Robbie Deans: Friend Or Foe To Australian Rugby?

Robbie Dean Robbie Deans, coach of the Australian Wallabies for five years, and man that supposedly led to the downfall of Australian Rugby. This article is going to analyse whether Robbie Deans really flushed our Wallaby side down the drain, or whether he was just the victim of media backlash and under-education. Robbie Dean€™s coaching career began in 1997 with the Canterbury Club in New Zealand. A former player himself- Deans had a deep understanding about the ins and outs of Rugby and how that could be best translated toward a team that would win. His mentality for the game and the team must have been enough because he was upgraded to coach of the Crusaders and Assistant Coach for the All Blacks themselves. This promotion showed the rugby world that Deans was a force to be reckoned with. During Dean€™s time as assistant coach (from 2000-2003) the team themselves played a total of 37 games. Out of those 47 games, they won 30 of them. That€™s an amazing feat right there, winning 81 percent of your games. Of course, the thanks cannot go solely toward Deans; he was only assistant coach at the time. However, coaching is just as much about teamwork as the actual playing is; the coach, assistant coach and all other trainers should be commended for the effort. This is because the group needed to work together in order to achieve the rugby dream they were looking for. Dean€™s working relationship with Wayne Smith (2000-2001) and John Mitchell (2002-2003) has been nothing but positive, and that was expressed not only from the men themselves but also in the New Zealand media. Deans was retained as the assistant coach despite the change in head coach, which should be considered a personal achievement for Deans and an acknowledgement of his skills. During this time Deans was also coaching the Crusaders in what was the Super 12 and then Super 14 Rugby competition. In Deans€™ first year as coach in 2000, the Crusaders made it all the way to the final, winning their third title in a row- this feat has not been repeated in the history of the club. Despite the icy stormy weather that doused the emotion of rugby on the day, the Crusaders came off with a win, caused by smart decision making by both the players and Deans. That set the tone for most of Dean€™s coaching career at the Crusaders, if you ignore the failure that was the 2001 season, from 2002-2008 the team was developing the legacy that now stands in rugby halls. Part of this reason is due to the talent that the team had- a special mention must go toward Richie McCaw as the number one flanker in the game. However, as previously stated, it€™s a group effort and for a change rugby was the winner in the Crusaders camp under the influence of Robbie Deans. The legacy did not end when Deans left in 2008, and the Crusaders continued to stay strong, but Deans€™ now turned his focus toward a team that needed it- the Australian test side, the Wallabies. The decision was labelled by Deans as the €œmost difficult of my professional sporting career€ and despite the pressure that was placed on him, Robbie Deans had a reasonable debut as a test coach. Australia did lose to the RSA Springboks by a record score (53-8) and there were games that were close matches that should have been easy wins. But Deans also managed to score the largest win against the All Blacks in nine years and wins against South Africa at games that were both home and away. All of this in the debut year is an achievement that is not always focused on, and should be drawn into these discussions. The losses that most people focus on are the games in the now titled €œRugby Championship€ against the formidable foes that are South Africa and New Zealand. However, despite the media€™s €œDingo Deans€ slur campaign, the media did not focus on what was the real issue. Australia just does not have the talent that these other countries have. Currently, we are being out beaten for talent, and I blame this on the lack of support for junior rugby but that is an issue that could be delved into in its own article. The All-Blacks side has the greats that include Richie McCaw, Dan Carter and Tony Woodcock and they have the record that backs up that talent. The All Blacks have played a total of 503 games and have won 75.75% of those games. This is due to a talented squad that have a desire to win and the coaching staff that want to get those players there- they all have a desire to be the best that they can be. Robbie Deans has had a formidable record, and is scrutinised because of the losses that occured when playing a much better team. The Wallabies have won 31.76% of the games against the All Blacks, which is undeniably not the best statistic, but Robbie Deans developed players after his squad had been dramatically reduced from the depth of players that existed pre-2008. The depth was lost from the losses of players such as George Gregan and Stephen Larkham, and Deans needed to rebuild the Wallabies essentially from the ground up. 2009 was not the best year, however from 2010 the team continued to climb to maintain its position as one of the top 4 teams in the world. Robbie Deans had a 61% win rate as Wallabies coach, and it could be said that he was given an unfair dismissal. He worked the team up from nothing, and was beaten mainly by the two best teams in the world. Without the talent of past years and without the talent of their foes, was Deans ever going to succeed in the eyes of the media? Will the media only be appeased if the Wallabies return to the number one spot? With the Quade Cooper controversy arising suspiciously in line with the Lions Test who was the real winner in this scenario? Was it Quade Cooper? Was it Ewan McKenzie? Was it the Australian Media? Personally, I believe that the winner definitely wasn€™t who it should have been. I€™m not saying that the winner should have been Robbie Deans, because admittedly he did have some faults, but the winner should€™ve been rugby and that didn€™t happen.
Contributor
Contributor

Hayley Goodacre: a girl who loves too hard, reads too fast and plays too competitively.