Opinion
Rugby union is not about to collapse, despite what the NRL keeps telling us
Andrew Webster
Chief Sports WriterIt’s been another bumper week for rugby union.
Wallabies young guns Mark Nawaqanitawase and Carter Gordon were released early to their respective NRL clubs while veteran playmaker Kurtley Beale’s career could be over after he ruptured his Achilles tendon playing for Randwick.
Perhaps the most painful blow came from new Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt in an interview with the UK broadsheet The Telegraph on Sunday.
Asked why he stepped into the breach left by Eddie Jones, the 58-year-old New Zealander admitted he was hesitant but did so for the greater good of the game in this part of the world.
“I’m a rugby fan, in fact, I’m a sports fan really, but I just feel like rugby is out of balance a little bit if the Wallabies aren’t at the top table,” Schmidt said. “Even the All Black boys, the messages I got – there was obviously a fair bit of taking the mickey – but they were also saying that we actually need our corner [of the world] to be stronger now. I don’t have a magic formula to make that happen. But know how hard I work, and I can try to help you.”
Has it really come to this? Even the All Blacks pity us? And now a semi-retired Kiwi is going to take us on as his rescue puppy out of obligation to the game? What in the name of Buddha Handy is going on here?
Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt looks on during a training session at David Phillips Sports Complex.Credit: Getty Images
The Schmidt era begins on Saturday night when the Wallabies meet Wales at Allianz Stadium less than a year after the same nation knocked Jones’ team out of the park and the World Cup.
According to those within RA’s four walls, Schmidt has been a breath of fresh air. He’s been everything Jones was not: collaborative with other parts of the organisation and far easier to get along with. He’s noticeably less cantankerous with the media.
In his six years in charge of Ireland, which yielded three Six Nations titles, his gruffness and intensity were legendary. Yet he’s seemingly dropped all of that since arriving at these shores.
His appearance just three days into the job with the always entertaining Kick-Offs and Kick-Ons podcast was heartening.
“First question, three days into the job: have you fixed Australian rugby yet?” presenter James Rochford asked.
Schmidt smiled, paused and replied “no.”
“Second question, have you signed a contract with Japan?” asked former Wallaby Drew Mitchell regarding Jones’ secret deal with the Cherry Blossoms late last year.
“I haven’t had a meeting with them!” Schmidt laughed in reply.
“We’ve heard that before, haven’t we?” another former Wallaby, Matt Giteau, snapped.
The whole thing was all light-hearted and raucous, a far cry from the sombre tune rugby has been playing for years.
Schmidt’s plan during the next two years is straightforward enough: get the Wallabies playing respectable rugby so they can push the British and Irish Lions on their 2025 tour.
Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh has called the tour “the light on the hill” because it can clear the $80 million loan taken out last year.
But there’s more at stake than filling the coffers.
The Wallabies are rugby’s shopfront. When they struggle, it perpetuates the myth that the game is on its last legs when it is not. Staggering about like the drunkest man at the party, but definitely not dead.
If you’re looking for a balanced and honest appraisal about the state of the game in Australia, you should listen to another podcast: Mark Bouris’ enlightening interview with former Wallaby and Randwick coach Stephen Hoiles.
“The game’s not going great here at the professional level,” Hoiles said. “But other areas are. All we see on TV is Super Rugby and Test footy. Super Rugby is hurting us, and the Wallabies haven’t been successful so [the media] reacts to their performance. That’s how the game is viewed. There’s a lot to fix to make the Wallabies successful, but, if they are, it will be a popular sport in Australia again.”
Certainly, rugby’s participation numbers aren’t as dire as rival codes make it out to be. It’s not growing, but it’s not in freefall. The bigger clubs in club rugby are thriving and still draw healthy crowds.
Hoiles is backing RA chief executives Phil Waugh and chairman Daniel Herbert to turn the code’s fortunes around if they are prepared to “make hard decisions and be unpopular”.
Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh and chair Daniel Herbert.Credit: Justin McManus
“We’ve got to stick with them,” he said.
He also slapped down the previous administration under chairman Hamish McLennan, who took great joy in picking a fight with rugby league.
