No shortcuts for Deans the pioneer

Hopefully this may help ease the worry for the few doubters left out there...

No shortcuts for Deans the pioneer

Rupert Guinness, SMH
January 26, 2008

Whether he's jet-boating or running drills, the new Wallabies coach is an individualist and a high achiever, writes Rupert Guinness.

They can always tell when Robbie Deans has the urge. The sight of his jet boat sitting in its trailer outside the Canterbury Crusaders training ground at Rugby Park, St Albans in Christchurch is the give-away.

The players and staff don't need to guess what Deans plans to do on his lunch break. He will drive 10 kilometres to the Waimakariri River with his 14-foot V6 boat in tow, and then release the tension of his job by launching it into the shallow waters for a high-velocity 90kmh burst deep into the valley.

"It's a release, not so much the adrenalin. It gets you into places that will take a lot longer any other way. They are great spots and generally out of cell-phone range," the soon-to-be Wallabies coach told The Herald.

"And it is only 15 minutes to the river. You get a 30-minute blast in the lunch hour and no one is the wiser."

Deans, who with wife Penny, a French teacher, has three children - Annabel, 16, Sophie, 11, and Sam, who has just left school - smiles when he talks about "adventure boating". Along with squash, it has long been a favourite pastime. He also believes that, like rugby, it's about quick, spontaneous thinking.

"A lot of the philosophies [from speed-boating] apply to rugby," he says. "You are constantly making choices. If you can see a way through, take it. There may not be another one. Look further down the track, make that choice and commit to it."

Deans may not be able to continue his high-speed pursuit when he and his family move to Sydney at the end of the Super 14 season. In fact, he may head up local river networks at a much more sedate pace to indulge his latest passion, rowing.

But his versatility to adapt to new challenges has always pulled Deans through without regret - whether he succeeds or not.

Such as how he bounced back from coaching the Crusaders to their worst-ever finish to a Super tournament, 10th, in his second season in charge in 2001. The following year the Crusaders went through the season undefeated - an unprecedented feat - and captured their second title under Deans.

His subsequent seasons in charge - when the Crusaders finished runners-up in 2003 and 2004, and champions in 2005 and 2006 - made him the competition's most successful coach.

His legion of fans rue the day the New Zealand Rugby Union snubbed him for the All Blacks job, opting to retain Graham Henry, who coached New Zealand to their World Cup quarter-final loss last year.

So pained are they that Dick Tayler, president of the Canterbury Rugby Supporters' Club, expects many to switch allegiances and support the Deans-coached Wallabies in this year's Bledisloe Cup. "We are all gutted that he missed the All Blacks job. Not only Cantabrians, but New Zealanders are aware he must be the best coach in New Zealand," Tayler said.

"But we were absolutely delighted he got the Wallabies job."

Tayler will lead a tour of 48 supporters to Brisbane for the final Bledisloe Cup clash in September and warns that his group "won't all be wearing All Blacks jersey". But surely not a Wallabies? "Don't be surprised," he says.

Former All Black Todd Blackadder won't go as far as switching allegiances. He and Deans go back some time: they played club rugby together, Blackadder played under Deans at the Crusaders and he worked with him as an assistant coach last year.

"As a former All Black, I will never change. But I want Robbie to do well," Blackadder says. "I am very pleased for Robbie. Everyone who knows him is very pleased for him. He deserves this opportunity. He is a winner by heart and he has a proven record of winning after turning failure around, by learning from it."

Deans also has the support of two former All Blacks and legendary Canterbury figures, Fergie McCormack and and Alex "Grizz" Wyllie."It is disappointing, because he still has so much to offer [in New Zealand]," McCormack says. "But with Robbie as [the Wallabies] coach I would be worried if I was the New Zealand coach."

Wyllie, who says Deans's departure is a " a shame" for New Zealand rugby, recalls a player who "always aimed at perfection, which is one of those things that Robbie will try and get out of his [Australian] players".

Overwhelmed by this kind of support, Deans doesn't feel he has been branded as a Cantabrian about to betray his family ties to the region that date from 1850 when the first settlers arrived.

Deans's pedigree is reflected in the road and park signs around Christchurch that bear his surname, and his family's history with the All Blacks. Deans was capped in five Tests, younger brother Bruce 10 Tests, and great uncle Bob was one of the 1905 "Original" All Blacks to Tour Britain. In fact, Robbie Deans feels his move typifies the spirit that brought his family to New Zealand from Scotland.

"They saw an opportunity and tried to make the most of that opportunity and were prepared to go outside the comfort zone," he says. "This [rugby] industry is a bit like that."

It is a philosophy he attributes to father Maxwell and mother Anne back on the farm, from where he and brother Bruce were sent to boarding school at Christ's College in Christchurch.

At home, Deans fell in love with rugby, listening to Ranfurly Shield games on the radio and playing with and against the children of families who would pay to stay in the farm guest house.

"The old man … he was big on 'no shortcuts'," Deans remembers. "We always used to resist, as you do. Each generation knows best, that there has to be an easier way of doing things … but they don't pass the test of time."

If Robbie got caught trying to find an easier way, it was Anne who enforced the law with a wack of the dog collar. "She was a very strong woman. But I came from a family of four under-five [kids], so she had to keep a tight rein."

Deans also keeps a tight rein on his players and staff. But he achieves this by earning their respect, being inclusive and listening and talking to them about how to develop as people as much as Crusaders representatives.

He expects self-accountability. And he asks those he works with to extend themselves, just as he feels he is doing with his move to Australia. And judging by watching him at Crusaders training, where he is the last to remain on the field after helping players with extra drills or skills work, he won't ask of anyone what he doesn't ask of himself.

"The people who work with me, I hope they look back in time and enjoy it," he says. "But to achieve that they need to be extended, challenged … but also they need to remember it. It [rugby] is more than a win-loss thing."

But don't mistake Deans's calm disposition for a shortage of ruthlessness. "He certainly has that," warns Blackadder. That sentiment is echoed by McCormack, who states unequivocally: "He is the boss of the team."