RADIO National's news at 8am on Sunday gave the NRL and AFL results but there was no mention of the Wallabies' 16-9 victory over the Springboks in Perth the night before. This was unfortunate as the win has opened up the Tri Nations tournament to all three teams, especially Australia.
Last week, I suggested that the ARU's decision to play the first home Tri Nations match in Perth was a marketing no-brainer but a gift to the Springboks because of the support they'd get from South African expats. I opined, too, that the long journey from Dunedin to Perth and playing three Tests on three successive Saturdays could affect the Springboks. By my reckoning I got two out of three predictions correct.
The crowd was nearly 42,000, which represents the biggest crowd this year at Subiaco Oval for any code. From all accounts, the support for the Wallabies, even from expat South Africans, approached the home-ground stridency normally found in Brisbane and Sydney. The Springboks, showing signs of lethargy after their long trip and two tough Tests against the All Blacks, lost their accuracy in the first half when they were dominant and wilted in the second half as the crowd roared on the Wallabies.
With the Wallabies moving back to Sydney and their first Test in 2008 against the All Blacks on Saturday night, the narrative now changes to the battle of wills and tactics of two New Zealand coaches, Robbie Deans and Graham Henry.
After the All Blacks' 2007 Rugby World Cup fiasco it was accepted that Deans was the obvious candidate to coach New Zealand. Intrigues worthy of a Byzantine court resulted in Deans being shut out by the initially reluctant incumbent Henry and an obdurate NZRU board unwilling to admit past mistakes.
Australia Rugby Union boss John O'Neill then snapped up Deans as Australian rugby's equivalent of Guus Hiddink for the Socceroos.
Historically, the Henry-Deans contest is yet another example of the Auckland v the rest of NZ fault line that has bedevilled NZ rugby.
In 1991, for example, the NZRU forced the incumbent All Blacks coach, Cantabrian Alex Wyllie, to share duties with Aucklander John Hart. The All Blacks were split into two warring camps and lost the RWC semi-final to Australia.
In 1999 Hart's All Blacks were split between his supporters and players favouring the former coach from Dunedin, Laurie Mains.
Graham Henry, an Aucklander, was appointed coach of the All Blacks in 2004, taking over from John Mitchell and his assistant Deans. Henry has created the best winning Test record (aside from Fred Allen in the 1960s) of any All Blacks coach. But NZ lost their quarter-final RWC match to France last year. To the anger of most New Zealanders, Henry was retained as coach.
Mitchell and Deans' first All Blacks side to play (and defeat) the Wallabies included 13 Crusaders. This season Henry seems to have made some choices that have challenged Deans's selection policies with the Crusaders. Highly rated Crusaders breakaway Kieran Read has been passed over for Adam Thomson, a player who didn't start for the Highlanders until mid-way through the season. Kevin O'Neill, a gangly second-rower who Deans let go to the Chiefs, has won an All Blacks jersey. Ben Franks, a rock in the Crusaders scrum, has been ignored, so far.
There is tremendous pressure, therefore, on Henry to deliver victories against the Wallabies this season, and at least retain the Bledisloe Cup to justify the NZRU's decision to retain him as All Blacks coach. But no matter what happens on Saturday night, it is already clear with four Test wins out of four that the ARU has struck gold with Deans.
