ARU backs Deans
12 Dec 2012
The Australian Rugby Union has expressed its confidence in Wallabies coach Robbie Deans and feels that the big injury count contributed to some disappointing results in 2012.
Recently, Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer said he was satisfied with South Africa’s progress in 2012 considering the number of injuries suffered by senior players. The Boks may have won seven, drawn two, and lost three, but Meyer said that with all the injuries, that record was relatively successful.
On Wednesday, the ARU expressed the same sentiment. Deans has been under pressure following the Wallabies’ slide to No 3 in the world rankings, and with the British & Irish Lions tour looming, there are many that feel he should be axed.
The ARU, however, are satisfied that Deans is the right man for the job, and that critics should take the Wallabies’ injury situation into account before slamming the coach and team.
‘You’ve got to put the Wallabies’ performance in context with how many injuries we’ve had,’ said ARU chairman Michael Hawker. ‘We’ve had 55 people play for the Wallabies this year which is a pretty poor number of players, so we’ve had an unusual level of injury rate.
‘That’s something we’re looking at as to why that occurred and how we might be able to do about that. We can actually improve the better player management process between the ARU and the Super Rugby franchises to make sure the player welfare is managed right collectively across those two levels of the game.
‘When you’ve got a team that has playmakers such as [Will] Genia, [James] O’Connor, [Quade] Cooper, [David] Pocock and [Kurtley] Beale, who didn’t play the whole year … If you took [Dan] Carter and Richie McCaw out of the New Zealand team, you’d have a different proposition. We had five major playmakers out of our game and we had a pretty good record.’
Hawker confirmed that Deans was under no added pressure to obtain better results in 2013.
‘From the Australian Rugby Union, we’re happy with where the Australian team is,’ he said. ‘We’d like to have less injuries and I think if we didn’t have as many injuries, we would’ve been right at the top.
‘Next year is a huge year with the Lions making a once-in-12-year journey down here. Having just come from the northern hemisphere, people are hugely excited over there to be here. It always creates a huge wave of anticipation seeing the best of the northern hemisphere come here. We’re pretty keen to try and thump them. They’re going to be a very competitive side and we’re going to be a very competitive side and I think it’s going to generate plenty of interest.
‘I think the coaches think of every year as make or break. I don’t think Robbie takes anything for granted. For us, I think everyone in the Australian public are keen to win all the games and so is Robbie. He’ll do all he can. In the board’s view, we have every chance of defeating the Lions next year.’
What will give the Australians confidence is their results against the northern hemisphere over the past few months. The Wallabies lost to France and Scotland in 2012, but beat Wales four times, and England and Italy once.
The home nations haven’t been much better against the other southern hemisphere giants. New Zealand beat Ireland three times in June, and cruised to victory in games against Scotland, Wales and Italy in November. The All Blacks did, however, lose to England in their final match of the year.
South Africa recorded five wins and one draw against northern hemisphere opposition in 2012. It’s fair to say the south still holds sway, and the Lions may battle to win yet another series when they tour Australia next year.
42 Comments
12 Dec 2012, 10:08 am
Deans isnt the best man for the job.Dont think he is suited to OZ systems and talent base.Certainly its not the Crusaders….who had Wayne Smith build the dynasty by the way…..
But in saying that,OZ had so many players injured especially worse as they depth chart isnt deep talent wise.
12 Dec 2012, 10:45 am
The aussies are only one win away from moving into second so they aren’t in a bad spot considering the injuries they had this year. But without any June internationals for them, they won’t get any easy wins next year. If he gets the chop, he may have to move to Europe or hope JK underperforms. Wouldn’t want him as an AB coach but could be interesting to see how he does at the Blues
12 Dec 2012, 10:54 am
Mature response from the ARU, but what are they going to do to cut the injury-rate?
Anyway, not too bad year for Oz overall, 2nd in the RC and they managed to stop the ABs stealing a winning test record that their overrated side didn’t deserve.
12 Dec 2012, 11:05 am
@Big Hit-3:
Hello Biggles,
Been waiting for you to show up.
Awesome performance by your lot at Twickenhan. We had no chance. Scoreline actually flattered us.
12 Dec 2012, 11:08 am
@Big Hit-3:
Well we are only as good as our last game i suppose.
And it seems you think…once again the AB team is overrated.
All good but one win against the ABs does not make a good Pom team.
12 Dec 2012, 11:47 am
Well I have to be honest, this years Auss team had guts, but lacked the skill of previous Aussi teams, Gittz should’ve been their #12, but was lost due to bad player management by Deans.
Campese must be going nuts with this bit of news!
