Nick Cain: First blood to Lions as toxic Quade gets ‘axed’

The slabs of red meat are one up already! The sledging war initiated by our Aussie mates ahead of the arrival of the 2013 Lions backfired on them in spectacular fashion  when Robbie Deans was embarrassed by a confidential leak.
The Wallaby head coach decided to canvas his counterparts at each of Australia‘s Super 15 teams ahead of paring down his squad for the tour. This involved Michael Foley (Western Force), Ewen McKenzie (Queensland Reds), Jake White (Brumbies) and Damien Hill (Melbourne Rebels), doing a ranking of players in each position so that Deans could draw them into a potential Australia line-up.
The only coach who failed to respond was Michael Cheika of the Waratahs.  Maybe he had a premonition, because no sooner had the exercise been conducted than it was leaked.
The Australian Rugby Union were apparently ‘mystified’ when an email from Deans to the five Super coaches, containing the 23-man team they had picked through the selection exercise, fell into the hands of an Aussie newspaper.
Most damaging of all was the exploding hand-grenade to Wallaby morale that showed the Super 15 brains-trust did not rate controversial Reds play-maker Quade Cooper as worth a place in the Australia line-up for the three-Test series against the Lions.
This indicates that Cooper is still seen as a potentially disruptive influence following his outburst last season, when he labelled the Wallaby team culture under Deans as ‘toxic’.
Warren Gatland must be rubbing his hands with glee at the prospect of the richly talented fly-half still being seen as sufficiently tainted not to be included in the Wallaby inner sanctum.
The Super 15 coaches also punctured the hype surrounding Israel Folau, the cross-code Rugby League and Aussie rules superstar who has been getting on the Waratahs scoresheet regularly, by leaving him out.
It is understood players were ranked on a 3-2-1 basis over a number of weeks until late last month, and, among the other notable selection decisions was Kurtley Beale’s demotion to the bench, while Liam Gill also raised some eyebrows when the Reds openside flanker was rated above Michael Hooper (Waratahs) and George Smith, the newly returned Brumbies oldie but goldie.
Since then Beale’s participation in the series has been thrown into doubt, sadly because of continued alcohol issues which have seen him admitted to a specialist clinic.
If anything, should he be ruled out, Beale’s extravagant gifts will be missed by the Wallabies even more than Cooper’s. Beale is a finisher as well as a creator, and there is often magic in the way he finds space where there appears to be none, and wriggles through gaps like an eel.
Even though he has match-winning capabilities which could seriously trouble the Lions, if Beale is unable to participate in the series it will be robbed of a sparkling talent.
However, what is revealing is the consensus among the Super 15 coaches that, in any event, they favour James O’Connor at fly-half ahead of both Cooper and Beale.
O’Connor is another quixotic talent, but, while his sheer pace undoubtedly makes him a running threat at 10, he is virtually untried in the position at Test level. In particular, O’Connor has not yet shown that he has the full fly-half package in terms of tactical acumen or as an accomplished field kicker.
If a rookie Wallaby fly-half is something for Gatland to get his teeth into, so too is a collaborative selection exercise on the part of Deans which is surprising.
You would have thought that by now Deans’ feet have been under the Australian table for long enough that he would be absolutely clear about who he wants in his line-up, and why – and that would preclude him from bothering with this sort of formal consultation. Instead, it smacks of a political manoeuvre to cover his back.
As for the origin of the leak, there have been fingers pointed at the ARU for attempting to soften the blow for players left out of the provisional Wallaby squad to be announced this weekend.
The other possibilities are that someone in the Aussie Super 15 firmament wants ‘Dingo’ Deans out of the Wallaby job and saw this as a chance to undermine him – or that the Lions have somehow managed to plant a spy deep in the Aussie camp. Here’s hoping.
Whichever it is, everyone was acting unimpressed. Foley, the Wallaby hooker against the 2001 Lions, called it an unwanted distraction ahead of the series and said he felt sorry for the players.
Another unnamed Super 15 coach said, “You have to shake your head that this has been leaked by someone the day after it’s been sent. It’s poor form. It doesn’t help the relationship between the national coach and provincial coaches…”
Given the Aussie track-record for deliberate subterfuge and dirty-tricks when it comes to the Lions, or any other Northern Hemisphere touring side for that matter, it is hard to summon much in the way of sympathy.
All in all a classic case of the biter bitten.