Reports claim Stirling Mortlock will be dumped as Wallabies captain
By Wayne Smith
October 09, 2009 Stirling Mortlock's 28-Test reign as Australia captain is over with Rocky Elsom set to be named to lead the Wallabies on their end-of-season tour.
The Australian has reported Mortlock will not be continuing as captain, which will come as a major disappointment to him but certainly as no great surprise as he has not played since badly injuring a knee in the August 8 Tri Nations loss to South Africa in Cape Town.
While recuperating from surgery he travelled to Japan to explore post-Test career options, a trip that sent a message to the Australian Rugby Union that Mortlock himself is beginning to doubt whether his form and fitness will last through to the 2011 World Cup.
While Mortlock has been told he is not out of contention, it is understood Elsom is to be anointed as the 76th Wallabies captain, although Berrick Barnes continues to hover as a genuine alternative, with Queensland Reds skipper James Horwill also rating some discussion as a left-field captaincy candidate.
Mortlock first captained the Wallabies to a commanding 43-18 victory over England in Melbourne in June 2006 and initially enjoyed a successful run, winning 11 of his first 15 Tests in charge - albeit losing the 2007 World Cup quarter-final to England when his last-gasp, long-range penalty goal attempt to win the match just faded wide.
But since Robbie Deans became coach last year, Mortlock's winning percentage has plunged from a peak of 73 per cent to just 46 per cent, with the Wallabies losing seven of their past 13 Tests under him.
Indeed, take out the two wins against No.12 ranked Italy, and his winning ratio free falls to just over 36 per cent, although overall Mortlock finishes with a respectable 17 wins from 28 Tests.
Only three other players in history have captained Australia in more Tests - George Gregan (59), John Eales (55) and Nick Farr-Jones (36).
Caretaker skipper George Smith's captaincy record, four wins from seven Tests, is marginally worse although under him the Wallabies scored shock wins over New Zealand and Springboks when both were ranked No.1 in the world.
He also led a youthful Australia side to an 18-11 triumph over the Barbarians last December at Wembley, a match that started out in traditional free-flowing fashion and ended up a brutal contest as the Barbarians, boasting 11 members of the World Cup-winning Springboks side, bristled at the Wallabies' ferocious tackling.
But while it appears a foregone conclusion that Mortlock's four-year run as captain is over and that Smith, a reluctant skipper right from the moment he led a rookie Wallabies midweek side to a shock loss to the Ospreys in Wales in 2006, will not be burdened with those duties any longer, it is not entirely clear who will succeed them.
Elsom remains the raging hot favourite and it is understood he has been promised the job. But it may very well be that the quality that most stamps him as a potentially great leader - that he is entirely his own man - might not sit comfortably with some Australian rugby powerbrokers.
Barnes, who Deans confirmed will share the five-eighth duties with Matt Giteau on the tour, has not been ruled out as a captaincy contender, with ARU chief executive John O'Neill rumoured to be championing his cause.
Significantly, Giteau is not in the picture as a captaincy contender, which strongly reinforces rumours he is not enjoying his rugby under Deans.
Certainly if Giteau is not under consideration, it represents a stunning downgrading of his standing within the Wallabies over the past two seasons. Former Australia coach John Connolly revealed this week it had been a toss-up in his mind whether to give the World Cup captaincy to Mortlock or Giteau.
"In the end, it came down to the fact that Mortlock was the more experienced player but it could just as easily have gone to Giteau," Connolly said.
Whoever is named as captain will face a tough initiation as the Wallabies head to Tokyo for their October 31 showdown with the All Blacks needing a win to avoid a seventh consecutive Bledisloe Test defeat - the worst losing streak in trans-Tasman rugby since the game turned professional.
Then follows a daunting grand slam tour against England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. All are powerful set-piece teams that will now - following the announcement that Nathan Sharpe will miss the tour to undergo shoulder surgery - fancy their chances of putting as much pressure on the Wallabies' lineout as on their scrum.
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...016959,00.html
