Deans brings back Campo. Good!

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By Spiro Zavos, 30 Aug 2008 Spiro Zavos is a Roar Expert

Tagged:: Alan Jones, Brumbies, David Campese, George Gregan, Gregan, robbie deans, Rugby Union, Rugby World Cup, Springboks, The Springboks, Tri Nations, wallabies

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A disgraceful act of spite by senior Wallabies (read George Gregan, particularly) took place last year when they refused to allow David Campese to hand out the Wallaby jerseys to the players before the Test against the Springboks at Cape Town.

Campese, along with many other rugby writers (including myself), had argued for some time that Gregan was more of an impediment to the success of the Wallabies than a guarantor of victory.

When Gregan came into the Wallabies in the early 1990s he was a running halfback with some flair in his play.

I remember writing him up after seeing him on television starring in the Hong Kong.

As his career progressed, he became more noted for his defensive work, which included the memorable tackle on Jeff Wilson, ‘Gregan’s Tackle’, that won a Test for the Wallabies against the All Blacks in Sydney.

But he stayed on too long.

And he seemed to be resistant to new blood being introduced as his successor, both at the ACT Brumbies and at the Wallabies.

In the end, at the 2007 Rugby World Cup, he ended up a caricature of the dynamic player he was a decade early. He stood over the ball as if he were an emperor penguin waiting for it to hatch.

Gregan had some revenge on Campese for his calls that the emperor halfback had no clothes by thwarting the jersey presentation, and stating in his just-released rugbiography that Campese had such frail defensive skills and a lack of pace and strength that he wouldn’t have made it in the professional era.

This is arrant nonsense.

Campese would have been devastating in the professional game, especially under the ELVs. There has never been a better broken field runner in the history of rugby.

The claims about his lack of defensive skills have never really held up. There was not one winger in his long career who ever had the wood on him. His game wasn’t based around defence, but Don Bradman’s game wasn’t based around bowling.

Alan Jones called Campese, “The Bradman of Australian Rugby.” This is an apt and fair description of Australia’s greatest winger.

An All Black selector and coach once told me that when they were preparing to play the Wallabies in the Campese era, he was the only player who they had to work out and practice specific plans and systems to try and keep him – generally unsuccessfully – in check.

The Gregan-Campese spat has a happy ending for Australian rugby. Earlier this week Robbie Deans asked Campese to hand out the jerseys to the Wallabies in a ceremony that took place before the team traveled to Johannesburg for the crucial Tri-Nations Test.

Forever on the front foot, on and off the field, the great Campo allowed himself a counter-attack against Gregan and his comments: “You can sense there is a real change in the atmosphere of the Wallabies this year, a more relaxed feeling … The burdens have been lifted off the players and they are enjoying their rugby. There’s no baggage.”

I reckon George Gregan has been tackled ball and all.

And that David Campese has picked up the ball and scooted away for a long-range try.

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The Crowd Says (69) | Page 1 of Comments

Benjamin said | August 30th 2008 @ 12:38am | Report comment

I don’t think that David Campese having an accurate opinion on the merits of Geroge Gregan’s latter years makes up for endless periods of controversy for the sake of it, excessive hyperbole and general innacurate rants – for example his continued boring attacks on England. Neither should his talent. Everybody is free to express an opinion but past greatness is not an automatic ticket to being a Wallaby authority. I wouldn’t say that Gregan has been tackled man and ball because Gregan is respected around the world and Campese, to date, isn’t.

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ohtani's jacket said | August 30th 2008 @ 1:06am | Report comment

The funniest part was when Campo said “”For example, my opinion is that Gregan will go down as being remembered for making one tackle and then living off it for the next 15 years.”

As many others have said, that’s one more tackle than Campo ever made.

And it hasn’t been 15 years yet.

I think Campo’s more your Shane Warne type than Bradman.

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Frank O'Keeffe said | August 30th 2008 @ 1:19am | Report comment

Beat me to it Spiro! I was planning to write a column about Gregan’s ridiculous comments in his recent autobiography, but ah well…

I agree 100% with your assessment Spiro. This isn’t to say some of the things Campese has said in that past have been apt. Off the top of my head, some of the unfortunate things he said are:

* Simon Poidevin (who took plenty of shots at Campese in his book) mentioned in his autobiography that Campese had mouthed off to Wally Lewis by saying that Poidevin should have been dropped after the world cup.

* Criticising Peter FitzSimons for his barney with Abdelatif Benazzi in the first test against France in 1990.

* Criticising Michael Lynagh for kicking the ball too much in the same game mentioned above. (NOTE: Campese was dropped for that game because he arrived from Italy too late and my impression was that his criticism was a moody reaction to being dropped.)

* Criticising Michael Lynagh’s decision to go to Italy in 1994 when he and others who wanted to play in Italy were obliged to stay in Australia for world cup preparation.

* Saying Tim Horan shouldn’t be in the 1995 World Cup squad because there was no way he could play well after such a bad injury.

