Four tries in five games against the top tier nations. Three of those were in 20 minutes against Italy, whilst the remainder was pot luck. In 240 minutes of rugby against Ireland, Sth Africa and NZ we scored once. Against the Boks and Blacks we never looked like getting inside the oppositions 22, let alone scoring.
From the armchair I thought the game plan was horribly out of touch with our strengths. The players tried hard however Mad Robbie let them down by reverting from the style that saw them win two of their three last tests against NZ. Instead he wanted to play 'tournament' rugby, which we simply did not have the cattle for.
Expansive, up tempo rugby should have been the priority. Cooper, Beale, JOC and Digby - it's their bread and butter. The ball should have spent as little time in the ruck as possible, we did NOT want to get into a forward slog. Instead, Genia - who's strength is his ability to get quick ball - was harassed all tournament, our 10 barely got any decent pill, and when he did the game plan required shovelling it off to McCabe for a crash ball!
Very poor World Cup. Losses to both Ireland and the All Blacks, whilst we fell in against an aging Saffers who couldn't score in a brothel. Deans is blessed not to be under more scrutiny.
On Quade:
He was asked to play a style of rugby foreign to him. As a result he struggled. If Mad Robbie wanted to attempt a field position, high percentage style of rugby then he had the wrong man at 10. He does need to shoulder a lot of responsibility for our tactical kicking, though. His execution of this facet was absolutely horrendous.
IMO when he was struggling he should have gone back to what works for him - distributing. It's something Deans should have tinkered with in the game plan. He has the best long passing game since Bernie and some of the most lethal backs in world rugby outside of him, yet his wide ball stayed in the kit bag all tournament. Providing early pill or picking the right one to hit with a long ball should have been a priority.
QC plays his best rugby doing this. Defences spread to cover a long ball, often leaving him one on one with his opposite. The majority of the Reds scoring plays came either directly from a QC long ball, him beating his man, or poking his head through and offloading.
The opposition knew the Wallabies were coming through the 10/12 channel and stacked their defence accordingly. There just wasn't any space there, which often lead him to panic.