Former Wallabies coach Robbie Deans says the latest Kurtley Beale controversy could have been avoided with stronger leadership from senior players.
The Australian Rugby Union last week fined Beale $45,000 for texting an offensive photograph to former Wallabies staffer Di Patston in June, a scandal which also led to Ewen McKenzie’s resignation as national coach.
Beale escaped having his contract torn up after and independent tribunal found no evidence to prove a second more offensive text and photo had been sent by Beale to Patston, who quit earlier this month citing stress.
Deans, replaced by McKenzie after last year’s series defeat to the British and Irish Lions, says the Wallabies have for some time lacked the leadership to nip behavioural incidents like Beale’s in the bud.
Deans coached the youngest squad at the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand and on Friday said players like Beale, Quade Cooper and James O’Connor, who have all landed in strife with the ARU, needed better direction from more experienced members of the Wallabies.
But he admitted that wasn’t easy.
“We obviously promoted them early because we had a need and ultimately (we wanted) to be No.1 consistently, so we had to find a way of getting over the top of the likes of New Zealand,” Deans told ABC News Breakfast.
“That acceleration of that generation presented its challenges.
“But it wasn’t just at the international level, it was also Super Rugby.
“We had the addition of two Super Rugby franchises across Australia, so we had a natural promotion of a group who probably weren’t fully ready in terms of training age to take that step, so with that came a lot of challenges.
“Because of the profile of our group, the age of our group, we lacked the leadership within to really manage that effectively.
“(Off-field challenges are) par for the course. Every side has those.
“People talk a lot about culture. Culture is what is there when the coach is not.
“You’re part of building a group and a modus operandi, if you like, but the litmus test is when you walk away what happens, and who manages that because you can’t be everywhere all the time.”