* Labelling the World Cup Wallabies boring and Herbert as nothing more than a battering ram.

* Attacking Bob Dwyer in 2003 by saying he should be dropped as Tah’s coach. Often there’s nothing wrong in saying something like that, but an opinion should be backed up with good facts and Campese’s argument was terribly weak.

There’s actually quite a bit more I could say there. As Bob Dwyer said, “There’s a loose connection between his brain and his mouth.”

But as far as Gregan goes… well Campese nine times out of 10 was correct in saying he should have been dropped. Look at Luke Burgess, all talent and no experience. He’s overplaying his game right now but with time he could become very dangerous. If Gregan had retired perhaps someone similar to Burgess could have been blooded and would be a great player by now.

However, sometimes Campo would criticise Gregan when, quite frankly, he didn’t deserve it – last year’s quarter-final was an example. Gregan got rubbish ball all afternoon as tremendous English counter-rucking unsettled the Aussies. Gregan was the first Aussie Campo criticised. But we all know Gregan held on way too long and it stunted the Wallabies progress.

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I was disappointed Gregan went after Campese in his book for two reasons. Firstly, perhaps Campese went slightly too far in the past. But Gregan doesn’t come off classy with this “eye for an eye” mentallity. And it’s clearly his way of giving Campo a reciept for years of criticism (most of it valid as you say, Spiro) because Gregan doesn’t seek to take apart any other past players and scrutinize their game.

Secondly, as I said with Campese above, if you want an opinion that’s fine, but you should always back them up with facts. Gregan’s shots were weak… incredibly weak! Firstly, Gregan said that Campese would play mind games and bully younger players by… wait for it… asking them to change outside while Campese was sleeping so they wouldn’t wake him. I’ve had house-mates with worse annoyances than that. Did Campese also ldrink the milk out of the carton?

Campese had weaknesses in defence, but he was no worse than say… Joe Roff maybe. I always thought that area of his game got too much spotlight. Campese was a player who’d make mistakes from time to time in the attempt to do something spectacular. He walked the tightrope and stumbled from time to time. Because of this when Campo would make a mistake, people would say “I knew it”. But his defence wasn’t quite as bad as folklore has it. In fact rewatching all 4 Grand Slam matches from 1984, I only recall Campo missing one tackle (he also made a silly error in the Barbarian game, though that doesn’t count because he made that mistake in the spirit of the game). In fact Gareth Edwards said on commentary that Campese appears to be a fine defender. When he wrote the book ’100 Great Rugby Players’ he wrote: “David Campese just doesn’t miss tackles.” Now Gareth is wrong there, and he obviously based much of what he wrote on Campo’s solid defensive effort in the ’84 Grand Slam tour… but it’s nice to hear the opinion of someone who’s not waiting for Campese to make a mistake. (That last sentence sums it up.)

Yes defensive patterns have improved a lot, but when it comes to broken play you just have to shore up the numbers. Campese, as you said Spiro, was the best broken-field runner ever. His vision and sense of anticipation was amazing. What’s worse is Gregan made it sound like Campese needed room to move, and that the modern player (being faster) would be after to cover him better. My memories of Campese involve him eluding players at the last instance with a mesmeric step off either foot (and let me tell you, I could never guess which foot he’d step off). It’s not like Campese ran into space all the time… more often than not he’d step his way through spaces where there was no space! It’s not like the players were slow physically, but they were slow mentally to pick which way he’d go. Quite often Campo was within an arms-length of players, but you couldn’t pick which foot he’d step off.

One of my favourite Campese moments came during the 1992 Bledisloe Cup in the first Test (you can find this on the Campese DVD) when the Aussies were trying to win the game. Campese slotted himself into five-eighth, but Farr-Jones butchered his pass and it was a short pop of a parabler pass. Campo was stuck with the entire All Black forward pack rushing towards him. Instead of running left or right, he suprisingly charged the All Black pack, stepping through five players and I swear I just can’t see where he found the room. He was caught just before the line, wisely holding on to the ball and having sucked half the All Black side to the ruck area (where they desperately tried to hold him up) Australia had numbers out wide and Tim Horan sliced through for an easy try.

Campo wasn’t ultra quick, though he most certainly wasn’t slow, especially in his younger days. And this lack of pace is irrelevant. Gregan said modern players have what Campo had only these days they’re quicker. What rubbish! No modern player played rugby in the free spirited nature Campo did. Campo would drift into the five-eighth position, pop up in the centres and even end up on the other wing! From sideline to sideline he probed for tries. No winger has that workrate today!

Gregan’s arguments were weak.

———————-

Lastly I was thrilled when Robbie Deans became coach, he said he’d invite Campese and Ella into the fold (Ella too has had his criticisms that didn’t sit well with the Wallabies). It’s such a shame that Australia has the likes of Campese, Ella, Rodriguez… who are, as far as I’m concerned, as good as anybody who played in their respective positions… and are they invited to offer advice to Super 14 sides? I don’t even know if John Eales has been asked for line-out advice from Super 14 sides.

