Advance Australia? That depends...

Criticism of his tactics, selections, birthplace or any other facet of his behaviour has been wool off a sheep’s back to Australia’s New Zealand-born coach Robbie Deans.

ONE of the least logical criticisms aimed at Wallaby coach Robbie Deans since being given the job three years ago was that he was born in New Zealand. Born and raised, fair dinkum Australian blokes had coached every Wallaby side in history and just because we endured an early exit from the last 2007 World Cup in France, courtesy of the Poms, didn’t mean we had to sacrifice our own for some blow-in from across the water.

With his fair-to-middling ratio of 27 wins from the 48 Tests since he’s taken charge, there’s a number of those critics who still feel the same way. Funnily enough there has been no hue and cry from the anti-Deans faction about the make-up of the 30 man Australian squad. Stephen Moore, Dan Vickerman, David Pocock, Radike Samo, Will Genia, Quade Cooper and Digby Ioane all starred in that momentum-building victory over the All Blacks in Brisbane a couple of weeks ago and, but for a million too many drinks and a dodgy phone alarm, so too would have James O’Connor. Not one of those eight was born in Australia.