Robbie Deans’ future as coach of Australia will be decided by their results in the lead up to the 2013 Lions tour.
Deans recently signed a new contract that takes him beyond the end of next summer’s visit by Britain and Ireland’s elite but there is plenty of speculation that he will be replaced in the build up to the 2015 World Cup.
The New Zealander led the Wallabies to a first Tri Nations crown since 2001 this time last year but a disappointing World Cup and a failure to wrestle the Bledisloe Cup back from the All Blacks hasn’t gone down well in Oz.
And now Deans’ boss at the Australian Rugby Union, CEO John O’Neill, has made it clear that toppling the Kiwis twice this year and topping the southern hemisphere’s new international competition is cloe to vital in the lead up to the Lions.
"I've said from the outset the coaching situation is just on results," said O'Neill.
"That's the nature of coaching. Robbie's got this year and next year and if he shoots the lights out, it's not a difficult decision to extend him to 2015.
"If you've got a Bledisloe Cup in the cabinet and a Rugby Championship in the cabinet, it tends to put down a pretty significant mark and he's got his head around that.
"The Bledisloe Cup has got a significance that transcends any other event. The reality is the All Blacks are normally the No1 team in the world and we are normally the No2. If you beat the All Blacks, you tend to be the No.1 team in the world.
"Ten years without having won it is too long. Last year, we won the Tri-Nations for the first time in 10 years and the Reds won Super Rugby for the first time since 2004.
"That winning feeling is infectious, but no one is underestimating how difficult and challenging the task will be. We saw what they did to Ireland in that third Test."
