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Unwanted coach John Muggleton says Australia lacks diligence in defence
- Wayne Smith
- From: The Australian
- August 30, 2010 12:00AM
John Muggleton knows why the Wallabies are conceding more tries per Test than at any time in the past decade.
Yet the unwanted coach, who turned Australia into the best defensive side in the game, has signed with Georgia for next year's World Cup.
Muggleton, who worked as defence co-ordinator under three Wallabies coaches, Rod Macqueen, Eddie Jones and John Connolly, has returned to Sydney from the stint at Llanelli he began in 2008 when he realised there was no place for him on Robbie Deans' staff.
But apart from the work he is doing with Sydney clubs Warringah and Parramatta, he has been left untouched by Australian rugby, and recently agreed to terms to work with Georgia through to next year's World Cup.
Certainly, the Wallabies could make good use of him after having conceded 16 tries in four Tri-Nations Tests this season. By contrast, the All Blacks have let in only seven in five matches, while the Springboks have given away 17, also from five Tests.
Overall, the Wallabies have leaked 67 tries during Deans' 36-Test stint as coach (1.86 per match), compared to 34 in 25 Tests under Connolly (1.36), 57 in 94 under Jones (1.64) and 43 in 50 Tests under Macqueen (1.16).
The attack stats are no more flattering, with the Wallabies reduced to 2.38 tries per Test under Deans, compared to 2.73 under Connolly, 3.52 (Jones) and 3.39 (Macqueen).
Muggleton yesterday attributed the Wallabies' eroding defensive record to a lack of attention.
"I don't think we're drilling situations enough," said Muggleton, the man who made the "jockey" defence as much a part of modern rugby as the spiral pass by constantly drilling it into the Australians. "In terms of the Wallabies' goal-line, I see guys like Nathan Sharpe and Rocky Elsom and Salesi Ma'afu and Saia Faingaa just ripping in, with no thought of their own safety, but further out from the line, where players have to make decisions, there is often confusion.
"Good teams _ and let's face it, the Wallabies play the top two teams in the world in the Tri-Nations _ will make you pay if you're indecisive."
Under Muggleton, the Wallabies would build defensive work into virtually every training session but he sees no evidence of that now.
"I don't think there is that degree of diligence on defensive matters because the Wallabies don't have a specialist defensive coach, someone who looks at defensive problems and issues all the time."
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1225911614705