ARU place faith in Deans
26 Jan 2010
ARU head John O’Neill has confirmed that Robbie Deans will lead the Wallabies into the 2011 World Cup.
2009 was an unsatisfactory season for Australian rugby. The Wallabies only managed six wins out of 14 Tests, received the wooden spoon in the Tri-Nations, none of the Australian Super 14 franchises qualified for the semi-finals and there were major concerns over the decline in crowd attendances and television ratings.
The first man to be put under the spotlight was Wallabies head coach Robbie Deans after the Kiwi failed to live up to the hype and high expectations he set after a successful tenure at the Crusaders.
Deans and High Performance manager David Nucifora, however, had a chance to review the 2009 season to the ARU board and O’Neill said they were satisfied with the report.
‘The board were very comfortable and confirmed Robbie in his position through to the World Cup in 2011,’ O’Neill told rugbyheaven.com.au.
O’Neill added that he received a positive response in Europe after the end-of-year tour.
‘I was in Dublin for an IRB meeting and a number of northern hemisphere reps said the way we played in the first 20 to 30 minutes, we could be the team to beat at the World Cup,’ O’Neill said.
After the disappointments of 2009, O’Neill believes the Wallabies will be able to learn from their mistakes and make an improvement this season.
‘The reality is we’ve confronted our demons as a game,’ said O’Neill. ‘We were really open last year in talking about the state of the game, crowd figures, ratings et cetera.
‘The response we’ve had from sponsors, corporate partners and broadcasters has been ”that’s great, that you aren’t trying to hard from the truth and you’ve confronted it”.
‘You don’t want to be in the trough for too long and I think we’re coming out of the trough and 2010 will be the year when we’ve turned the corner.’
8 Comments
26 Jan 2010, 06:53 am
I rate this Dragon!!
26 Jan 2010, 09:22 am
@Staal: I too rate Deans but the reality is that he doesn’t have the best material to work with.
The Australian backs aren’t currently good enough – Berrick Barnes and Adam Ashley Cooper being the only backs that really looked good last year. Giteau will regain his form, so they can probably count on having three good backs. I doubt Hines, Cross, Q Cooper or Mitchell will be the player to win the world cup for them.
Their locks and loosies also weren’t really looking good (some were in fact horrible – Brown etc) and in the front row it was only Ben Robinson that performed.
26 Jan 2010, 10:08 am
As if there was more than 1 credible option available.
26 Jan 2010, 11:13 am
the zimbo pocock did well for the wallabies
other than that i say they r an average side
but at least they dont have the anc sticking its nose in every 2 seconds
26 Jan 2010, 11:52 am
do not ever underestimate the Aussies….especially as the WC being played very close to there ‘home grounds’…
26 Jan 2010, 13:15 pm
@grant10:
They will, undoubtedly, be 1 of the Top 3 favourites by the time the RWC comes around. Ignore ’09 results as any benchmark for success come RWC time, whichever team you support. Even 2010 will be no indicator, other than bringing some momentum.
26 Jan 2010, 13:20 pm
I think the Wallabies will take Rugby World Cup 2011, if the Springboks don’t…
The favourites will undoubtedly be the Springboks, the All Blacks and the Wallabies.
27 Jan 2010, 06:29 am
@Leon Schuster:
The Froggies don’t mind playing here either
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