News

Wallabies travel without Deans

July 31 2009

The Wallabies flew out for South Africa on Friday without their coach Robbie Deans, who headed to New Zealand to be with his seriously ill father.

Deans travelled to Christchurch early on Friday and was expected to link up with the Australian team on Sunday, ahead of their Tri-Nations clash against the Springboks in Cape Town on August 8.

Wallabies winger Drew Mitchell said the coach's delayed arrival in South Africa would not seriously affect their match preparation, noting that the team's first training session was not due until Monday.

"We've all been working together. We all know where we are trying to get to and what we need to do to achieve that," Mitchell told reporters before the team's departure.

"But at the moment our thoughts are with Robbie and his family and hopefully everything goes right."

Coaching assistants Jim Williams and Richard Graham will take charge of the team until Deans reaches South Africa.

The Wallabies lost their opening match of the Tri-Nations series 22-16 to the All Blacks in Auckland on July 18.