All Blacks: Deans has Wallabies on right track

Robbie Deans is ready. Photo / Getty Images

Robert Muldoon reckoned New Zealanders who left for Australia raised the IQ of both countries.

Mudslinging about sheep and dole bludgers tend to evaporate when the Ockers claim New Zealand's famous icons as their own. You know the drum.

Phar Lap, Split Enz, Russell Crowe, Fred Hollows, John Clarke, Jane Campion - all success stories who mysteriously morph into Australian icons.

Who's next? Robbie Deans.

If the Wallabies are victorious in the opening Bledisloe Cup match tonight, the Governor-General will probably start dusting the cobwebs off the investiture sword. The citizenship papers will be in the post.

In his 13 months with the Wallaby squad, Deans has been on the lookout for smart players while he and his coaching staff have instilled the need for fitness, a stable scrum and better kicking skills.

But they face the All Black obstacles their predecessors have failed to hurdle at Eden Park since 1986. Since then it has been the Killing Fields for the Wallabies and every other team - except France.

As former coach David Brockhoff whispered this week at Sydney Airport: "It's full of ghosts."

However, icons of the sport in Australia Mark Ella, Nick Farr-Jones and John Eales believe Deans has the Wallabies back on track and in with a strong chance of reversing history.

"I think we lost our way after about 2001," Ella said. "But Robbie has given the team some stability, he gives the players a lot more ideas, he wants them to play what is in front of them.

"The players seem far more focused, they are much clearer on what they have to do and have more intent.

"He has a squad where they are all fighting for positions, he has brought over the sort of culture which was so successful at the Crusaders and he is doing a great job. I think if he wins the World Cup he will be an Aussie."

Farr-Jones loved the way the spirit of sacrifice had been regenerated under Deans' tutelage. The Wallabies were not yet playing with any great style, but the balance in the team and the depth of competition for places had been stimulated.

Deans had shown his dedication to grassroots rugby in Australia, often travelling huge distances to coach, talk or be at rugby clubs. That contribution was returned by the Wallabies.

"They have got a way to go but I love the way Robbie communicates. He is not regimented, he allows the side to play what is in front of them. If they want to strut their stuff he allows it, if they walk the tightrope that is okay too. He is not restricted by the four walls of the game."

Eales believed Deans' greatest strength was that he carried no bias.

He arrived with a great pedigree from the Crusaders, he was highly respected and had worked hard on instilling the right culture and confidence in the Wallabies.

"The results are not that much different to [former coach] John Connolly at this point, but you are getting the sense the team is building towards something. They are playing confidently and they have changed the way they defend and that is getting there.

"Robbie is a very consistent human being. He comes across very strongly, he wants an excellence of routine, he is not after a quick fix but things are trending nicely."

The Wallabies had too many dips in form last season, but were now showing greater consistency.

Rival coaches Graham Henry and Deans have been relaxed this week as they approach their initial 2009 rematch.

"I think there is more belief that the cohesion is there, but the reality is the test is coming," said Deans. "After the game we will analyse whether that was an illusion."

Deans labelled the attention last year on his rejection by the All Blacks and subsequent hiring by the Wallabies as ludicrous.

"The reality is that it is the Wallabies against the All Blacks and it has settled into a more normal frequency which is about these blokes and that is great.

"This is the showpiece of rugby. There is nothing better, nothing better than playing, to observe not only for those at the ground but for those watching when it is beamed around the world."

The Wallabies have won 14 of their 19 internationals since Deans started his four-year deal across the Ditch and the Australians come to Eden Park tonight with the belief they can complete what they failed to do at the same venue last year.

They arrive with 12 of the team who felt defeat last year, including flanker George Smith, who will collect his 100th test cap tonight. It was the time, he quipped, for ARU boss John O'Neill to give him a Rolex.

O'Neill just might if the Wallabies are victorious. If they lose again, they need to win all three remaining meetings in Sydney, Wellington and Tokyo to capture the Bledisloe Cup.

"I think this team is building to great things and I want to be a part of that," said Smith, who has signed on to the next World Cup in New Zealand.

Mortlock, the warrior centre for the Wallabies, will once more lead his side's challenge. Why, he was quizzed, was there such a hoodoo at Eden Park?

"It shouldn't be but the reality is some sort of hoodoo is there, and these sort of patterns sometimes eventuate in sport and the reality is they get broken," said Mortlock.

Asked what they would do in away time before the test, Mortlock and Smith thought they would take in a movie.

One wag suggested they should catch the latest Harry Potter flick to get them in the mood for a bit of magic.

It was time to leave, time for the test.