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On Saturday night, at Allianz Stadium against the Reds, Waratahs fans will get their first indication of how Daryl Gibson will scrub up as coach.
The 40-year-old has huge boots to fill taking over from the powerhouse and well-performed Michael Cheika.
Gibson has 19 All Blacks caps and 77 games for the Crusaders under his belt as an inside centre, but more importantly, he’s had two years under Cheika’s watchful eye as assistant coach to embrace the Australian way of rugby.
The latter is vital.
Gibson hails from a land where just about every young boy grows up wanting to be an All Black. Rugby in New Zealand isn’t a sport, it’s a religion.
But rugby will never be a religion in Australia where kids grow up with many more options – rugby league, AFL, soccer, cricket, tennis, golf, motor racing, swimming, surfing, and being jockeys.
And that’s where John Mitchell and Robbie Deans failed to recognise the difference between New Zealand and Australian rugby.
Mitchell played 134 games for Waikato, Deans five Tests for the All Blacks and 146 for Canterbury. No question about playing ability.
Mitchell was the highly successful All Blacks coach from 2001 to 2003, but when he failed to win the 2003 Rugby World Cup he was shown the door despite winning 23 of 28 Tests with an 82.1 winning percentage.
So he became the first Kiwi to cross the ditch and coach an Australian Super Rugby side with the Western Force from 2006 to 2010.
To be fair, Mitchell didn’t have the cattle, but nor did he come to grips with the Australian way of rugby. The combination netted him a 24-win, four-draw, and 37-loss record from 65 games.
Deans became the first foreign Wallabies coach, and he started as though he was he destined to be the Messiah with two wins against France, and a win each against the All Blacks, Springboks and Ireland in his first five games.
But the wheels soon fell off.
Deans took another 10 Tests before he beat the men-in-black again, finishing up with a 2-1-14 record against New Zealand, and an overall record of 43 wins from 73 Tests for a 58.1 winning percentage,
Both Mitchell and Deans were very good blokes, easy to deal with, but lacked communication skills coaching Australians.
Now it’s Gibson’s turn on centre stage.
But it’s worth repeating that Gibson has the advantage over Mitchell and Deans with the two years he’s spent under Michael Cheika’s coaching.
If Gibson hasn’t got the Australian message by now, he’ll never get it.
And tonight we’ll see.
Again to be fair, Gibson doesn’t deserve to be without goal-kicking fly-half Wallaby Bernard Foley for the first four rounds with a shoulder injury, forcing Kurtley Beale into both roles when he’s far more dangerous in the No.12 jumper.
That’s in the hands of a rookie David Horwitz, making his Super Rugby debut.
At least Horwitz has Beale inside him and Rob Horne outside, two seriously experienced campaigners, as Horwitz is bound to be have rubber knees.
So that’s where Daryl Gibson stands among his charges at kick-off time. How he stands among Waratah fans will be known 90 minutes later.