Questions need to be answered, says devastated boss O'Neill

[travelling_gerry]

Greg Growden | November 23, 2009

EDINBURGH: Australian Rugby Union chief executive John O'Neill said that while the Wallabies' loss to Scotland was ''devastating'', their coach Robbie Deans still had the full support of the ARU board.

Although Deans is widely judged to be one of the world's best coaches, he has struggled to lift the Wallabies' standards, recording just 14 victories and a draw from 27 Tests since taking over last year, for a low success rate of 51.9 per cent.
The Wallabies have slipped badly this season, winning just two of their past 10 internationals and finishing bottom in the Tri Nations. They have lost the knack of scoring tries - just 58 have been scored under Deans - averaging two each game.

On the northern hemisphere tour, they have scored six in four internationals for a win against England, a draw with Ireland and losses to New Zealand and now Scotland.

Deans, who is contracted to the ARU until after the 2011 World Cup, admitted there would be a backlash after the loss to Scotland for the first time since 1982.
O'Neill, who travelled with the Wallabies before returning to Sydney last week, said that while he was devastated by the loss, he stressed that Deans was under no threat of losing his job.

''We have every confidence in Robbie Deans being the right coach for us,'' O'Neill said yesterday. However, O'Neill added that after the northern hemisphere tour, leading ARU officials would meet Deans to conduct a review of the season to work out what improvements had to be made to ensure the Wallabies end their slide well before the next World Cup.

It would not be surprising if this review leeds to changes in the Wallabies' team management below Deans. The erratic performances of numerous leading Wallabies players on this tour will also be closely scrutinised and the careers of some might suddenly be under threat.

O'Neill said the review would be headed by the ARU's high-performance manager David Nucifora, who has been travelling with the team, and would involve Deans and ARU board members.

''The results are clearly disappointing and not acceptable,'' O'Neill said yesterday. ''We have two more games to go on the tour and rest assured we will be reviewing every aspect of this tour. David Nucifora, myself, Robbie Deans and the ARU board will have a good, hard look at what is going wrong.

''It will be an objective, balanced assessment of the pros and cons of this entire season. It will take in all of the Test matches starting from June and finish off with this tour.

''It is crucial that we are really confrontational with every aspect of 'Team Wallaby'.''

O'Neill said some of the outcomes might not be to the liking of the Wallabies' player and management group.

''Everyone has to front up - the player group, the management group and the ARU administration - because I'm not sure what more we can do in terms of providing any more support,'' O'Neill said.

''There is nothing we are skimping on. Still, how can a team in a course of a season go so close to beating the All Blacks, beat the Springboks in one game, beat the French, then lose to Scotland? We are devastated.''


http://www.rugbyheaven.com.au/news/n...824627822.html

[Tazzmania]

Maybe next year if they put some more Western Force boys into the team, they will fare better.

Hockings and Sharpe for the locks
O' Connor to inside centre
Shepperd wing
Cowan and McCalman to bench

Pockock to carry on at starting 7, and Brown and Dunning to remain on the bench.

Any way thats my two cents worth, hope it helps J O'N.

[Burgs]

I think they can start by setting realistic goals for the Squad.
Just because the fixtures say you are playing the four nations that comprise a Grand Slam doesn't mean that the team is capable to do so while they are still in a development phase.
If we had a fully fit Squad (mainly Barnes, Sharpe ) then we would have been in with a shot, that doesn't mean that without them we still are in with a shot.
How arrogant to think, "We are Australia, you are Scotland, we must win then." The nature of the sport, and one reason that many of us love it, is that upsets can and do happen, teams can and do have bad runs and every match is a contest.
"But the All Blacks always win", well wake up, we aren't the AB's and probably never will be. And personally, I'm glad we aren't, the only time an AB supporter reaelly gets edgy about a result is once every four years and how boring would that become! We certainly will never "be the AB's" without another tier of competition to draw our players from and build our depth.
Players such as Cooper and JO'C should not be gaining experience at the highest level, our fifteen best players playing each match should be fully experienced in all facets of the sport, not still learning. They are meant to be our very best, not "the next great thing". There would be many players with a greatter knowledge of the code running around in our State comps who, given the investment of time and opportunity would leave these young players for dead.
I can only hope, that JO'N actually means this quote:
''Everyone has to front up - the player group, the management group and the ARU administration - because I'm not sure what more we can do in terms of providing any more support,'' and is prepared to learn from whatever comes out. I suspect in his mind that means "they", not "we"...

[Thequeerone]

It's the they not we bit I find most disturbing - Sharpe is not there, Barnes seems to be the natural leader of the backs at the moment; hopefully the knocks of this tour will be enough to gel our team, and make victory when it happens all the more sweeter.

The big lesson our team and supporters seem to learn is composure, and supportive canny leadership on and off the pitch is essential, especially in the backs.

3 disallowed tries - wouldn't be allowed to run a book on that - it would be too far fetched.

[The InnFORCEr]

3 disallowed tries - wouldn't be allowed to run a book on that - it would be too far fetched.

Could run one on how many kicks Gits will miss against Wales?

[James]

Could run one on how many kicks Gits will miss against Wales?

He has has a fairly consistent poor kicking record this year (or in the last half dozen tests anyway). Last year he was something like 80% but I'd be surprised if he was over 60% since we played France this year. In the last two games those missed kicks have been the difference between a draw and a loss versus two wins. I doubt Morne Steyn would even be in the Springboks 22 if his kicking record went down that low. Without a hint of bitterness (I'd much rather lose to Scotland than anyone else in Europe) he should be replaced as goal kicker until he gets back to around the 80% mark. He wants to be a captain, playmaker and goal kicker all in one and its so totally not working in any way/shape/form. And Deans has to do it.

On the upside you kind of feel that having played so badly against Scotland they will probably play really well against Wales.

[inactive]

On the upside you kind of feel that having played so badly against Scotland they will probably play really well against Wales.

not really if you look at our whole season of some pretty poor perfomances- in saying that hopefully gits does

[GIGS20]

On the upside you kind of feel that having played so badly against Scotland they will probably play really well against Wales.

No guarantees James

[James]

No guarantees James

No, of course not. If 'No Guarantees' were a song it would be a very apt anthem for the Wallabies this year. But as fragile as the Wallabies seem to be they will know that if anyone plays below their potential they will seriously jeopardise their chances of going to New Zealand in 2011. Everyone will want to distance themselves from the Scotland performance and play a good hard game.

[GIGS20]

we hope!