Don't judge Deans by silver standard

For the chief executive of the ARU, John O'Neill, it's all about winning trophies. Robbie Deans's first term as Wallabies coach has reflected a holding pattern for trophies retained, but with an obvious improvement (except for two aberrations: the All Blacks at Auckland and the Springboks at Johannesburg) in the play of the team from last year. A C-plus would be a fair mark so far.

The Mandela Shield, awarded to the winner of the Wallabies-Springboks series, has been retained. Earlier, Ireland and France were defeated. The All Blacks were well beaten at Sydney and the Springboks even more comprehensively at Perth. But there was no additional silverware. The All Blacks retained the Tri-Nations trophy and, with their desperate victory at Brisbane, have extended their grip on the Bledisloe Cup. They have now held the cup for six years, the second-longest period in the competition's history.

Before the test season started, my feeling was that the Wallabies squad lacked talent but that Deans was a great coach. Part of his success has been a shrewd eye for talent. He saw in Peter Hynes qualities that other national coaches had not seen. Hynes is now the premier wing in Australia. Interestingly, it was Hynes who chased the high kicks, while Lote Tuqiri was nowhere to be seen.

Before he was injured, Luke Burgess was shaping up as the first running halfback threat for Australia since Nick Farr-Jones retired. If we deconstruct the Brisbane test, the loss of Burgess and Berrick Barnes was crucial to the ultimate defeat. The Wallabies spent over five minutes inside the All Blacks' 22, compared with the two minutes inside the Wallabies' 22 by the All Blacks. Burgess and Barnes, with their playmaking skills, would have complemented Matt Giteau in the quest to find holes in a tight All Blacks defence. Without them, the Wallabies' attack was predictable.

The core of a new and solid pack is being created, with Benn Robinson and Stephen Moore (who has to learn to stay onside at rucks and mauls) in the front row, James Horwill (a future captain?) in the second row, and Richard Brown in the back row making their mark. The Wallabies won more than 60 percent of possession and territory at Brisbane, which represents a big turnaround from past matches and seasons.

These statistics usually belong to a victorious side. You don't often win tests without the ball and playing inside your own half. What happened in Brisbane, though, was that the Wallabies seemed to get very tired in the last quarter of the match. You could see this in the way they failed to react with any energy when the All Blacks, with a second wind and several replacements, asserted pressure from high balls, turnovers and putting the ball wide.

While thinking about this, my mind went back to a rugby breakfast in Sydney for the Waratahs and the Crusaders before the start of the Super 14 season.

It was noticeable how much leaner than the Waratahs players the Crusaders were. Brad Thorn told journalists, for instance, that Deans (in his capacity as Crusaders coach) had told him not to bulk up for his return to rugby union. Deans understood the experimental law variations kept the ball in play for minutes more than in the past, thereby imposing a huge aerobic requirement on the players.

A friend, who is a shrewd rugby thinker, calls this aerobic toll rugby's equivalent of "the running of the bulls". The aerobically fitter All Blacks were able to keep up their speed and skills right to the end of the test. The Wallabies conceded five turnovers in the second half, and only one in the first. When they had the chance to pull off a miracle win right at the end, they could not get enough exhausted bodies to attack the last ruck.

If, somehow, that last try had been scored, O'Neill would have had some silverware, and the Deans term report would have jumped to an A.

Next year, perhaps.

- © Fairfax NZ News