17th November 2008. That was the date I changed my moniker from ‘Bring Back Melon’ to ‘Who Needs Melon’. I can point to the article in which the change occurred, a cracker of a piece by OldManEmu.
It was in the aftermath of a great Wallaby win over Engalnd. At Twickenham on 15th November 2008.
A Wallaby win in which our forwards finally stood up. And our scrum seemingly turned a corner. In fact OldManEmu remarked that “our front three is one that you can build a World Cup year on”. At the time this didn’t seem absurd.
Unfortunately those front three were Robinson (now out injured), Moore (missed due to illness), and Baxter, probably the lesser of the three, who has dropped off since.
My original choice of moniker was no idle whim. I had been despairing for years that we needed a forward with ‘mongrel’ like Owen Finegan (aka ‘Melon’).
I’m sure all long term Wallaby supporters will remember his lumbering run to the try line to win the semi against the French in the 1999 World Cup.
My decision to change to ‘Who Needs Melon’ represented my belief that we’d turned a corner but, as OldManEmu himself signed off with article, “one swallow does not a summer make”.
Watching this World Cup it’s struck me how big, powerful and ‘mongrelish’ so many other teams are in world rugby. England, Argentina, South Africa, Romania, Georgia… Even Canada and the USA!
All our best forwards recently seem to have been quite small – George Smith, Phil Waugh, David Pocock. Horwill is kind of an exception. Are we a nation of small men? I don’t think so. So what’s the problem?
Theory 1: All the best, biggest, most mongrelish men tend towards other sports like AFL or league.
Solution: Poach some. Don’t go for a Lote, Rogers, Wendall or Tahu. Next time we are after a League player, pick the biggest, meanest SOB they’ve got. I know they won’t know the skills needed for scrums, lineouts, and so on, but I think we are also guilty of overcomplicating things.
Theory 2: In Australia, we just don’t rate forwards that much. Our backs are the ones on the posters. The ones that make the highlight reels. Sure, forwards lay the foundation… but when you look at the Opera House, you don’t think about the foundation, do you?
Solution: Change our focus. Set up an academy focused solely on forward play, especially scrummaging. Select and reward the forward of the year, the scrummager of the year. And reward them with interviews, money, whatever.
Theory 3: It’s our competitions – like Super Rugby and limited other domestic competitions – themselves that encourage backs and devalue forwards.
Solution: Perhaps the more local derbies of this new Super format will help. Perhaps the addition of the Argies? A proper, revamped second tier comp? More guys from rural areas seem to help. Men of the land seem a tougher breed – just look to New Zealand.
I’m not writing the Wallabies off. I realise we’re still in this World Cup. But I also know a problem is not going to be fixed unless its existence is acknowledged.
I think it’s time we stopped saying all is well and poured some real resources into fixing this.
SA
Guest
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/rugby-world-cup/the-contenders-springboks-have-found-their-mojo-20110921-1kkse.html
amband
Guest
our front row should be from the same provincial team, playing on the same side together
J
Guest
Would hate to see what the england pack is like if you are calling SA one-dimensional
Damo
Guest
Great questions in your article Melon. Sorry I missed reading it till now. I agree about fnding the right cattle and developing it is a big marketing challenge. I have mentioned at least a dozen times on this site the need to- 1 Make forward positions and their roles ,especially tight five, more visible to all 2 Give the boys who are there now more exposure to the public gaze. 3 Develop front five skills in a public arena (as well as in private training as current) 4 give public exposure to the tight five contest and public encouragement to young players to excell a it. My solution to create these outcomes? A deliberately celebrated, televised, sponsored and publicised Tight Five Rugby Competition, where the best props and 2nd rows battle it out in tight. The game would take place on a much narrower field and consist of 1 Scrums 2 Rucks 3 Mauls 4 Lineouts perhaps. Apart from the rolling Mauls there would be little running. The whole thing would look a lot like a wrestling contest. Its whole focus would be the development and celebration of tight five skills The whole rugby community (and the wider community) would get to know who was the nations best prop and why. But most importantly young props and tall players who had the ability could be publically celebrated and sponsored. Just as Sevens developed loose running rugby 'Fives' could develop tight 'mongrel' skills. It would not just be Quade or Kurtley or Brando getting the accolades. The ' fat'kids and the tall workhorses would literally 'get a run' in the media. I would imagine that it could run like Australia's Best Athlete, (where Billy Slater got to prove that he is actually the fittest, physically clever bloke in the country). Other codes could join in. Barry Hall in the second row. Would do well in lineouts but might lose out in the scrum sections? Willy Mason up against Nathan Sharpe. Tight Five Skills need to be developed, publicised and celebrated. Put the spotlight on them. Give them money. Make the pigs into stars. Make the dirty work sexy. and give the foundation skills of a rugby team a thorough foundation in the furnace of public competition.
