The Art of Captaincy – Part 3: Australian Captaincy

 

Roar Pro

By Bruce J Rankin, 4 Dec 2007 The Crowd is a Roar Pro

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Bruce J Rankin continues his analysis of the Art of Captaincy in rugby union.

Now let’s look at applying the principles in Parts 1 and 2 in assessing and selecting Australian captains.

Despite Mortlock’s position at outside centre, I concur with those who advocate keeping him as Wallabies captain – until a new captain is groomed to take over.

He has had some four years experience as Brumbies captain and now the Wallabies captaincy, has a mature level head on his shoulders and appears to have led well. However he’s close to retirement, faces another shoulder reconstruction and I’ve not seen evidence of his ability to inspire his team mates or make tactical changes when needed.

Ideally the captain will be one of the proven Super 14 or new provincial captains. Nathan Sharpe could be the best contender if he put his mind to the job. Giteau’s best playing position at inside centre means he’s not well placed as captain from there, however he could be a genuine captaincy contender if he switched to halfback.

My pick would be for George Smith, depending on how well he goes as Brumbies captain and his willingness to take on the wider off field responsibilities. Another possibility is Rocky Elsom should he get the opportunity and successfully lead the Waratahs in 2008. The requirement to be an 80 minute player would rule out Phil Waugh as a realistic candidate, given his alternating role with George Smith.

What about Gregan’s leadership and captaincy? In the period of his years as Wallaby captain from 2001 through 2006 (and Eddie Jones as head coach/selector until 2005) Wallaby test successes declined materially. Apart from the success against the All Blacks in the 2003 semi-final, it is difficult to recall other significant successes, or examples of when Gregan inspired his team mates or changed tactics, especially so that the team came from behind to win in the last 20 minutes. As his half back play declined and became constricted to a one dimensional passing game, so did his captaincy appear to be locked in a one dimensional mindset. Gone were the inside flick passes to the likes of Owen Finegan, the darting runs and box kicks. His antagonism of referees was a constant trademark.

In 2004 Nucifora appeared to recognise these issues when Mortlock was appointed as Brumbies captain, thus freeing Gregan to concentrate on his game at halfback. In the Brumbies shared leadership environment there were plenty of senior leaders to support Mortlock in his new role, plus the talent and experience to win the Super 14 title. While it proved an excellent decision, Gregan as the Wallabies captain and a proud man, no doubt felt the decision keenly. But like a good professional he took it on the chin and carried on. Until Nucifora made the tactical error of raising the ongoing Brumbies coaching position prior to the end of the Super 14 season. Gregan and the players made their move and the absurd outcome of a winning Super 14 coach being dumped is now history.

But Gregan retained the Wallabies captaincy and so it was in the last three years of his reign – often with the Wallabies in a losing position – that Gregan was substituted by Eddie Jones and later Connolly, in the last 20 minutes of several tests – mostly to no avail. What an inditement of Gregan’s captaincy skills to pull the captain off in the final 20 minutes, when his experience, inspiration to his team mates and tactical skills are supposed to be paramount! In 2006 the Wallabies beat the Springboks 49-0, then three weeks later just beat them 20-18 after resorting to a kicking game, in what Mark Ella described as “the worst game of test rugby he had ever seen.” Crucially he said: “It didn’t work because George Gregan hasn’t got any tactical nous.” Sadly this is probably the best summation of Gregan’s captaincy skills.

Looking at kickable penalty tactics, the Wallabies under Gregan frequently went for the corner lineout in the hope of scoring a try. Usually to heroic cheers from Australian crowds. Unfortunately my guess is the tactic fails 80-90% of the time. In a recent Australia versus South Africa tri-nations test in SA in 2005(?) Australia needed 8 points to win in the last 10 minutes – so needed to score twice. What did Gregan do when awarded kickable penalties? He went for the corner lineout, South Africa successfully repulsed the attacks and the test was lost. Gregan forgot the principle that, when you’ve got to score twice, it doesn’t matter whether you get the 3 points from the penalty first or last – you must just take the points!

In the 2006 Super 14 competition under Chris Whittaker as captain, the Waratahs were playing their last Super 14 round robin game against the Wellington Hurricanes at the Sydney Football Stadium. As I recall the Waratahs were trailing the Hurricanes in the last 20-30 minutes by more than 7 points – but there was plenty of time available and the Waratahs appeared to be gaining ascendancy. The Waratahs had several kickable penalty opportunities, but inexplicably Whittaker stubbornly chose on every occasion to kick for the corners in an attempt to score tries. Not one succeeded, the Waratahs lost their chance for a home semi-final and then lost the away semi-final against the Hurricanes in Wellington.

I have attended every Super 12 and Super 14 game at the SFS since 1996. Looking back I’ve come to the conclusion that the principal reason for the Waratahs failure to win a Super championship is because they have not had a top line captain with those key captaincy skills like John Eales, Brett Robinson, Blackadder, and so on. They’ve had many fine players as captain – Tim Gavin, Michael Brial, Matt Burke, Jason Little, Whittaker, Freier, Waugh and others – but none who would be highly rated as captains. I think it was early on in 1996-97 former Springbok captain Tiaan Strauss played for the Waratahs but was not apparently considered for the captaincy. The Waratahs results may have been markedly different with his experience at the helm. Sure there are many other factors associated with the Waratahs poor Super track record, but the lack of an outstanding Waratahs captain and leader over the past 12 years appears as the one consistent factor in the failure to win a Super title.

In Part 4 we’ll look at the New Zealand captaincy and the failure to win any of the last five World Cups.

Read [Part 1: The attributes]
Part 2: [Rugby Tactics]

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