12 Dec 2012, 12:27 pm
Nicely worded statement from the suits but I don’t much buy into it. Sure they’ve had a horrific injury rate this year but so have a lot of other teams.
My biggest worry is the longer he stays the less time a new coach will have should they decide to bullet him later on when the RWC is not that far away.
I wish Robbie no harm and hopes he makes a success of whichever way he goes but I think his time is up.
12 Dec 2012, 12:33 pm
@Big Hit-3: Who overrated them? The IRB, who have called them #1 for most of the last 9 years? Are you judging them on the last twelve months? What if you judge them since 2004 when Henry/Hansen arrived, Carter made the starting line up and McCaw really got going. Is this generation overrated?
12 Dec 2012, 14:16 pm
The Wallabies failed to stand up to the ABs since 2007, the year that Connolly retired, since 2008 under Dean they have steadily regressed.
They did well against the PdV & Meyer’s Boks though but then they usually did.
The whacking by the French recently was supposed to end Deans tenure but it didn’t go figure?
12 Dec 2012, 15:29 pm
Deans will go through to the next RWC. Jake will take over from him as a naturalized Aussie. Can’t wait to see what he will do with the Brumbies this year.
12 Dec 2012, 16:54 pm
@Beast-10: I can’t see them picking another foreigner after Deans. Besides, White with even more talent at his disposal never won in NZ. No disrespect intended but I’m not sure how well he’d do with the Wallabies compared to Deans
12 Dec 2012, 22:48 pm
@Hondo-9:
Yet they beat the Boks more than they ever have.
This year was terrible and if you cared to read on how may players they used this year, you would realise Deans was up against it.
12 Dec 2012, 22:55 pm
Jake that dubious self aggrandized little snake
Aussies aching to sign him while they got McKenzie who is a thousand light years ahead of that charlatan in terms of true rugby nous
Deans just too soft for the Aussies they need a tough as nails hard arse.. MacKenzie is the right dude for the ARU job.. not the Snake
13 Dec 2012, 02:09 am
“Jake never won in NZ”.
True. But can I ask. How many times did we beat NZ – even at home – before Jake White’s team in 2004. Wins against the ABs from ’96 to ’03 were as rare as an honest politician.
Think that criticism is a little harsh.
Jake got us back to believing we should beat the ABs at home at the very least.
13 Dec 2012, 05:15 am
@Liewe Luiperd-14:
FAAAAAAARK!!! I posted all the stats and before I could post it the thing just went blank and it all dissappeared.
Anyway, zero from 10 from 1996 to 2007 bar a win against NZ in Cardiff…
13 Dec 2012, 05:34 am
@skopdiekan-13:
Get a grip, you sound like an old man with his wheelchair stuck in a rut!!
13 Dec 2012, 05:41 am
@damienm-16:
Daai Datsun bakkie wat hy ry het nie plek vir ‘n wheelchair nie…it is Zimmerframe or bust for skoppie.
13 Dec 2012, 16:30 pm
@Liewe Luiperd-14: It’s not really meant as criticism. Deans was under pressure even though they were sitting at #2 and the only reason really was that he couldn’t beat NZ in NZ. We’ve only beaten the aussies 1 in 4 matches out of NZ recently.
So I don’t know what JW could achieve with the Wallabies, if he couldn’t win in NZ with the Boks.
13 Dec 2012, 17:10 pm
I’m not trying to belittle JW’s achievements, he won the RWC and after all the cr*p he went through, I’m honestly happy for him. But people seem to see 2004-2007 through WC-tinted glasses. The Boks had plenty of trouble and most people here were very critical of him. I can’t see what JW has done that makes him better than Deans. Here are their records
vs Ireland: JW 2/4 RD 2/4
vs France JW 1/4 RD 5/6
vs England JW 5/7 RD 4/6
vs NZ JW 3/9 RD 3/18
vs Boks/Oz JW 6/11 RD 9/14
I don’t really see those records as being different enough that you could say JW was any better than RD. JW had plenty of political problems, Deans has depth and resource problems. I don’t believe the IRB stats but they claim RSA has twice as many rugby players as Australia.
That’s why I can’t see them going for JW, another foreigner, and risk everyone saying I-told-you-so. More likely they’ll go for an untried local and after a few years look back and realise Deans wasn’t great but also wasn’t so bad. Just not as good as some would have had us believe in early 2008.
