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World Cup captain James Horwill has denied helping plot Robbie Deans’ demise as Wallabies coach, saying his old mentor is only trying to boost book sales.
ARU boss Bill Pulver terminated Deans’ contract two days after Australia’s 41-16 series-deciding loss to the British and Irish Lions last year, with Horwill’s performance savaged in the cut coach’s autobiography released on Thursday.
The book, Red, Black & Gold, written by Deans’ trusted former Wallabies media manager Matt McIlraith, also documents Deans’ disillusionment at senior players being involved in “clandestine meetings” about the coach’s position in the days leading up to the third-Test capitulation.
“I don’t know about that,” Horwill said ahead of Saturday’s Test against Argentina in Mendoza.
“Not to my knowledge. We were focused on playing and what happened afterwards, happened. That was not our doing.”
While the book did not name names when referring to the senior players working “behind the scenes”, only then-skipper Horwill and vice-captain Will Genia were singled out for criticism after the heavy Lions defeat.
“It’s disappointing that individually you get blamed, but that’s part of footy – you live with what you’ve done,” Horwill told AAP.
“In the end, I feel like had a very good relationship with Robbie and I don’t think I ever went out there and did anything not to my fullest.”
Asked if the criticism hurt, Horwill said: “It’s part of it. People write books, you know, to sell ’em in the end.
“No-one’s going to write a book that’s boring.”
The chapter, titled “Fed To the Lions”, was certainly the most entertaining but Horwill insisted he never met with Pulver or anyone else to endorse a coaching change – win or lose the Sydney series decider.
“I never met with Bill Pulver about anything to do with the Wallabies,” he told AAP.
“That’s the way it is. That’s not my decision. that’s not what I did.
“That’s for the powers-to-be to do.”
Horwill, though, does now agree with his former coach that he should not have played with a calf injury, which, according to the autobiography, led to the “Australian scrum getting murdered”.
On Thursday, the lock conceded he’d been so worked up by the IRB intervening to reopen a foul play charge against him that, when he was finally cleared to play, nothing was going to stop him.
“The calf injury certainly did hurt and probably in hindsight I shouldn’t have (played),” he said.
“I was probably that worked up about what had happened previously and I really didn’t want them to beat me.
“We really didn’t know the severity until the warm-up and, looking back, what I’d been through earlier that week, or the week before, I was probably pretty stubborn to the fact that I wasn’t going to let a tiny little calf injury stop me from playing in what I thought was probably the biggest game of rugby played in Australia in a long, long time.”
Despite coming in for personal flak, Horwill said Deans’ five-year reign was a game changer in Australian rugby.
“He is the most-capped Wallabies coach ever,” he said.
“He came and tried to work on a lot of things and brought in a lot of youth, exposed a lot of players to Test rugby that probably we wouldn’t have heard of previously.
“He has a great passion for the game of rugby as a whole, not just Test rugby, but just the game of rugby at grassroots level to the whole way through.
“So that’s a real positive legacy.”
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.