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Kogarah Jubilee Oval’s prodigal son returned to top level rugby league last night, as Mark Gasnier made a solid if unspectacular return in the Red V in the Dragons’ 12-8 loss to Penrith.
The NRL’s own website could barely hide its excitement in the lead up, declaring, “Gaz is back! Yep, after 661 days in the rugby union wilderness, Mark Gasnier returns to the NRL…”
Though named on the bench in the less-than-familiar No.20, there was plenty of suggestion floating around over the weekend that Gasnier would slot straight back into the starting side. The loss of Kiwi back rower Jeremy Smith from the Dragons side did little to quell the speculation.
In the end, he didn’t start, but the 54 minutes he did play would have been more than first anticipated. He showed some glimpses of his old league-playing self too, managing a few offloads and a line break for the outing.
There were no obvious signs of trying to lay the ball back for the arriving ruck cleaner-outerers, but I do think I saw him mouth “pour les sakes de f…” as he dropped a pass in the Dragons last minute final attacking raid. As they say in the classics, he’ll be better for the run.
Of course it’s history now that Gasnier spent the past 18 months in France, playing two seasons of rugby in the borderline garish, but always bright, pink jerseys of Stade Francais in Paris.
With Stade, he linked with former NSW and current Queensland Reds coach Ewan McKenzie, who tried unsuccessfully to bring Gasnier across to rugby while coaching the Waratahs.
And he did pretty well in rugby, too. Though never really cementing himself in one position, often being switched between wing and inside or outside centre, “Marc” Gasnier (as he was referred) still maintained his ability to find the try line.
Obviously, Gasnier impressed the right people at Stade too, because as recently as April he was still very much on their wanted list. Stade CEO Mathias Poursine told the Sydney Morning Herald at the time, that despite not nailing down one particular position, Gasnier was set to become a game-breaker in rugby, and that his club would do all it could to keep Gasnier in Paris.
”I am sure he has not yet arrived at his best level in playing rugby union. He can really improve. He is one of the players in the world who, to me, is an X-factor player – a player who has in his hands the possibility to change something in the game. And only a few players have this,” Poursine said in April.
However, Poursine could also see the lure of heading home, too, ”I can feel that he misses the country,” he said later in the same article.
And the lure has been as strong as it has been persistent. Mentioned as a potential recruit almost twelve months ago when the Melbourne Rebels gained entry into an expanded Super 15 competition, the occasional whispers turned into rather loud screams when ARU interest in Gasnier became obvious early this year.
While the Rebels were obvious candidates from the start, Queensland also sounded like a likely destination with McKenzie now carrying the Reds’ clipboard, and even the Brumbies were mentioned at one point.
ARU High Performance manager David Nucifora even declared in February that Gasnier could potentially be a Wallaby tourist by year’s end if he was back playing in Australia by mid-year.
So here is where the unanswered questions start. For starters, what went wrong? How did negotiations with Australian rugby go from ‘looking to be finalised’ in mid-March, to arguments over length of contract in early May, to concessions of losing the race by the start of June?
What happened for rugby league and St.George/Illawarra to suddenly rocket back into contention?
Why was there hardly a noise from NSW this time around, given the pull of Sydney played such an obvious role in Gasnier’s return to the Dragons, and with the Waratahs then pursuing Scott Staniforth and signing Ryan Cross from the Western Force?
Was the interest in rugby from Gasnier just limited to earning Euros? And did Australian rugby allow itself to be used as a pawn for Gasnier to get back to Kogarah?
I just find it difficult to comprehend how the ARU, who at times ran a lone race to bring Gasnier back to Australia, could miss out on their man so spectacularly, especially after Gasnier himself had not twelve months ago said “I’m not going back to rugby league”.
Mind you, new Prime Minister Julia Gillard only weeks ago declared she was more chance of playing full forward for the Western Bulldogs as she was of challenging Kevin Rudd. Maybe things really do change that quickly.
Typically, the code extremists have raced to air their opinions too, with the ‘rah rahs’ declaring already that Gasnier wasn’t much chop in rugby anyway, while the ‘mungos’ decided Gasnier probably got bored only touching the ball once every 20 minutes.
Dragons back-rower Dean Young got his sneaky two cents in early, too, telling reporters last week “he probably hasn’t tackled anyone or played a hard game of footy in 18 months…” Oh Dean, aren’t you the jokester…
Don’t get me wrong here, I honestly think Gasnier playing league again is the best fit anyway, just as it was when Andrew Johns entertained the idea of switching codes years ago.
But just as I was with Johns, I can’t help but feel a touch disappointed that we’ll never get to judge Gasnier as a rugby player in Australia. And more so that the ARU could lose out from such a seemingly winning position.