13 Dec 2012, 17:32 pm
@gonzo-19:
Not Sure,,,
JW Record WIN/LOSS 2004-2007:
England 4/2
NZ 3/5
FR 1.5/2.5
AUS 4/5
IR 2/2
Far better than PdV’s tenure 2010/2011
13 Dec 2012, 19:59 pm
@Hondo-20: @Hondo-20: Most people on here would tell you that PdV would have won the world cup if it wasn’t for corrupt NZ refs. He’s another coach who was hated in his time but legendary after he left
13 Dec 2012, 20:22 pm
JW is a pathetic useless coach
NZ 30%
France 25%
England / Ireland 50%
Australia 55%
Only thing that bolstered whites career was a non contested WC where nobody pitched apart from an over the hill England coaching themselves.. everybody else choked all top 6 seeds choked
Fiji and Tonga almost put him out the C otherwise it was more than 50% losses to top 5 nations through his tenure.. PdV was ten times better overall only worse against Australia for some stupid reason…
PdV inherited Whites team and Whites defunct game style otherwise PdV would have shown how much better he was with a fresh set of players as is only transpiring now with the 2007 team falling off the bus..
this dunce Meyer is going about the same slow coach approach of building structures and conservative play not to lose game plan.. same as White did throughout..
PDV win loss vs NZ 45%
France 50%
Ireland 50%
England 100%
better results than White altogether
Aussie best bet for top international coach is Mackenzie definitely not White..
14 Dec 2012, 02:11 am
Your slip is showing skop…
JW
NZ 30% – well no, actually 33%
France 25% – winning, one draw and 50% loss.
England / Ireland 50% – at least you got Ireland spot on but England is 71%!
Australia 55% – wow, another one right.
PDivvie
PDV win loss vs NZ 45% – yes, same number of losses than JW though…
France 50% – yip and same number of losses as JW
Ireland 50% – well done
England 100% – well done
But why did you leave out the Wallabies? Oh ok, does not fit your plan – 33%
Overall…
JW – 54 games, 36 wins, 17 losses and 1 draw = 66.7% winning ratio
PDivvie – 48 games, 30 wins, 18 losses = 62.5% winning ratio.
So overall Jake won 6 more games, lost one less, was IRB coach of the year twice and won a WORLD CUP. He did all of this whilst having to fly around the world at critical times to apeace politicians and idiots like you.
Suck it up skop, JW is a great coach.
14 Dec 2012, 03:07 am
@Slartibartfast-23:
Great coach?
Ok so what do you call a coach with a overall win ratio off 85.5% over 117 games?
14 Dec 2012, 03:14 am
@Hurricane-24:
We comparing JW and Pdv……so who cares…….
14 Dec 2012, 04:45 am
@Hurricane-24:
A sour old codger, why?
@damienm-25:
And pointing out what an idiot skop is…
14 Dec 2012, 05:31 am
@Slartibartfast-26:
With you on that Koos
14 Dec 2012, 08:30 am
@damienm-25: I thought we were comparing Deans and JW.
Saying JW is better than PdV doesn’t convince me he’s a “great coach”. Compared to coaches of countries with fewer resources, he hasn’t done any better than Deans and as Hurricane points out, he’s much worse than GH. How does that make him great?
And were you on here supporting him in 2006?
14 Dec 2012, 08:43 am
@gonzo-28:
Dean’s winning record slipped under 60% this year, so he had the wood over PDivvie, what more can we say?
14 Dec 2012, 08:59 am
some Jake the snake arselickers on this site
here the REAL JW stats
Played NZ 9 (3N) – won 3 lost 6 = 33%
Played Aus 11 – won 6 lost 5 = 54.5%
Played France 4 – won 1 lost 2 draw 1 = 25%
Played Eng eoyt 3 – won 1 lost 2 = 33%
Played Ire eoyt 2 – won 0 lost 2 = 0%
overall
Played 29 – won 11 lost 17 draw 1 = 38 % REAL wins
those the only relevant stats – lucky packet fluke WC’s playing teams ranked below IRB rank 7 don’t count and only eoyt results against top 5 opposition and 3N results do
Here the REAL Pdv stats
Played NZ 11 – won 5 lost 6 = 45.5% (2 wins away – JW = 0 wins away)
Played Aus (3N) 11 – won 4 lost 7 = 36.4%
Played France 2 – won 1 lost 1 = 50%
Played Eng eoyt 2 – won 2 lost 0 = 100%
Played Ire eoyt 2 – won 1 lost 1 = 50%
Played Br.Ir.Lions 3 – won 2 lost 1 = 67%
overall
Played 31 – won 15 lost 16 = 48% Real wins
JW wins 11 from 29
PdV wins 15 from 31
Do the maths both coaches returned less than 50% results against top flight opposition on equal playing field comparison but PdV way better coach than the useless JW
Lucky packet WC don’t count neither do weakened incoming tours from weak NH or below rank 5 sides.
