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A bit of mischief on tour would be good for the Wallabies

Roar Guru
28th October, 2014
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Michael Cheika has to go back to the drawing board. (Source: AAP Image/Theron Kirkman)
Roar Guru
28th October, 2014
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1454 Reads

“Rugby touring is a lot like sex – when it’s good it’s really good, and when it’s not good… Well, it’s still pretty darn good.”

Nick Far-Jones had that to say at a rugby breakfast I was lucky enough to be invited to recently.

He is right, I have toured once or twice and can say that the memories that came back with me are some of the best of my life.

In days past, a tour was sacred tool that a coach might use to build a team, but with the advent of professionalism ideas like bonding sessions and team building exercises started popping up instead.

It’s a bit of a shame, as if the corporate perspective in rugby has taken the organic process of building trust and commitment between players, then tried to shoehorn it into a textbook. I’d bet that, if you let them, the ARU would keep track of the results on a spreadsheet and run a monthly report.

No doubt Michael Cheika understands this. Darren Walton recently penned an excellent article that described him as “fluent in success”, providing insight into what makes Cheika tick.

It was a surprise to learn that the hot-tempered coach once spoke in French – one of four languages in which he is fluent – to convince fashion icon Collette Dinnigan to give him a job. Further, he is a self-made millionaire, running restaurants and a clothing label along the way.

A quote from ex-captain of the Waratahs Dave Dennis highlights why all of that is important: “He’s passionate about winning, not because he needs to keep his job because he’s told us before he doesn’t need to be here. He can do other things with his life.”

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It can be near-impossible to change an organisation’s culture unless you first change the people and Cheika is the right man for the job. He may actually be able to rise above the politics at the ARU and simply do what is right for the team. On tour, this means doing things the old-fashioned way.

Rugby players are social and mischievous animals by nature and they need to be allowed to have some fun. It is right that at least one team dinner turns into a late night, and the players be tasked with getting each other up for training when this happens. Mischief should not be frowned upon – this is a tour and it should be encouraged (within reason), but the coach must put the onus on the players to know when the right time and place is – everyone is an adult, it’s not the staff’s job to chaperone.

Offences not worthy of The Daily Telegraph can be dealt with in Kangaroo Court and sentences handed out accordingly. At the same breakfast I mentioned earlier, Phil Kearns expressed his confusion about how the traditional punishment was at all punitive. Perhaps the ARU should hire him as a consultant for this tour.

However, there are two sides to every coin and the mischief is only one. Cheika must go a step further again to pick the Wallaby jersey up out of the mud and make it once again something the players can be proud of.

This starts off the field. Farr-Jones explained at the breakfast that when he first joined the national side a senior player was given responsibility for showing him the ropes. Simple things, like for example if a player was dressed in the team formalwear he was not allowed to remove his jacket or sit down until his captain had.

John Kerr wrote recently in his book Legacy that following a victory over Wales in 2010 he witnessed two senior All-Blacks pick up long-handled brooms and sweep out the team sheds. It later emerged that this was a closely guarded team tradition the senior players chose to uphold and keep secret as they felt it represented what All Black rugby is all about.

Each of these things may seem minor, but I wonder if such a simple sign of respect as Farr-Jones described is still observed today, or whether the current crop of Wallabies would elect to uphold a tradition like the one Kerr wrote into lore, given the chance.

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Together in symphony, these small rules and rituals lay the foundation of a positive team culture. What is key now is that when the inevitable off-field indiscretion happens, the media and fans don’t jump at it as an indication of something wrong and instead just smile and think perhaps Cheika might be getting it right.

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