‘Deans has destroyed Wallabies’
15 Nov 2012
Wallabies legend David Campese says coach Robbie Deans is responsible for Australia’s abysmal record and should be sacked.
The Wallabies won the 2011 Tri-Nations and finished third at the subsequent World Cup, but since Deans came to power in 2008 they have battled against the All Blacks and suffered some embarrassing defeats to the likes of Samoa and Scotland.
They most recently went down to France, and it was after this defeat that Campese let Deans have it.
‘Deans has destroyed Australian rugby and I want him to go,’ he told The Telegraph. ‘We’ve got a team at the moment that can’t catch and can’t pass. Wallaby teams in the past were never like this.
‘Anyone who knows anything about Australian rugby knows what it’s famous for – loops, angles, switches, counter-attack, creative play. Where’s all that gone? We can’t even pass properly.’
The Wallabies will play England at Twickenham this week, and will do so without two key players. Lock Rob Simmons has been suspended for a tip-tackle in last week’s Test, and centre Pat McCabe is the latest player to be added to a lengthy injury list.
But Campese feels that it is the game plan and poor ball skills that are at fault, and that Deans needs to be axed sooner rather than later.
‘I played for Australia and it’s clearly hard to go against them, especially when it’s against the Poms. But if Australia win, Deans stays. I just want him to go. He’s the worst thing that has ever happened to Australian rugby.
‘I just don’t know why we had to go and get a foreign coach when we’ve won two World Cups with our own coaches. Look at how Matt Giteau’s been treated. He’s sitting down there, playing in Toulon, 92 caps, finished with Test rugby, and all because the coach doesn’t like him. It’s an ego trip.’
Campese also feels that the players have not bought into Deans’s philosophy.
‘Just look at the body language of the players. It’s terrible. They’re not having fun, not enjoying themselves at all. There are lots of problems within the team.
‘You’ve got to go out and get people to want to come and watch you play. Ain’t happening with us, mate. The skill factor is so poor at the moment. Look at Pat McCabe in the centre. He’s not a good passer and he’s tipped to be the next captain.
‘I know there are injuries but even so. There are no big names there, no one to set the stadium alight. There’s something missing. There’s no fear factor about the Wallabies any more. And that’s a sad state of affairs.’
Despite Campese’s pleas for a new coach, Deans is likely to be at the helm when the Aussies host the British & Irish Lions in 2013.
20 Comments
15 Nov 2012, 10:13 am
Campese is probably right.
Good thing the NZRU stuck with Ted.
15 Nov 2012, 10:25 am
Calling a spade a spade….hectic !
15 Nov 2012, 10:35 am
To be fair, Deans is not meant to teach them to pass and catch. Some bloke in a primary school had that job.
15 Nov 2012, 10:40 am
Thank God, Steve Tew stuck with the three wisemen or the AB’s would be managed by Deans and playing low risk boring rugby!
15 Nov 2012, 11:01 am
The dilution of talent caused by expansion has led to a drop in the usual high standards of the Wallaby side coupled with Deans unable to harness the team into a cohesive unit because of injured and dissatisfied star players.Only through strong leadership at the top will it at least balance the ship and navigate stormy seas, starting with the sacking of Robbie……
15 Nov 2012, 11:08 am
What can Robbie do with 6-8 front line players out most of the year.
They get one back then lose another. Have a tosser of a #10 that thinks he is gods gift to rugby
trying his best to unsettle the already unsettled team, and they only just lost the #2 placing on the IRB.
I think he has done good with what he has.
Campese is a big mouth and he has done no better.
15 Nov 2012, 12:29 pm
Agggg Campese shut up. You did win 2 world cups, but that back in 99!
Since then this “Kiwi coach” got you guys a 3Ns title & beating the Boks far too regularly. What did Eddie Jones and Connelly do?
In the Eddie Jones days it was almost a given that Boks would beat Aus.
The problems with the scrum have been a problem for Aus for decades (remember 2007 RWC?)
15 Nov 2012, 12:33 pm
Campo could be right.
Dean’s was the Rasputin of NZ Rugby. (According to Joseph Romanos).
15 Nov 2012, 12:43 pm
I don’t particularly like Campese for his “loose wire from his brain to his mouth” attitude (as Bob Dwyer so aptly put it) but I do tend to agree with a lot of what he’s saying here.