“The chairman was out there taking potshots at league … disrespecting the intelligence of another code,” Hoiles said. “I thought that was poor taste.”
The NRL has hardly been gracious itself with constant rhetoric about killing off the rival code.
This week, it floated the time-honoured story about salary cap exemptions for rugby players who switch allegiances, seemingly unaware that there are already provisions in its own constitution to do so.
There’s also this tiresome narrative being spun that the resurgence of the New Zealand Warriors has killed rugby in New Zealand, including the All Blacks. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Rugby will never die on either side of the ditch.
Super Rugby mightn’t survive. Young players in Australia will still chase the money and opportunity in the NRL.
But there are too many people, with too much skin in the game – like Hoiles and many others – to allow a proud code with a storied history wither on the vine.
Schmidt can’t solve all of rugby’s problems, but doing what Jones promised but woefully couldn’t deliver would be a good start.
Australian great’s Welsh connection
If you happen to see legendary Australian sprinter Marlene Mathews cheering for Wales on Saturday, we can forgive her for having split loyalties.
Only a couple of months ago, Mathews lost her husband John O’Shea, a revered figure in Welsh rugby and a member of the British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa in 1968.
O’Shea relocated to Australia after finishing his playing career in the 1970s, where he soon won the hand of one of Australia’s golden girls.
This is Wales’ first Test since O’Shea was farewelled by friends, family, Wallabies and the Sydney Welsh Choir at a funeral in Sydney’s north in early May.
More concerns for languishing Eels
Parramatta could announce their new coach as soon as Friday. Or next week. Who would know?
Whether it’s Jason Ryles or Josh Hannay, the new clipboard-clutcher has quite the job ahead of them.
Halfback Mitchell Moses’ dressing-room spray after the loss to the Knights, which has been interpreted as an attack on management over recruitment, is telling.
Mitchell Moses wasn’t happy after the loss to Newcastle last Saturday.Credit: Getty
Colleague Michael Chammas broke the yarn and while I wish I owned a greyhound who chased the lure as he chases stories, the mere fact that something said in the sheds after a match could leak out so quickly must concern the next coach.
More than that … is Moses kidding? Many clubs would love a roster as strong as the Eels’.
Perhaps the players should question themselves a little more than management. Under Arthur, Eels players were given too much power and the result is two seasons without finals footy.
While the Eels continue to be the hottest mess in the west, Canterbury are flying first-class again.
Forget about their fifth placing on the ladder, nor the aggressive way they’ve been playing.
The best indication of their resurgence is the smirk you can’t wipe from the face of general manager of football Phil Gould.
When he was appointed in 2021, he told me it “will take 10 years to fix the salary cap”.
Now, he’s talking about luring players from other clubs. Still got it, Costanza!
THE QUOTE
“Jonny will hate me saying this, but if you stay in your crease, you can’t be given out, can you?” – Former England captain Joe Root dramatically changes his tune one year on from the controversial Bairstow stumping during the Ashes. Applying the rules of the game in a Test match? Groundbreaking.
THUMBS UP
Cameron Davis’ drought-breaking one-shot victory in the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit three years after his maiden PGA Tour win the same event was the stuff of golfing dreams. “I don’t know what to say,” he said through tears. “From where I was a couple of weeks ago to today, I’m a completely different person.”
THUMBS DOWN
Like the rest of the country, I’m frothing over what the Boomers can do at the Paris Olympics. That’s right: frothing. But I’m not too big on the sight of Boomers big man Duop Reath headbutting people, as he did on Chinese big man Runwang Du in their friendly in Melbourne.
It’s a big weekend for … the Australian contingent at Wimbledon. At the time of writing it was unclear if our top seed, Alex de Minaur, as well as Thanasi Kokkinakis or Alexei Popyrin had progressed to the third round, so hopefully mentioning here hasn’t been a mock. It probably has. Sorry.
It’s an even bigger weekend for … the hamstrings of Manly superstar Tom Trbojevic, who has been moved from fullback to centre for his return from injury against the Cowboys at Queensland Country Bank Stadium in Townsville on Saturday. Please, injury gods, give this guy a break.
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