There were no bland euphemisms to describe Stephen Larkham’s departure from the Wallabies coaching staff just eight months out from the World Cup in Japan. In a statement released by Rugby Australia on Monday, Larkham was straight to the point about his broken working relationship with head coach Michael Cheika: “We have differences in attacking strategy and overall game philosophy.”
No sugar-coating the fact Cheika and Larkham did not see eye to eye on the style of game the Wallabies played. The question is, why did it take four years for the differences between the pair to become such an issue that the coach once touted as Cheika’s successor is no longer on the coaching staff? Heir apparent today, gone tomorrow.
Cheika would have been well aware of any philosophic differences he had with Larkham when he appointed him as his attack coach in 2015. After all, he had coached against him in Super Rugby. In fact, it was Larkham’s philosophy of the game that attracted Cheika, who head-hunted him for the Wallabies role because of those very differences, excited about the potential possibilities of expanding the scope of the the national side’s attack.
But Cheika misjudged his man. It’s not that Larkham was a bad coach, but just the wrong coach for this particular Wallabies team, or at least, certain key players.
After the Wallabies’ annus horribilis last year, winning just four of 13 Tests, there was enormous pressure on Rugby Australia to do something to turn the team around. Cheika survived the axe, but there was speculation one of his assistants would go. The team’s attack was singled out as the problem after the Wallabies averaged just 19.2 points a game.
But Larkham was not a sacrificial lamb to appease the growing numbers of disillusioned Australian rugby fans. This was Cheika seizing back control of the direction of the Wallabies.
When Cheika replaced Ewen McKenzie as Wallabies coach at the end of 2014 the team’s style of play was modelled on the NSW Waratahs’ Super Rugby title-winning team. Looking for something extra, Cheika turned to Larkham, who brought with him the Brumbies’ playbook and a treasure trove of set-piece moves.
Larkham increasingly added Brumbies-style intricate, rehearsed moves, which often involved multiple passes, but the Wallabies key attacking players such as Bernard Foley, Kurtley Beale and Israel Folau were more instinctive, playing what was in front of them, as they did at the Waratahs.
Time and again the Wallabies’ attack broke down, more often than not behind the advantage line, after a series of complicated handling manoeuvres went wrong. There was nothing wrong with the moves per se, but they did not suit the personnel. It just didn’t click. It was akin to trying to force square objects into round holes.
During the course of last season you could hear Cheika talk more and more about the need to simplify the Wallabies’ attack. In other words de-programming the attacking strategies Larkham had implemented. Perhaps that explains why Cheika let Larkham go even though Rugby Australia, it seems, wanted him to stay.
So who will replace Larkham? There has been speculation the once and future Queensland Reds attack coach Jim McKay will get the job. McKay certainly got the Reds backline moving when they won the Super Rugby title in 2011 and like Cheika, he is a Randwick man, which means he should be aligned to some of Cheika’s attacking philosophies.
McKay also has a connection with Wallabies halfback Will Genia and ex Test five-eighth Quade Cooper from his previous time at the Reds. Who knows whether Cooper will re-ignite his career alongside Genia at the Melbourne Rebels this year and put himself in contention for World Cup selection? The Wallabies tried three five-eighths last year – Foley, Beale and Matt Toomua – without anyone claiming ownership of the No 10 jersey. Could McKay bring out the best in Cooper?
But if the Wallabies backline is to feature Foley, Beale, Folau and potentially Adam Ashley-Cooper at the World Cup, it may be wiser to appoint an attack coach who already has a rapport with the majority of the Test backline. Waratahs coach Daryl Gibson will coach the NSW quartet in Super Rugby this year. Also, Gibson was Cheika’s assistant coach the year the Waratahs won the title and knows how to work with him and defence coach Nathan Grey.
Rugby Australia may believe it would be asking too much of Gibson to coach the Waratahs and assist the Wallabies at the same time, but the precedent has already been set. In 2015 Cheika, Larkham and Grey juggled Wallabies and Super Rugby duties and Australia reached the final of the World Cup at Twickenham, losing to the All Blacks.
Whoever takes over the attack coach role, Cheika will be in charge and you can be certain he will not be using any euphemisms to describe how he wants the Wallabies to play.