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.

Success next month, and one gets the impression nobody here would care if a Himalayan Yak herder had called the coaching shots and was then seen blasting out verses of Advance Australia Fair in some Auckland bar late at night on October 23.

Brought up in the stiflingly oppressive rugby atmosphere of the Shaky Isles, criticism of his tactics, selections, birthplace or any other facet of his behaviour has been wool off a sheep’s back to Deans. He’s enjoyed the less intense media focus on the code in his new home of Sydney, and like any coach worth his salt has been prepared to make the very hard calls. Like for instance, dropping your captain on the eve of the World Cup.

Despite injuries curtailing his Super 15 involvement to almost nothing, Rocky Elsom retained his Australian captaincy for the opening internationals of the year. Deans stated that injury would be the only thing which could prevent the big back rower running the Wallaby show in New Zealand. A month later, and following an impressive win over South Africa in Durban, the former Leinster star discovered his coach could change his mind with the best of them.

Being relieved of the captaincy will have hurt Elsom but pain is not always a bad thing and there’s little doubt he’ll be a more influential figure without having to think about coin tossing and other attendant responsibilities. He leads best by just having to worry about getting the best out of himself.

Another selection issue concerned the omission of Matt Giteau, who has been a central figure in Wallaby teams for the past seven years. He’s not been in stellar form in a poor Brumbies outfit this year but plenty believe he remains the best inside centre in the country. He’s also a goal-kicker and is arguably the second best half-back behind Will Genia. To pick a third number 9 in Nick Phipps, who is unlikely to see much, if any game time, and not have Giteau floating around, seems odd.

The overwhelming sense among the vast majority of former Wallaby players of the recent and ancient past, is that if it weren’t for Giteau’s class, talent, experience and versatility, they’d have dropped him too. Talk of an uneasy relationship between Deans and Giteau has been rife and although there have been the predictable public denials, logic suggests rugby ability alone is not the main issue here. Fans are hoping it doesn’t prove to be a costly spat.

The final concern going into the tournament is the number of players who, through injury or illness, have had precious little rugby in 2011.

Back up flyhalf Berrick Barnes has had a series of concussion issues for which one doctor came up with the new term, “footballer’s migraine”. Barnes had a sabbatical from the game and on the strength of a month’s worth of club rugby and no headaches, was chosen. A pretty risky call, as was the selection of centre Rob Horne who, while a lot of good judges have stuck a tick beside his name in terms of potential, has had so many injuries, he’s been next to invisible for the best part of 12 months.

Add to that uncertainty, the reality that Wycliff Palu, Drew Mitchell, Salesi Ma’afu, James Slipper, Tatafu Polota-Nau have also had significant injuries and Dan Vickerman’s been out of the representative scene for most of the past three years. Depending on one’s tendency toward optimism or pessimism, you’d either be thrilled at the thought of how much these guys will be jumping out of their skin in New Zealand or concerned they won’t be ready to hit their playing peak until about February.

On balance, it looks a high number of players with limited preparation to all be included.

The good news for the Wallabies as they look to become the first three time winners of the William Webb Ellis trophy is they’ve arrived with momentum.

The 25-20 defeat of the All Blacks in Brisbane last month in what was effectively a Tri Nations decider, has the players believing nothing is beyond them. Without being disrespectful to anyone north of the equator, the feeling here is that if you can beat the All Blacks you can beat anyone.

It has not been a regular experience for Deans’ Wallaby teams. They’ve never lost to France or Ireland but have suffered defeat in 11 of the 14 matches against their closest neighbour and fiercest foe, and in five attempts to beat them on New Zealand’s home soil, have yet to succeed.

Had they lost in Brisbane there’d have been much unwanted baggage accompanying them across the Tasman Sea as more would undoubtedly have been made of the ARU’s timing in giving Deans a two year extension to his Wallaby coaching contract three weeks before the World Cup. The administrators would have been ridiculed, Deans would have copped plenty about his inability to win the big ones and the team’s morale would have felt some collateral effect. As it stands, they begin game one with the wind behind them.

Sunday’s opening game is against Italy and on the back of their most recent effort, the Wallabies would have to be firm favourites against a limited side. History between the teams has the Italians making life difficult for the Wallabies for the opening hour before ultimately falling away. Australia will be happy for that scenario to continue, because there is no question it’s the Irish fixture at Eden Park six days later that is causing most antipodean palpitations. Ireland’s poor results in their lead-in matches only has Australia edgier about what they might produce in Auckland.

The belief here is that Ireland have purposely not been showing all their cards and while the Wallabies badly needed a couple of good wins going into the tournament, the opposite might just apply for the Irish. Having everyone write them off is often what brings out their best.

The view from here is that the Irish don’t have quite the depth of talent the Wallabies possess, but if their best 22 present for duty fully fit on September 17, it will be a match that could be decided on a miracle play or a referee’s call. Let us all hope it is not the latter.

What adds to our nervousness about this match is that it has been 25 years since Australia last tasted success at Eden Park. Admittedly, if you had a choice of playing Ireland or New Zealand there, you’d choose to confront green rather than all black. Nevertheless, it will be a game where both sides will figure that victory could be the catalyst to see them back at the same venue on October 23.

Andrew Slack is a former Wallaby captain and selector and is now head of Sport at QTQ News in Brisbane. He will be contributing to the Irish Examiner’s World Cup coverage from New Zealand.