Aussie can have that hopeless palooka with cherries on top.. if they choose White ahead of McKenzie then they got absolute rocks in their dumb delusional heads.
14 Dec 2012, 09:00 am
@damienm-25:
I asked the question to Koos, you really do not need to participate if you have nothing to offer.
@Slartibartfast-26:
Well point is you have called White a great coach pulled up a win ratio of 66%.
What makes an average coach…40% win ratio.
14 Dec 2012, 09:08 am
Jakes real win loss against top rank teams.. Top 5 rank sides = 38% wins
That is the real JW evaluated win % against NZ, Aus France, Eng, Ire. on equal playing field comparison
PdV returns 48% on same basis
JW is an absolute useless overrated coach.. he fluked a no contest WC under the tutorship of one Eddy Jones.. that is his ONLY claim to fame.. nothing else.
14 Dec 2012, 09:08 am
@skopdiekan-30:
Stop spinning you fool, you can’t pick and choose which games to include/exclude. See how stupid it it…
Sat, 26 May 2007 ST,WU 1 South Africa v England 58-10 7:1 5-0 Vodacom Park, Bloemfontein H
Sat, 02 Jun 2007 ST,WU 2 South Africa v England 55-22 8:1 5-0 Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria H
See played 2 won 2, 15 tries to 2, 113 points for and only 32 against.
Making up stuff to suit your agenda does not work.
14 Dec 2012, 09:09 am
@skopdiekan-32:
Kak skop and you know it, stop twisting the facts.
14 Dec 2012, 09:11 am
@Hurricane-31:
Hurri, JW was a great coach because of what he achieved in spite of the odds stacked against him. I am on my way but we can talk about it another day.
skop hates him because he said he will never achieve anything and he ended up winning a WC. Simple as that and no matter how he spins the stats he can’t change that fact.
14 Dec 2012, 09:14 am
@skopdiekan-32:
I would have thought that a little jewish fella would be a little more accurate and honest with his stats.
oh wait…
14 Dec 2012, 09:27 am
Those are the ABSOLUTE facts.. try dispute them
wins against top 5 Rank side on EQUAL playing field
3N and Eoyt results against top 5 rank sides
Those are the ONLY stats which count..
lucky packet fluke WC’s against teams ranked below IRB rank 7 or wins against Namibia and Samoa and Argentina or Italy on weak incoming tours by weakened NH sides DO NOT COUNT
JW returns 11 wins from 29 games = 38%
Pdv returns 15 wins from 31 games = 48%
ABSOLUTE FACT
14 Dec 2012, 09:32 am
@Slartibartfast-33: useless bullshit stat any moron can whip a pathetic baseless IRB rank 7 side on a weakened incoming tour
ONLY TOP 5 rank sides count and in REAL competition like Eoyt or 3N
Those are the real stats that count.. the rest are lucky packet nonentities
Those the only real means by which to measure a coach how he fare’s against top 5 rank sides on equal playing field encounters in Europe and in 3N home and away
The rest is lucky packet bullshit.
JW beat England in the WC twice when they were ranked below Argentina at rank 7 IRB rank.. but he almost lost to Fiji and Tonga at the same lucky packet competition.
14 Dec 2012, 10:52 am
@Slartibartfast-35: Every coach has odds stacked against them. As I said earlier, I admire JW for even lasting four years, we all know being the Bok coach is 50% politics. And to go on and win a world cup, no matter what Skop and us Kiwis say. But the resources available to him were huge.
Compare that to Deans, who coaches in a country where there is no national rugby competition. Half the player base and less money. Yet he gets the team to second in the world, wins a tri-nations for the first time in 10 years, wins 3/8 in RSA, wins 3/4 of the last games vs the ABs away from NZ. Yet people are calling for his head and Jake White pipes up. Somebody, please tell me what White could do with the Wallabies that Deans hasn’t.
14 Dec 2012, 11:06 am
@Slartibartfast-23: Not too keen on Jake the man, but Jake the coach wasn’t half bad…
Good post… I like it even more because it runs counter to the PC trends, fads and fancies of the getalong “kenners” here…
An honest post.
14 Dec 2012, 12:26 pm
both jake white and pdivvy had to compete in an age of dishonesty as far as kiwi competition was concerned so the little they did achieve is commendable.
meyer, i hope is entering an age of forced honesty.
on the back of this his record could go either way depending on the hunger of the teams competing.
14 Dec 2012, 13:15 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-41: How would you explain losses to Scotland, Ireland, England, France, and the Lions? Did Kiwis have something to do with your coaches’ poor selections, poor decisions, injuries and the weather?
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