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Wynne Gray
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By WYNNE GRAY in Sydney
The All Blacks coaching difficulties are far deeper than they appear after the Wallabies dealt to them again to retain the Tri-Nations trophy.
Should coach Wayne Smith either stand aside or be shifted in that direction after a New Zealand Rugby Football Union review, there is no obvious successor.
Smith's indefinite answers yesterday about whether he wanted to take the All Blacks through until the next World Cup will raise all sorts of tantalising alternatives.
That reaction was probably more one of crushing disappointment after the All Blacks were beaten in a game they tried to lose in the first half and should have won in the second before succumbing in a last-minute repeat of the Wellington loss last season.
While Smith, who has been involved for the past four seasons in the All Blacks, should face more competition because of the lack of consistent quality results, it is hard to see him being axed if he wants the job.
Someone more under pressure may be assistant coach Tony Gilbert, the man charged with running the pack for the past two years but where many problems remain and where the lineouts were abysmal on Saturday night. A gentleman, Gilbert has the disposition and statesmanlike qualities which would make him an ideal manager while still being a sounding board for the coaching staff.
However, any debate about changes in the coaches has to offer alternatives. And in much the way the Super 12 coaches come out of the blender each season, there does not seem to be a solid NZRFU succession plan.
The Crusaders duo, Robbie Deans and Steve Hansen, coached the New Zealand A side last season on the short tour to Europe, but the Crusaders had a troubled Super 12 result sheet this year and Hansen is leaving for Wales.
Former England assistant John Mitchell has had only one Super 12 season, when he dragged a sixth place out of the previously poor-performing Chiefs. That is scarcely a recommendation, yet, for an All Black coach.
Former All Black assistant Peter Sloane took the Highlanders to fifth in the Super 12, but was not part of Smith's plans when he was asked to form his coaching team last season.
Now he has returned to New Zealand, there will be those who suggest Laurie Mains should be asked to rescue the All Blacks, too. That idea has to be counter-productive for a variety of reasons, the most compelling being the need to get some younger coaches into the mix.
Smith's main problem is that in his two seasons, against the major nations, the All Blacks cannot improve on a 50 per cent success rate. The players have not changed significantly and nor have the results. So does that mean Smith cannot coach, or cannot coach these players?
Smith is a decent man who works feverishly for the All Black cause. But there is a suspicion that some of his computer analysis coaching and obsession with defence has removed the flair and enterprise from the side.
Smith, Gilbert and Peter Thorburn have also made some intriguing decisions, especially with their choices from No's seven to 10. Their insistence that Taine Randell and Ron Cribb should be regular choices while denying Andrew Mehrtens and Byron Kelleher games until recently, did not fit the form guide.
And why Christian Cullen did not replace Leon MacDonald at fullback to add some oomph on Saturday was baffling. Instead, he was subbed on for Doug Howlett on the wing and did not touch the ball.
Those sorts of moves, the lack of play for Jonah Lomu, the indulgence of Jeff Wilson and the lack of security at kickoffs and lineout are issues which add uncertainty about whether the problem is the coaching staff or whether the players are simply not good enough.
* The "perfect" sendoff for skipper John Eales dominated Australian media reaction to the test yesterday.
"When Toutai Kefu smashed through the All Black defence with little more than a minute remaining, John Eales left rugby's stage in a finale that might have been created by Steven Spielberg," rugby writer Terry Smith wrote in the Sunday Telegraph.
Columnist Mike Gibson added: "It was a wonderful game, it was an even more wonderful occasion, an evening of high emotion as 91,000 fans said goodbye to the big bloke who embodied all those things that were good about their game."
In the Sun-Herald, rugby writer Greg Growden said the All Blacks played with great zeal and passion and were unlucky losers. "But yet again the Wallabies knew when they had to produce, and unlike so many other teams who would have folded under the relentless pressure from the New Zealanders, they refused to drop their standards."
All Blacks 2001 test schedule/scoreboard
All Blacks/Maori squads for 2001
