Beware of the Aussie perfectionists

So it looks like Eddie Jones may well be coaching the Stormers in next year’s Super 14. Okay, that might sound a bit sensationalist, and at this stage is highly speculative and, frankly, is just a lovely thumb-suck.

But think about it.

Another defeat for the Wallabies and the former Brumbies mentor could be out on his ear.

Nick Mallett still rates him. And much though Mallett may rate his current Western Province coaches, they are still young and have little experience of the Super 12.

Mallett said when he took up position as the WP director of rugby that ideally he would like a head coach with proven international experience and a proven track record.

There are not many of those around as they mostly are under current employ.

So come on Eddie, there is a job waiting for you in Cape Town, a city you like so much that almost your entire time in South Africa on your most recent trip was spent there even though your two matches were on the highveld.

Seriously though, that Jones is fighting for survival is indicative of how competitive, and how perfectionist for that matter, the coaching business is in Australia.

Indeed, the fact that a defeat in Perth on Saturday would be the first time since 1981 that the Wallabies have lost four successive test matches says everything about just how good Australian coaches really are.

In rugby terms, Australia is a small country. Until the Super 14 kicks off, they still have only three competitive states in the union game.

That means, if you disregard the attrition rate, that at any one time that nation only has three players in each position that can be considered for the national team who boasts anything like top first class experience.

When Clyde Rathbone ran onto the field at the weekend as a replacement, it was after just one club match following his return from injury.

Ditto for Brendan Cannon. As for Lachlan MacKay, who at the start of this buildup week to the Perth test against the Springboks was being tipped as the probable flyhalf replacement for the injured trio of Stephen Larkham, Matt Giteau and Elton Flatley…well, since the end of his first full Super 12 season, he has been playing only club rugby.

And yet, despite all the criticism being heaped on Jones in his own country, he and his ilk do somehow always manage to produce players who, when they get onto the field, look like passable test players.

Drew Mitchell was that at the weekend. He may have fallen off the tackle that led to the first All Black try, but he was the pick of the Wallabies for much of the match.

If players were missed by the Wallabies, it was the efficient front-five forwards of 10 years ago, men such as John Eales, Rod McCall, Tony Daly, Ewan McKenzie (probably the next Wallaby coach) and Phil Kearns rather than Chris Latham or Mat Rogers.

Morgan Tirunui, who limped off in the second half, was not playing test rugby a year ago, but he has not looked out of place in the test matches he has played.

Okay, so South Africa boast great depth at the moment. But there are many more rugby union players in this country than there are in Australia.

And yet, since 1981, a full 24 years ago, the Aussies have never had a bad patch which was bad enough to extend to more than three consecutive test match losses.

Don’t be fooled either into thinking that the Wallabies have had easy schedules.

Even before South Africa’s readmission back in 1992, the Wallabies generally played the All Blacks a minimum of twice a season in Bledisloe Cup tests.

There were also series against the British Lions in 1989 and 2001, as well as countless tours to the United Kingdom and France.

Something has been done right in Australia, and if you look at how quickly the Wallabies tend to adapt to new circumstances, you have to say that which is being done right is the coaching.

Coaches over there don’t get turned over as quickly as they do in South Africa. But Australia did axe Bob Dwyer, who had won a World Cup, and they were quite hard on his predecessor, Alan Jones, too.

The moment which really underlined just how hard it is to meet demands for perfection in Australia, however, came last year when the Brumbies decided to rid themselves of David Nucifora. The man took that franchise to a Super 12 trophy, something no South African coach has ever managed.

The Wallabies cannot afford to use 34 different players in seven test matches, which is what they have been forced to do this year.

That is just too many for their depth of resources. But the fact they have taken so long to hit this sort of crisis must surely be a tribute to their conditioning coaches.

Make no mistake, the Australian team that will face the Boks on Saturday has been decimated.

It won’t be at full-strength. You can bet your bottom dollar though that it will be extremely well prepared. The Boks should not take them lightly.