Australian Rugby Union chief executive John O'Neill said that while the Wallabies' loss to Scotland was ''devastating'', their coach Robbie Deans still had the full support of the ARU board.
Although Deans is widely judged to be one of the world's best coaches, he has struggled to lift the Wallabies' standards, recording just 14 victories and a draw from 27 Tests since taking over last year, for a low success rate of 51.9 per cent.
The Wallabies have slipped badly this season, winning just two of their past 10 internationals and finishing bottom in the Tri Nations. They have lost the knack of scoring tries - just 58 have been scored under Deans - averaging two each game. On the northern hemisphere tour, they have scored six in four internationals for a win against England, a draw with Ireland and losses to New Zealand and now Scotland.
Deans, who is contracted to the ARU until after the 2011 World Cup, admitted there would be a backlash after the loss to Scotland for the first time since 1982.
O'Neill, who travelled with the Wallabies before returning to Sydney last week, said that while he was devastated by the loss, he stressed that Deans was under no threat of losing his job. ''We have every confidence in Robbie Deans being the right coach for us,'' O'Neill said yesterday. However, O'Neill added that after the northern hemisphere tour, leading ARU officials would meet Deans to conduct a review of the season to work out what improvements had to be made to ensure the Wallabies end their slide well before the next World Cup.
It would not be surprising if this review leeds to changes in the Wallabies' team management below Deans. The erratic performances of numerous leading Wallabies players on this tour will also be closely scrutinised and the careers of some might suddenly be under threat.
O'Neill said the review would be headed by the ARU's high-performance manager David Nucifora, who has been travelling with the team, and would involve Deans and ARU board members.
''The results are clearly disappointing and not acceptable,'' O'Neill said yesterday. ''We have two more games to go on the tour and rest assured we will be reviewing every aspect of this tour. David Nucifora, myself, Robbie Deans and the ARU board will have a good, hard look at what is going wrong.
''It will be an objective, balanced assessment of the pros and cons of this entire season. It will take in all of the Test matches starting from June and finish off with this tour.
''It is crucial that we are really confrontational with every aspect of 'Team Wallaby'.''
O'Neill said some of the outcomes might not be to the liking of the Wallabies' player and management group.
''Everyone has to front up - the player group, the management group and the ARU administration - because I'm not sure what more we can do in terms of providing any more support,'' O'Neill said.
''There is nothing we are skimping on. Still, how can a team in a course of a season go so close to beating the All Blacks, beat the Springboks in one game, beat the French, then lose to Scotland? We are devastated.''
