Chris Rattue: Deans richly deserved his big night out

Robbie Deans' young Wallabies gave him a 50th birthday to remember. Photo / Getty Images

Tri-Nations standings

The Springboks raised the Nelson Mandela plate in a limp triumph at Brisbane's magnificent Suncorp Stadium and this shiny symbol of the new South Africa simply highlighted that the country's old apartheid system is reaching out from the past, its fingers poised to tear this potentially fantastic side down.

As to why South Africa got to lift the trophy then and there, who knows?

But there is always something awkward about a beaten captain making a victory speech and John Smit looked shocked, almost pale, in defeat as he fiddled with the token symbol of supremacy between the Wallabies and Springboks.

Smit was not amused, make no mistake, and the Springbok response in Hamilton will be fascinating.

Smit's team of juggernauts were smashed apart by Robbie Deans' mainly valiant rookies, who swarmed all over the Boks in the second half.

This was Deans' finest hour as a test coach, a magnificent vindication of his patience, authority and skills.

Deans is only warming up with the Wallaby team, but even those of us who gladly admit to being his strongest admirers also had to concede that he was in desperate need of a confidence-boosting result in Brisbane.

Deans' young side delivered in spades, rampaging all over South Africa by the end, as much through enthusiasm as outright test skill.

The truth for South Africa is that they were taken apart by a team with too many test newcomers and unproven performers to have won in this manner.

The world champions, once challenged, could not raise a response remotely in keeping with the exalted status conferred upon them.

There was plenty to admire in the Wallabies' work, but they were skittish in attack, blowing three major try-scoring opportunities, and linchpin Matt Giteau is still trying to rediscover his full mojo in the No 10 jersey.

So long as they can keep a veneer of quality players together, Deans' Australia will be a mighty proposition once James O'Connor, Will Genia and Co have grown up.

They are barely halfway up the mountain for now, especially as they have a dodgy lineout.

An Australian team which needed to knock South Africa back with big hitting even lost their No 1 strike force, hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau, to a rib injury, but they hardly missed a beat.

The plain fact for South Africa is that the yapping Peter de Villiers got the job because of the colour of his skin.

De Villiers' appointment might be a case of positive discrimination.

It might also be down to political machinations.

But there is nothing on his CV which says he is good enough for a senior job of this magnitude. In some ironic way, his presence might hold South Africa's best team together, because it helps keep at bay the pressure groups who want many more black players in the test side.

It is a complicated situation, rooted in those past disgraces, and it was only a matter of time before the truth struck home on the field.

This Springbok team is in danger of becoming old before its time because it is surely being run by senior players whose authority overrides that of a former national junior coach who has very limited Currie Cup experience and never been in charge of a Super 14 side.

The business of restoring and maintaining a decent society in South Africa is a complicated one, and it would be foolish and wrong to make any moral judgment from this distance.

But in sporting terms alone, the Boks are off their rockers letting their world champion team be driven by a man who sometimes appears as a fan who got lucky.

A player-power team will only work for so long because self-interest and an inability to see the big picture eventually limit the true potential.

When cracks appear, as they will, they become almost impossible to repair. South Africa's problem is exacerbated because the man who is actually in charge, veteran frontrower John Smit, is starting to tire in some departments - although he produced one fabulous spot tackle at Suncorp - and might only be hanging on by World Cup time.

Smit is the man who makes the Springboks work.

His honest dealings with one and all have been credited with keeping the harmony in a team of diverse backgrounds born out of a highly charged society with a tragic past. Smit's presence is also covering up for de Villiers' incompetence.

This should be South Africa's time. They should be dominating world rugby.

They have all the elements, the right mix of experience and youth, and a deadly goal-kicking arsenal.

The Wallaby team which tore them up are babes in the woods.

Only the sensational cover defence by Bryan Habana, whose wasted attacking prowess symbolises the South African malaise, saved the Springboks from suffering a complete shellacking on the scoreboard.

In contrast, this was Deans' finest moment as a test coach, glowing evidence that he is restoring Australia from the ashes that its own rugby coaches and administrators have created.

Deans made the necessary selection changes and emerged in triumph, the most obviously successful development being the elevation of Genia in place of the ponderous Luke Burgess at halfback.

The sheer tempo of Genia's game - he has one of the fastest passes rugby has seen - lifted the side, and Genia also showed signs he will become a major running threat around the fringes.

More than anything, this victory should get the naysayers off Deans' back and give him the space to do his rebuilding work.

Coming from the cosy and highly parochial Canterbury environment, where Deans' extraordinary success ensured him an armchair ride, he has arrived in a very different place where he will always be just a couple of losses away from a hostile reception.

The way Deans works, he needs time. But Australian rugby, which fights in a tough sports market, only has so much of that to give.

Yet the critics have rushed in with a strange and suspicious glee.

The Wallabies could so easily have won both tests against the All Blacks this year. At Eden Park - although not Sydney - they probably deserved to.

This Wallaby side also hung on with great spirit at Newlands and Perth when the Springboks were threatening to smash them apart.

Taken in isolation, this has not been a great year for the Wallabies and I'm sure that, deep down, Deans must have had a few doubts.

But when looked at in terms of where Australian rugby had got to when he took over, that he faced a task of trying to build on limited and unproven playing resources, Deans' work in Australia has been outstanding.