‘Wallabies need to be tougher’

2009-08-18 13:03
Sydney – Wallabies coach Robbie Deans has shrugged off the first suggestions his honeymoon period could be coming to an end, as the serious silverware goes on the line for Australia against the All Blacks on Saturday.

The first foreigner to coach the Wallabies, New Zealander Deans managed to preserve his image as the saviour of Australian rugby with the steady improvement of the side in his first year at the helm.

He also promised Australia would be better in 2009 but, after a solid start against Italy and France, they are now staring down the barrel of a Tri-Nations worse than last year’s and a seventh year without the Bledisloe Cup.

The Wallabies won three of their six Tri-Nations matches in 2008 but, should they fall to the increasingly desperate All Blacks at ANZ Stadium, will be unable to better that this year and concede the Bledisloe while still needing to travel to Wellington for a Test.

Former Wallabies captain Andrew Slack suggested in his newspaper column on Sunday that Deans had failed to instil the mental toughness needed in the Wallabies.

“I agree with him (that they need to be tougher) and, no, I don’t feel any more extra pressure,” Deans told reporters on Tuesday as he named a side with three changes to the one which went down 29-17 to South Africa in Cape Town.

“We work as hard as we can at what we do and obviously we want the same things.”

Deans’ players are certainly jumping to his defence.

“The players have put the pressure on themselves because we’re the ones out there putting in the performances, not the coaches,” Wallabies No.8 Richard Brown said.

“It’s up to us more than anyone.”

The pressure is not just on Deans, with opposite number Graham Henry facing the wrath of rugby-mad New Zealanders after two losses in South Africa.

The Wallabies could be expected to show some improvement against Henry’s outfit, which has joined the NZ sides of 1998, 1999 and 2000 as the only teams to lose three Tests in a southern hemisphere winter.

All Blacks captain Richie McCaw highlighted the importance of Saturday’s clash by saying the loser could kiss their hopes for the tournament goodbye, and Deans conceded a loss would make life tougher.

“Obviously it’s a little bit further away in terms of being able to achieve,” Deans said of a loss. “Whether it’s totally gone doesn’t really concern me to be honest.

“The only thing that concerns us is this game and then we’ll confront that reality afterwards.”

Deans and his selectors have taken a conservative approach in naming their side after several forwards had come under scrutiny for their discipline.

Only No.8 Wycliff Palu has been dropped to allow flanker Rocky Elsom to return from knee bruising for his first game in nearly three months.

Asked if ill-disciplined players were on their last chances, Deans remained coy.

“These blokes approach their work very much as the last chance anyway,” he said.

“There’s never been any guarantees beyond that, that’s the nature of life.”
But Brown, who was sin-binned at Newlands, revealed his “very cranky coaches” had focused on discipline this week at training.

“They got a bunch of us to address the team to put a few pointers up for what we could do to solve that discipline area, mainly coming from the ruck when we’re in defence,” he said.

“We’ve come up with a few ideas that we’re going to try.”

Australia: James O’Connor, Lachie Turner, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Berrick Barnes, Drew Mitchell, Matt Giteau, Luke Burgess, Richard Brown, George Smith (capt), Rocky Elsom, Nathan Sharpe, James Horwill, Al Baxter, Stephen Moore, Benn Robinson. Res: Tatafu Polota-Nau, Ben Alexander, Dean Mumm, David Pocock, Will Genia, Ryan Cross, Peter Hynes.