48 hours: Deputy's badge in danger

Laurie Fisher, coach of the Super 12 champion Brumbies, looks like a wild west hero you've seen astride a magnificent horse.

Wild flowing hair and a twinkle in the eye. A loner and a leader.

Fisher, though, is hardly a dashing maverick. Instead, he is the good, keen company man.

The gunslinger in this story is David Nucifora, who was run out of Canberra town last year when he started upsetting the affluent and influential locals. When the top Brumbies players feared Nucifora might end their Canberra careers, they ended his.

That's when assistant coach Fisher stepped up, as a sort of front man for those disgruntled bigwigs. The trouble for Fisher, though, is that under these circumstances he may only be able to watch his restless steed rather than hop up to take the reins.

There has always been a high degree of player participation in what the Brumbies do, and to brilliant effect it has to be said. Their first coaches, Rod Macqueen and Eddie Jones, seemed able to be both one of the boys and the boss. But they were dealing with players in their prime so were spared some tricky decisions.

Anyone who wants to trumpet what happened at Eden Park on Saturday night as a major turnaround for the Blues could face serious disappointment, because they are still an average side who were heavily aided by a stumbling Brumbies effort.

The famous Brumbies cohesion was hardly anywhere to be seen. So what to do now for Fisher? Hop on the horse maybe, and risk getting bucked off - like Nucifora? Or if things go seriously wrong, does he simply wait for any fading superstars to move on in their own time.

The Blues certainly had new urgency but the Brumbies are clearly struggling. They won their opener against the Crusaders, but the first round is an unreliable form guide.

Subsequently, the Brumbies scraped past South African teams they would normally put to the sword in Canberra, were ordinary in South Africa, and have now - remarkably - failed to score in a game.

The Brumbies were saved from further embarrassment by individual moments of defensive inspiration - notably Stirling Mortlock's wonder tackle on Mils Muliaina. The Blues should also have been awarded a penalty try after hooker David Palavi sconed Daniel Braid. The score could quite easily have been 30-odd to nil.

Right now, the Brumbies have a major saving grace named Matt Giteau, who is as incisive and influential a player that exists in rugby. They can regroup, but there is also the feeling that we might be witnessing the end of an era, the decline of the days of Bill Young, Owen Finegan, Jeremy Paul, George Gregan, the injury-prone Stephen Larkham and all.

The big question surrounding the Brumbies is this.

After their board sucked up to the superstar players and sent Nucifora down the road, how will Fisher respond now that their famously laid plans are not working?

The player-driven Brumbies team came about through unique circumstances, and was unlikely to last forever. Nucifora offered the franchise the way to a re-organised future, but was chopped down.

That has left Fisher as more servant than master. He can hardly crack the whip.

Things move quickly in sport these days. Demands are higher, careers are shorter, tactics evolve and change more quickly, and dynasties only survive by innovation, fresh and well-honed blood, and by keeping up with the changes rather than sticking completely to old methods.

In contrast, players - especially old established ones - resist change and often act in their own interests, as the Brumbies did last year.

Even if Fisher has the nous to bring about selection and tactical adjustments, will these players let him ring the changes? Or will they instead simply act to hang on to their positions in the team, until heading to Perth, Europe etc. In the end, they may become divided among themselves if things unravel further, and without a strong hand to guide them.

The Brumbies have set a very high standard, flicking a coach who won a title. A dangerous precedent, it might be suggested.

If the bad results continue for the Brumbies, Fisher could end up getting gunned down - although in a very different manner - by those very same players, and ironically the ones who gave him a Claytons sheriff's badge.

* The Chiefs are on an inevitable road to disappointment this season and their fans will be asking why, after last year's super-hero effort.

Injuries have played a part. A possible answer: their continued reliance on the well-worn inside back trio of David Hill, Mark Ranby and Keith Lowen, who are too ponderous and predictable. The best try-scoring opportunities often come from counter attacks (and - ironically - from mistakes when well planned defensive screens are taken by surprise) but these three brief All Blacks struggle to respond.

The Chiefs have some likely looking magic on the outsides, but their inside backs just go through the drills and lack that essential ingredient - pace.

They have also failed to get power loose forward Sione Lauaki running on to the ball. He looks like a man with his feet stuck in quick-drying cement.