Maybe it is time for Robbie Deans to go.
@katman-3: Good one!
15 Nov 2012, 12:54 pm
I reckon Campo needs to take more factors into account.
Imo the Aussies are struggling these days due to their talent being spread to thin in their super rugby teams. The talent would be stronger if you have stronger super rugby teams. More quality players in fewer franchises would increase their standards… Less is more. In this regard SAs player’s loyalty to their unions are a good example of how a player can develop if he stays put with a team.
With the amount of Super rugby titles Deans won, he cant be as bad as Campo is making him out to be. They drew with the ABs who seemed unstoppable, that has to count for something..
I do agree that things went pear shaped when Giteau left…
15 Nov 2012, 13:08 pm
he never said anything like that…it’s the press talking K A K again!
15 Nov 2012, 14:28 pm
@Hurricane-6: @bokfan1-7: Exactly.
Campo spits his vitriol purely because Deans is 1) non-Australian, 2) a Kiwi, ffs, 3) Kiwis firmly have the wood on his bunch, 4) one of Oz star player is nothing but ***** and there has been a lot of primadonnas lately, of course, that is Deans fault, as well. Plus Campo himself has been outspoken for years too much, sometimes bordering with being a pr*ck.
Apart from diabolical stats vs the Blacks, Scotland (and who’s to blame with last Test scheduling, Deans again?) and Samoa, everything else is crybabies whingeing. His stats vs any other nations is good and vs big boys like South Africa, France and Wales – just excellent, the one the likes of Jones or Connely could only dream of.
Glad though The Blacks retained Henry.
15 Nov 2012, 14:43 pm
@Brads-1: True. But I feel Deans would’ve done better with the ABs… think it’s a culture thing, as pointed out by Quade Cooper…. Deans still subscribes to the Crusaders school master type vibe… Aussies all about player power etc.
15 Nov 2012, 14:45 pm
@mpundulu-4:
Funny thing is – the Crusaders never played a boring game of rugby when Robbie was at the helm.
(At least if you don’t call winning most of the time boring).
I think its the cattle that he’s got to play with.
And, I clearly remember the FoxSports rugger boys/coverage getting absolutely orgasmic about the number of “phases” that the Wallabies (and any Oz Super team) achieved – towels were obviously needed every time it went past 15 (and this was well before Dingo’s time). The boring, **** roll-it-up, recycle, pick-and-go mentality in Oz rugby has been here for more than 10 years now. (Actually, from just after Campo’s time – but it’s been like a slow poison dumbing their game down).
15 Nov 2012, 15:29 pm
@Hurricane-6:
Have a tosser of a #10 that thinks he is gods gift to rugby………so so true
15 Nov 2012, 18:24 pm
@BillTong-14:
Saders style was orchestrated by genius Wayne Smith,who also did it firmChiefs this yr.
Style,recruiting,gameplan
Wayne Smith
15 Nov 2012, 18:32 pm
@katman-3: Amen.
15 Nov 2012, 20:45 pm
That will teach you plonkers for bringing in foreign coaches. It should not happen Campese…
Wish we could get rid of ours, although i dont call Plumtree a foreign coach as he now one of us for some time.
16 Nov 2012, 07:53 am
Ozzies should never had gotten a 5th SR team, the yshould dump the Force from SR as they will never do well, also too many injuries, don’t Ozzies play the least amount of rugby of all the top tier nations? Only SR and internationals, no domestic cup etc.
It’s shocking that the boks has lost to this lot this year.
16 Nov 2012, 12:04 pm
whenever i listen to deans on tv he seems confused in what he has to say.
its either i cannot understand what he is getting at or the riddled way of his speech is not east to unscramble.
i wish campese would coach any side and then we more than likely see a complete different type of play.
certainly not the tye of play south africa are up to at present eg run at an opponent .smash into him and this gets repeated with monotous regularity.
we dont have loose forwards who can call themselves complete players.
and a coch who keeps on looking for excuses and a scrum half who spends most of his time complaining to the ref instead of getting on with the game.
a firm ref should warn him once and then get rid of him.
we try to build up players who just arent good enough and the media fall for it all the time.
just look at the players when they come off after full time.
looks as if they havent even played so fresh they appear.
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