As the Australia coach Robbie Deans has found out this summer, losers are losers, no matter how gallant and boldSo much for the series going down to the last minute of the final Test; first minute more like, but with a French referee with an aversion to crooked scrummaging in charge, it was, in hindsight, never going to be a Poite-boiler.Every time Australia think they have got their scrum sorted out, along comes an English loosehead. Alex Corbisiero may not have the hulking menace of Andrew Sheridan, but he gave Ben Alexander, who had marked his 50th cap the previous week by winning two early scrum penalties which were to prove to be decisive, a night to forget.Australia have had long enough to work on the basics but they are committed to the ideal of running rugby, regarding the breakdown as the game’s fulcrum, and feel that the mechanics of a sport with numerous and sometimes complex laws confuse the casual viewer who is used to football codes that have more movement and less whistle.When the Lions won the series here 24 years ago they were ridiculed in the Australian media for being primeval in their approach to the game, relishing the set-pieces, not averse to putting the boot in and content to kick the makers’ marker off the ball.The Lions have been little different this tour, apart from the aggro, but the media reaction has been different, based on gratitude this time rather than hostility. The agenda has been to get the Australia head coach Robbie Deans removed from his post, which has reportedly now happened, and he is expected to be replaced by one of those who was supported in the media, the Reds’ Ewen McKenzie, on Tuesday Australian time.Deans is a New Zealander, which meant he never had a honeymoon. He has been criticised in the past for a conservative approach, but he armed the Wallabies with playmakers this series. Nonetheless he was accused of being over-indulgent to some of his players: when Kurtley Beale and James O’Connor were snapped at a burger bar in Melbourne at 4am three days out from the second Test, they were ticked off.The Australian reported that the same players missed the coach to training last week. They were not disciplined and remained in the side, proof to the newspaper’s rugby correspondent, Wayne Smith, that “the cultural cancer within the team is out of control”. Deans has been seen as a headmaster who has his favourites, soft to those he likes, unforgiving to those who cross him.Inevitably, he has not survived. Two years out from the World Cup, Australia look to have fallen behind their group opponents, Wales and England, with the latter hosting the event. A new coach will have a galvanising effect, but he will ultimately only be as good as his resources and the Wallabies are light at forward.Wales should be stronger for the tour, unlike 2001 when disaffected Lions turned on Graham Henry and he was back in New Zealand three record defeats later. Warren Gatland has enhanced his reputation as a winning coach, although there are many in Ireland and Scotland who care nothing for his direct style of play which is based unashamedly on power.Gatland went for size in the third Test and never mind the scrums, which were the bonus the presence of Poite almost guaranteed, the tactics were evident from the off with the hooker Richard Hibbard used as the most destructive of wrecking balls, smashing into opponents and leaving George Smith jelly-legged early on.Hibbard battered himself into an early substitution and when he came off the field the physios struggled to decide which part of his upper body to ice first. With the tour ending, Hibbard did not have to worry about the next week and if it marked a crude approach, it worked, along with the ball-carrying capacity the Lions had lacked in Brisbane and Melbourne. As Deans is finding, losers are losers, no matter how gallant and bold. The scoreboard does not reveal how victory was achieved, only that it was.Wales will face an interesting trip to Dublin next season, motivation enough for Brian O’Driscoll to carry on, but Gatland is taking Wales to a place where they have not been since the 1970s, letting opponents worry about them. They still have to crack the Sanzar code as a nation, but they have Australia visiting Cardiff next autumn in a fourth international.The Australian Rugby Union needs the £1m it will trouser for taking part, but not as anxiously as Wales need to beat one of the southern hemisphere’s big three, something they have not achieved since 2008. Jonathan Davies has developed into a rounded outside-centre here, turning weak parts of his game, such as distribution, into a strength, and at last the attacking side of Leigh Halfpenny’s game was seen on Saturday, pace, deception and composure. There are few more complete players in the world and the pair can be the producers of Warrenball 2.A problem for Wales is that Halfpenny, Davies, Adam Jones, Toby Faletau and Sam Warburton are all out of contract at the end of next season. They will all receive large offers to go elsewhere: George North, Dan Lydiate and Jamie Roberts are off to England or France and the extra £1m the Welsh Rugby Union has slipped the regions to help keep leading players will not go far.Warburton is best off with Cardiff Blues because, given the ferociously committed way he plays, no French or English club is going to get a full season out of him: he is a big-game player who uses league rugby as a tune-up. The Welsh Rugby Union has dithered over central contracts but Mike Phillips could be a test case, out of contract with Bayonne and speculating that he may have to retire from international rugby to increase his value to prospective clubs.England will also benefit from the tour. Andy Farrell and Graham Rowntree, again, have impressed the Lions’ hierarchy as coaches and most of their forwards here have made an impact: less so behind, but being part of the set-up will have helped Billy Twelvetrees and Christian Wade, two of the many exciting backs England have.Conor Murray was a player who matured during the tour, making a positive difference when he replaced Mike Phillips on Saturday, and if Jonathan Sexton struggled to hide his frustration with the gameplan at times, he was flourishing in the final Test when he was replaced. It as a mixed tour for Ireland and injury meant that Rob Kearney was stuck on the margins.Scotland had a Test cap in Richie Gray and if Stuart Hogg’s tour fizzled out, he at least showed in the first half that he has the ability to be their catalyst. Sean Maitland and Ryan Grant made the Test bench without getting off it.Four countries, one team, job done. The Lions won the series, but they can learn from Australia just as the Wallabies can start honing tight-five forwards. The direct route is all very well, but when the way is blocked, there has to be a diversion.Rugby union, despite attempts here, has not become rugby league. The scrum is still important, as every Romain knows.• This is an extract from the Breakdown, our free daily take on the Lions tour to Australia. To ensure a copy arrives in your inbox every weekday, sign up here.Lions tour 2013Rugby unionAustralia sportAustralia rugby union teamPaul Reesguardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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