolly was actually not that popular,The QRU couldn't wait to get rid of him after so many mediocre Super 12 seasons -'anyone but John Connolly ' was their catch cry -when he was coach he never tried to develop new talent as Mr Deans has done . I remember he made a statement perhaps a year before this about how the Coaching/Admin staff should discipline wayward/non=performing wallaby players instead of trying to protect/cover-up for them BUT thst's just what he did when he was the coach -the fact that he has leapt to the defence of Mr Giteau despite the fact that every opportunity has been given to him to shine and he STILL cannot hand in anything but a poor/indifferent p[erformance is proof enough In conclusion Mr Connolly can only boast about beating the Waratahs for x amount of rugby seasons and NO MORE . A MEDIOCRITY if ever there was one , only time will tell if Mr Deans can raise the Wallabies above the nation's expectations
Seiran
Roar Guru
As of this week, the Wallabies are now ranked third.
Johnno
Guest
sixo/clock agreed with most bolds. But david Pocock has been a suitable replacement for george smith and may end up better than him. Will genia has also been of world calss standard like george gregan. Gerrard never world class and gitau way overrate but for 1 or 2 high quality years not exceptional i am saying high quality there is adifference
Ben S
Roar Guru
Gerrard was never a great Test player by any standard, so your argument rests on Mortlock basically. The squad was packed with players either too old, or too young or simply not good enough: Dunning, Hardman, Sheperdson, Chisholm, Hoiles, Palu, Freier, Huxley, Cordingley, Baxter. Australia should have beaten England, but they didn't for myriad reasons. IMHO the current Wallaby squad is far superior in terms of talent, and yet still as flawed as the 2007 version.
sixo_clock
Roar Guru
That still leaves two centres, one arguably one of the greatest, in a pivotal positions with which to build a winning formula. Lyons' injury problems also made his contribution negligible, ditto Palu so why were they in the squad? Gerrard was a great defender/attacker off the bench and could cover centre, wing or fullback. I was not privy to Smiths reasoning, but I understood he had had enough test Rugby. Connolly also had some youngsters, AAC, Barnes, Drew etc showing good promise but still went out too early. That squad had enough firepower to at least make the semis or final. Mediocre, I don't think so.
Bakkies
Guest
Like I said it was in an amateur era where they didn't play half of the teams in the competition.
Ben S
Roar Guru
* Gregan was finished in 2007 and Larkham and Latham were on their last legs. * Gerrard was never a dominant Test player. * Deans could have kept Smith. I thought Connolly inherited a very mediocre set of players.
sixo_clock
Roar Guru
Adam Ashley-Cooper, Berrick Barnes, Alistair Baxter, Mark Chisholm, Sam Cordingley, Matt Dunning, Rocky Elsom, Adam Freier, Mark Gerrard, Matt Giteau, George Gregan (vc), Sean Hardman, Stephen Hoiles, Greg Holmes, Julian Huxley, Stephen Larkham, Chris Latham, David Lyons, Hugh McMeniman, Drew Mitchell, Stephen Moore, Stirling Mortlock (c), Wycliff Palu, Nathan Sharpe, Guy Shepherdson, George Smith, Scott Staniforth, Lote Tuqiri, Dan Vickerman, Phil Waugh (vc). Highlighted are the game breakers we have lost and not replaced in all cases.
ThelmaWrites
Guest
I think you are over-simplifying the corporate world, GRS.
The Other White Wendell
Guest
There were no Force or Melbourne either and there had been no female Prime Minister and the twin towers were still standing and Anthony Mundine was still a footy player and Jonny Farnham hadn't retired yet and blah blah fuggin blah. make all the excuses you want Bakkies QLD won the comp that was they played in and Connolly was the coach.
Scot Free
Guest
Yep, Justin. Horne sure was lucky to break his cheekbone in his very first tackle after a long layoff.
Jerry
Guest
Oh, I wasn't taking issue with you mentioning it - it's JON's repeated use of that misleading stat that I have the issue with.
Bakkies
Guest
The best one was Macdonald at 13 when Umaga was fit. Thanks Mitch.
Bakkies
Guest
Saia Faingaa is rubbish. Can't scrummage, can't throw a hooker in a flanker's body. TPN needs to learn how to tackle properly then he won't miss so much rugby. The Waratahs should have corrected it years ago
rob mccourt
Roar Rookie
There was one up and under a thon as best I can recall that being the appalling game against South Africa at Homebush. Connolly also coached Australia to it's record winning margin against South Africa which I think without checking the stats was 49 - 0. It is best to remember as well that the style of game in vogue from time to time changes with application and interpretation of the rules. Connolly was most certainly not incompetent.
rob mccourt
Roar Rookie
Correct Jerry. I was just taking the ranking from the immediate post World Cup ranking.
Jerry
Guest
What? There's no doubt in my mind (or it seems, the selectors) that Whitelock/Thorn is the first string combination. The only question is which of Boric or Williams will be on the bench (once enough loose forwards are fit that we aren't required to have Boric as loose forward reserve). Though it was a bit weird to see all 4 locks on the pitch the other day.