Oval Office July 2008

Coach Dean’s lessons will work

All Black Legend Grant Batty tells it like it is

Robbie Deans, the man whom the vast majority [read 99.999%] of Kiwis wanted as the All Black coach has started his Australian Head Coach role with success, but without conviction. Beating Ireland in a messy match and an undermanned French team has probably only convinced Deans that he has an 18 month road to traverse before his players fully understand how to execute the Deans game plan! But believe it, they will become very, very competitive.

Dean’s management style has also been warmly welcomed by his players. No meetings or training for meetings or trainings sake. One of the blights for the modern player is ‘over-training’. Seems Robbie has the balance right.

Recently while in New Zealand, I was lucky enough to see the All Blacks playing Ireland in Wellington in what was rated by some of the players as the coldest conditions they had ever played in.

I was also lucky to catch up with Mark ‘Cowboy’ Shaw, who many will remember as an aggressive and uncompromising loose forward who played 30 tests for the All Blacks in the early to mid 1980s. Cowboy aptly and succinctly described Robbie Dean’s non-selection as a “disgrace” and added that it was simply “Robbie’s time”. Unfortunately seven wise [not!] men decide otherwise.

However we move on!

Tri Nations are looming and I suspect that South Africa and New Zealand match up as favourites with Australia looking to “evolve” their game. One suspects Deans may use this tournament as a series of trials to identify what players he will go forward with in the future.

He’s small, he plays on the wing and he’s cheeky. Remind you of anyone you know? Well, the comparison might stop if I say he’s also a youngster and he’s got a full head of hair.

But French rookie Alexis Palisson and the “pants down” comment really livened up our winter Down Under. The game needs characters and crowd-pleasers – players who will back themselves. The young bloke did just that.

The French media can’t get enough of the flying winger and whether or not he made the “pants down” comment, we don’t know but the journos and fans are lapping it up.

I mean, the kid was playing in his first Test and he makes no bones about how he’ll go head-to-head when he takes on Lote Tuquri, one of the biggest and meanest wingers in the game.

Palisson said Tuqiri had several weaknesses he hoped to expose around the ruck as well as a perceived difficulty handling kicks behind him. OK, maybe. But he was a 75-kilogram 20-year-old who was giving away 28kg in weight, 16 centimetres in height and 60 Test caps in experience.

“You simply avoid taking him face on,” Palisson told the French media covering the tour. OK fine.

Then he kicks in, “I’m going to pull down Tuqiri’s pants.”

The gall of the Gaul!

The French, it seems, took a comment too literally, according to Palisson, who said after their 34-13 loss: “This story with Tuqiri motivated me more because I never said such a thing.”

But it’s a bit like when Steve Waugh reckoned he never said to Herschelle Gibbs, “Congratulations son, you just dropped the World Cup.” It’s too good, why would you deny it?!

Tuqiri doesn’t like flashy competition. He basically chased Pom Tom Varndell out of Test rugby for a couple of years. The Brits at the Dubai 7s reckoned they were looking at the future of the game when Varndell ran riot in the UAE. Until Tuqiri got hold of him.

In one sense Palisson pulled his opponent’s pants down in that fifth-minute dash around him. Tuquri should have stopped him. The one-on-one fun ended too early when the Aussie left the field with a knee injury. He showed a good step, blistering speed off the mark, vision about when to pt in the kick – all the things he’s going to need.

Palisson had a top debut in a team that tried hard but wasn’t in the hunt. He looked for the ball wherever he could and was dangerous whenever he touched it. How he scored that try when Stirling Mortlock hit him with a big tackle is anyone’s guess.
He’s tiny and he’ll be a target now, but one of the oldest sayings rings true, “it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”