When the Wallabies returned to Australia in August following their record defeat in Argentina, Laurie Fisher, the veteran 64-year-old Brumbies assistant coach, delivered a hard truth to the side.
He had only just joined the Wallabies coaching staff, a role he had longed for, after Matt Taylor’s sacking, but he was not about to sit idly by.
Fisher told the playing group that if they were content with coasting in the national team then they did not deserve to be at next year’s World Cup in France.
Having given up 48 points, he told them to look in the mirror and ask themselves whether what they were doing was acceptable for a Wallaby.
“We looked at one clip from the second Argentina Test, which is really just about workrate, about communication, like our hands on knees, like line speed. Edges not pushing edges. Lazy,” he said bluntly.
“I saw one clip from that game and said ‘This can’t be us. If that’s us, we may as well not go to the World Cup’. We’ve got nothing. That’s my starting point.”
Unfortunately for the Wallabies, but perhaps all too predictably, Dave Rennie’s side fell back to bad habits a month later as they were smashed 40-14 by the All Blacks at Eden Park – a week after almost pulling off a stunning come-from-behind win in Melbourne.
Once again, Fisher, who has coached almost half the Wallabies squad for years at the Brumbies, was furious.
“We had one moment in the New Zealand game that very much reflected that Argentinian moment,” he said.
“So, I showed that again and said, ‘Listen, boys, unacceptable.’
“It’s easy to just find a couple of things. There’s some really good things happening.
“But in Test rugby, you’ve got to be good all the time. We’ve got to be stronger as a group and just be really candid with each other about being the best we can be.”
Fisher is a no-frills coach. Australian rugby needs him more than he needs them.
Wallabies suffer another Eden Park loss | 01:33
Once upon a time, Fisher harboured ambitions to be a head coach. He held the top job at the Brumbies for four seasons.
It took him time to discover, but Fisher – a teacher by trade – is, and has been for half a decade, keen to just get back and coach without the ego to want to be the main man.
There is a reason he is on Twitter and actively takes to the social media platform after matches.
Win or lose, perform or roll over, Fisher tells it how he sees it.
He is direct but not rude and is somewhat of a father figure of Australian rugby.
Fisher only has a few years left to give but, based on the performances and consistency of the Brumbies over the best part of two decades, the Wallabies don’t have a second to waste.
They must soak up every ounce of wisdom he has.
While other coaches have battened down the hatches over the years, seeking elaborate solutions, Fisher craves getting the basics right.
He believes if the Wallabies can do that they will go a long way in reversing their slide down the world rankings, where they now sit at a historic low of ninth.
Fisher does not waste words.
The one time he used an expletive in this interview, it’s to ram home his philosophy.
“It’s been very much my style of coaching, and I’ve got a great belief that consistency of performance comes from basics – your carry, your groundwork, your clean-out, your tackle quality, your catch-pass ability,” he said.
“If you do those things well, you’re going to be consistent.
“Then you’re going to have moments of execution that are going to be fantastic.
“But the key to consistency is doing the simple things, the basics of the game, well.
“That takes time across five Super Rugby sides to build a culture of that. We’ve hammered that hard at the Brumbies for many years.
“The Brumbies are built on basics. We are f–king built on basics. That’s us, we do that well.
“I have a belief that with 10 minutes to go in any game of rugby, if you’ve executed the basics really well, you’re a chance of winning.”
Consistency has been the Wallabies’ achilles heel for years, and a failure in doing the basics well has meant they have often been guilty of poor discipline.
It comes as no surprise, then, that the Wallabies have been seen as World Rugby’s whingers, as they’ve been punished on the scoreboard for their lack of discipline, not poor officiating.
“Discipline has been an often-talked-about thing in our game and, again, I believe that discipline comes from doing your basics well,” Fisher said.
“If you’re good in front-end collisions, if you’re good around the breakdown, you’re not giving away the penalties, you’re not under pressure.
“If you’re getting in front defensively and not slacking, you’re not giving away offside penalties.
“This tour is all about really developing our basics, valuing our basics, and bedding all that down. Ground zero.
“We’re going to get that right and we’re going to grow from there.”
Fisher, who started out as a teacher before moving into the Australian Institute of Sport and then given a role as an assistant at the Brumbies, wants to reverse that trend.
He is excited to be working under Rennie, having thought his chance of coaching the Wallabies had sailed past, particularly after he turned down an opportunity in 2020 following the death of his mother.
“Obviously, I’ve never spring-toured before, so it’s great to be touring with the national team,” he said.
“I’m honoured by it and looking forward to it. I had no idea (this chance would come).
“I’m looking right at the back end. I might have a year or two years and then pull up stumps.
“To get this at this stage of a career is like just a wonderful full stop on what will be 25 years in professional rugby.”
Had the opportunity not arisen, though, Fisher wouldn’t have looked back with any regret.
“No. When you’ve been in the game that long and probably given the thought away anyway,” he said.
“I love what I do with the Brumbies and have for a long time, so I don’t need any more satisfaction. But I’m honoured to get the opportunity.”
