Deans flies home to father's bedside

Wallabies rugby coach Robbie Deans flew to New Zealand to be with his seriously ill father as his team were departing for South Africa today.

Deans travelled home to Christchurch early today and was expected to link up with the team in Cape Town on Sunday, six days before their Tri-Nations test against the Springboks.

Wallabies winger winger Drew Mitchell said the players' thoughts were with their coach and his family and Deans' later arrival in South Africa would not seriously affect their match preparation.

"Not at all, we don't train till Monday so I think at this stage Robbie isn't going to get there till Sunday night, but if not he'll come later in the week," Mitchell said at Sydney airport.

"We've all been working together. We all know know where we are trying to get to and what we need to do to achieve that.

"But at the moment our thoughts are with Robbie and his family and hopefully everything goes right."

Deans' coaching assistants Jim Williams and Richard Graham were with the team as they flew out from Sydney this morning and would be expected to take charge of their preparation until Deans joins them.

- AAP