The Irish outplayed the Wallabies. They won at the breakdown, they destroyed the Wallaby scrum, they won the line-outs, and they were better defensively.
Irish defensive coach, ex-Australian rugby league international Les Kiss, was prominent in the coaching box and post-match celebrations, and clearly played an important role in the win.
Its impossible to see the Wallabies winning this tournament after that performance, and the game has shown up the Wallabies Tri-Nations win for what it really was: a trophy gifted to them by two opponents that weren’t on the job.
But the loss has also focused attention on the coaching ability of Robbie Deans. When the Wallaby RWC team was chosen, eyebrows were raised. Why did Deans go into the tournament with no back-up number 7 to Pocock?
Australia were totally dominated by the Irish at the breakdown and failed to win any turnover ball. The absence of Pocock was a major blow which could not be overcome because Deans chose to leave Beau Robinson and other specialist fetchers in Australia. Instead he chose a host of players capable of covering 6 & 8 (Elsom, Higginbotham, Palu, McCalman, and Samo).
Surely the Wallabies could have done without one of these, making way for a back-up number 7? Indeed, Pocock’s replacement, McCalman, with no experience at number 7, was not sighted during the game.
Furthermore, Deans’ failed to bring on potential game-breaking replacements such as Higginbotham until the 75th minute of the match, by which time the Wallabies had no chance of reigning in the deficit, indicating a paralysis in the coaching box.
Deans also chose a host of injured players in his squad (Mitchell, Barnes, Polota-Nau, Horne, Slipper and Palu) who are clearly still not fit to play at this level, leaving a dearth of able-bodied replacements that could be called on when he needed them.
The coach decided to leave Matt Giteau at home and instead gave his position in the team to Pat McCabe, who has never played in the inside backs, has no ball playing skills, no side-step, no creativity, can't kick, and has failed to break the line in any of the games he has played in the position.
Indeed, Deans has revealed that he is no master coach, with his selection decisions making the tag of ‘dunce’ more appropriate. The recent decision to re-appoint him for another two years was premature. He needs to move on after the RWC and allow Ewan McKenzie, his obvious successor, time to re-build the team.
The only positive to come out of a likely early Wallabies exit from the RWC is that perhaps administrators will be forced to go back and take a good hard look at the player development process in Australia, which for far too long has relied on a player base that is just too small.
Unless that is improved, it won't matter which coach they appoint.
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