Campese was allowed to help advise the Australian Sevens this year, and I think that’s marvellous. Even with all the modern defensive patterns, when you read Mark Ella’s opinions it’s obvious he still has a keen knowledge of rugby and it’s structure. The spirit of the Wallabies lies in these players…

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Frank O'Keeffe said | August 30th 2008 @ 1:24am | Report comment

I forgot to add that if you’re going to make an argument about somebody, you might as well concede obvious facts. Any idiot knows Campese was a great player and it’s useless to try and say otherwise. Gregan’s argument would have been better if he’d said, “Campese was one of the greats and a brilliant player, but his criticisms of me were wrong because…” He could have gotten away by saying a few negative things about Campese’s behaviour, because Campo wasn’t exactly beloved by some of his team mates. Peter FitzSimons has said it many times he thought Campese could be selfish, like not being around to pick up his bags, forcing one of his team mates to do it for him etc. Gregan could have gotten away with that.

But you gotta call a spade a spade and Campese was a very special player… Australia’s best in my opinion.

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ohtani's jacket said | August 30th 2008 @ 1:41am | Report comment

The problem with Campese’s criticism of Gregan is that Campo himself stayed on for too long. Campese really wasn’t worthy of a Test spot after ’92 or ’93 if you want to be generous.

It’s also nonsense to say he’s the best broken field runner in the history of the game. Campese played in the same era as Blanco, Sella, Kirwan, Gerber, Carel du Plessis, Cullen, Jeff Wilson. Kirwan used to show him up all the time and later Wilson. After Inga ran over the top of Campo, the Aussies never had Campo mark Lomu. James Small had no problem marking Lomu, so I don’t buy the Campo could defend argument. He couldn’t. Campo’s idea of tackling was pulling a jersey.

Campo was a genius, but if the Wallabies hadn’t found Little and Horan or if those two hadn’t grown up playing together, the Wallabies would’ve never won the ’91 World Cup or the Bledisloe in ’92.

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Frank O'Keeffe said | August 30th 2008 @ 1:46am | Report comment

“An All Black selector and coach once told me that when they were preparing to play the Wallabies in the Campese era, he was the only player who they had to work out and practice specific plans and systems to try and keep him – generally unsuccessfully – in check.”

Can I ask Spiro, which All Black selector was that?

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chris said | August 30th 2008 @ 3:29am | Report comment

Is there anything wrong as saying a liked both players but Campo had a big mouth in the press,while Gregan had a big mouth on the field.

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Mungo said | August 30th 2008 @ 8:09am | Report comment

For our annual fundraising Port Douglas Rugby luncheons we’ve enjoyed the company of great wallabies Tim Horan, Roger Gould, Dick Marks, Micheal O Conner, Kearns, Marto, Herbert and their families to name a few, We invited Mark Ella and his wife this year he accepted and we proudly advertised our guest speaker with the date and venue, at the last minute he cancelled unexpectedly then refused to answer his phone, we then had to cancell and postpone our luncheon, Campo was much better a few years ago, he made it to Cairns then decided to play golf, slipping out the back door of his hotel when our treasurer was at the front desk paging him. Great and admirable footballers in their time but if these two ever became monks and burned themselves in a public protest over Wallaby selections I wouldnt waste my urine on them.

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tarpo said | August 30th 2008 @ 8:15am | Report comment

Campo was certainly a special player & absolutley brilliant on attack but his tackling was about as devasting as Andrew Merhtens

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sheek said | August 30th 2008 @ 8:35am | Report comment

Ohtani’s jacket,

The Wallabies would never have won the 91 world cup without Horan & Little??? Wow, such prescience – quick, tell me, who’s going to win this year’s Melbourne Cup – I’ll put my house on your insight.

C’mom! And Australia might have been the best rugby union nation of the 20th century if it hadn’t been for rugby league. By 1991, we had lost O’Connor (age 30 in 1991 & still playing state-of-origin & for Kangaroos), Papworth (age 28 in 1991) & Matt Burke the elder (age 27 in 1991). But that’s beside the point.

Campo’s comments about Horan not being fit for the 1995 world cup was like shooting Bambi, but they proved accurate. One of the problems of the 1995 squad was that too many players were either carrying injuries or over the hill. perhaps campo was in the latter category.

Campo may not have been the most robust defender, but he could tackle when required. He was certainly better in this department than Joe Roff, for example.

Campo said what he thought, without thinking it through beforehand. A lot of people rubbished his comments, yet occasionally he was capable of deep insight. But when Campo spoke, people had predisposed themselves to throw the baby out with the dishwater. Thus often, his gems of insight were missed.

Re Gregan, he was a great rugby player but an average scrumhalf. He was also one of the most divisive players to represent the Wallabies, who often put personal pursuits ahead of the national interests.

Mungo, if your stories about Ella & Campese are true, then that’s very sad indeed. I would certainly like some verification on that.

Ella & Campo are human, with their faults, but they’re heroes of mine.

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Deans brings back Campo. Good!

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