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Two weeks ago, I made the eight hour drive to Sydney to watch the Wallabies and All Blacks test. I am a whole-hearted rugby man. The only other sport I have any interest in is cricket.
I am the President of my club in a strong league town.
On the Saturday afternoon of the Test, a mate and I went up to North Sydney Oval to watch Warringah and Norths. Unfortunately, we had to leave before First Grade started, but we were thoroughly entertained by the two grades of Colts and the Reserve Grade game we were lucky enough to witness.
What made it so exciting was that each team had a go.
They weren’t afraid to send the ball wide or kick for touch, instead of having a shot at goal. Each team made some silly mistakes (nothing anywhere near as bad as the Wallabies in Perth), but they had a go.
We were very disappointed a few hours later in the way in which the Test was played out.
After parting with $130 each, we were subjected to a kick fest.
It took them 78 and a half minutes to have a go and then the Wallabies dropped the ball.
If it hadn’t have been full time, all that would have happened is an All Black scrum on their own 5m line.
What’s so bad about that?
Games like that, the supposed pinnacle of our sport, make it very hard for rugby people to sell our game to others. I don’t mind losing, it’s part of sport, but not having a go at the try line and losing gets to me.
I am at the point where I will no longer drive long distances and part with a lot of money to watch a professional team not able to do what a Colts Reserve grade team can do.
I bet the Colts had more fun, too.
I will watch it on a big TV at the pub where the beer is cheaper (and a five minute walk, not an eight hour drive each way)
It is unfortunate that the ELV’s have been, not assassinated, I prefer bludgeoned to death with a star picket by those who assume the game will live forever as it is.
Those same people who said that lifting in lineouts would be the end of competitive lineouts, who said something along the lines of “not much has happened” just after the ARU and NZRU announced that rugby was no longer amateur.
I don’t blame the players or the coaches for the endless kicking.
I see it as coaches exploiting the laws of the game to win. That’s what they are there for. I feel the incessant kicking can be blamed wholly on the British Unions and some very ordinary British hacks.
Hats off to those running Club Rugby in Sydney and around Australia. I think it would be good for the administrators of our game at the highest level to come down to club land and have a look at how we do it – as a reminder of what the game is about, as much as anything.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.