Deans faced stern criticism from Australian commentators on Monday for fielding a weakened team against world No 10 Samoa, which recorded one of its most important international victories.
Leading rugby writer Wayne Smith said in The Australian that Deans' team selection smacked of arrogance, while Samoa lock Danny Leo said his teammates were "offended" Australia had not chosen to match them with a full-strength lineup.
Samoans on Monday gleefully celebrated their team's triumph over the well-funded world No 2, rallying to public appeals which seek to raise $US6 million to fund Samoa's World Cup campaign.
Smith laid the blame for Australia's loss with Deans and his decision to leave many of his front-line players out of his lineup for the first test of the season.
"Who knows where along their three-year journey under Robbie Deans the Wallabies acquired such arrogance?" Smith said. "It is not as though they have ridden roughshod over their enemies.
"A record of 24 wins from 44 tests testifies to nothing more than passing competence."
Leo told the Sydney Morning Herald Samoa had been insulted by Australia's decision to rest its top players, including a large contingent from Super 15 champions the Queensland Reds.
"There was probably a bit of underestimation on the Wallabies' part," Leo said. "We fed off the fact that they were using it as a trial match for a few guys they hadn't seen; we were quite offended by that.
"We used that to fuel the fire. Everyone came out firing. Pacific Island teams have always had great success coming in as underdogs, we thrive on that."
Herald rugby writer Greg Growden said the Wallabies had made an error in naming a "holding pattern" XV for the match, resting its leading players for next Saturday's Tri-Nations test against South Africa.
"No, this wasn't the Wallabies' worst performance or their biggest upset in a checkered history," Growden wrote. "The indignity of losing to Tonga in Brisbane in 1973 and Scotland two years ago at Murrayfield remain bigger humiliations because the Wallabies were at full strength on those occasions."
Wallabies great David Campese told the Herald his former side got what it deserved for naming a B team.
"You just can't give guys test caps for the sake of giving them test match experience. It's wrong," Campese said. "Some of the guys playing for the Wallabies shouldn't have been out there. And they can't use the excuse that they only had a week to prepare. In our day, we only had three days to prepare."
The Samoan team website said Samoa had fired a warning shot to their World Cup rivals with Sunday's victory. The story shared space on the site's home page with appeals for donations, including a video appeal from Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Sailele Malielegaoi, who is also chairman of the Samoa Rugby Union.
In an impassioned message, which also illustrated the gap between rugby's richest nations and cash-starved Pacific countries such as Samoa, Malielegaoi said "our sons needs your support to carry our hopes to the IRB World Cup."
A corporate fundraising lunch in Samoa last week raised $250,000, including $20,000 from the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa.