Big Boppa
Guest
You can have 20 Super Teams and put them whereever you like in Australia. The argument here is about the performance of the Wallaby fwds - look at the coaching and tactics - most of these fwd did the business relly well in Super rugby - The Reds pack got the job done so did the Tahs etc - look a bit deeper at the use of the players not who they are
amband
Guest
why a review. We just need the private school mentality out of the boardroom & management
amband
Guest
yes i see your point
Blinky Bill of Bellingen
Guest
"Even K Beale had a private school education". That's what I read. However, listening to him being interviewed, made me wonder if he ever found the class rooms. Seems everything he says starts with "yeah mate". And then I pray for the interview to be over before he puts his foot in his mouth again as per the John Eales medal award when he came out with "this doesn't mean that much to me" or some such tosh.
Johnno
Guest
I argree kingplamaker, western sydney like AFL via GWS needs to be integrated more , much more. So many pacific island talent out there that love rugby but are abandoned by it that they go to rugby league. Rugby league has ome decent development models, with the NRL clubs having major involvements.
Johnno
Guest
After this world cup, there msut be an Argus review or crawford report style investigation ot the ARU from the national team down to grassroots rugby union. Australia is a rugby nation tha tis going backwards not forwards for multiple reasons, and it has to be investigate why this is the case. maybe 4 corners should get on the band wagon, like they did a story on Australia's failed world cup bid. the ARU for to long eg John O'neill and co seem to be able to be oblivious to scrutiny, it is a joke. AFL seem to have much better business plans for development.
amband
Guest
we also need to encourage local junior teams for kids to aspire to the western Sydney team Super teams are false commercial constructs, with no history of ties with locals. Local junior rugby can supply that. Build it up further, nurture the locals
kingplaymaker
Roar Guru
Johnno you're bang on the money. A Super team in Western Sydney is an urgent requirement. Frankly more teams than that are needed. But why are there now multi-million dollar owners as in League and European rugby? This massive source of revenue is not available to the Super 15 sides. It is essential that a new Super team is founded in Western Sydney, South Auckland and the Eastern Cape for all three countries for different reasons. I like this article very much and it is one of the only ones brave enough to face the reality that the problems with the national side lie at the roots, with the small numbers of teams and league's greater presence. Some converts would be great now. Think of the massive line-breaking backs to be had in league now.
stillmissit
Roar Guru
Johnno - agree with you about junior rugby but spending heaps of money on Western Sydney is money down the drain. There are real issues beyond rugby out here. Most youngsters learn RL and then adapt to Union if they are interested, those that are good seem to be fall outs from the major league clubs development squads. RL in the west ain't too flash either, a young boy who lives in my area had his semi final last week and 9 players in his team turned up. I also coached a few league boys where their club team closed. In terms of scrummaging the boys enjoy it but with a lack of players turning up for training it is hard to get enough scrums and lineouts into them. I have seen several potentially great young props out here but there is little work ethic on their part.
stillmissit
Roar Guru
Top idea Scarlett but our baby props would not get a run in Europe. As for the rest of the forwards they would get a run due to size and speed. The second row, I ain't sure about but Vickerman seems to be far more committed at the breakdown for his time in the UK.
Ben S
Roar Guru
Holding your own isn't really a great deal when the myth is that the pack will often dominate. Over the past two seasons the SA scrum and breakdown work has been massively erratic, and that's being polite.
amband
Guest
there's plenty of white Australian boys that are good enough. Same stock as the English, NZ, and many Saffers, after all. These administrators will not allow the working class into the game at high level, unless they are islanders Even K Beale had a private school education
Scarlet
Guest
I am not sure if anyone was blaming a negative forwards culture on the weather, I was actually trying to get ahead of some of the normal criticisms that flow about European rugby being too forward orientated - which, if it is, it is often because of the underfoot conditions rather than a desire to play simple forward dominated rugby. I think that many of Australia's forward problems stem from Super 15 and the constant mania within the ARU about an 'entertaining product' ie running rugby. This focus on creating a product that entertains people who don't have a history of playing the game as they are competing with other codes has damaged Australian play significantly. Get the game played by more people in schools, bring back a competitive attitude to sport in schools and do away with all of the non competitive participation awards bollocks and then get a better club competition in place. When we moved from Sydney to the UK my kids went from a school environment where they were not allowed to compete properly and everyone got an award for participating and there were no losers or winners. Over here they are in a full on competitive environment which encourages all participants and especially encourages the winners. However, to ensure balance the school puts out as many teams as there are kids wanting to play. This means that you can get an Under 14 4th team playing, which is just fantastic. That teaches the fact that you don't have to be an out and out star to play sport, and the levels of encouragement for the stars ensures that they continue to strive to play for the school, the town, the county and then their country at every age level.
Intotouch
Guest
Van der Linde's nick name in Leinster was Van der Lunch. Says it all really. As for genetics i'm sure that plays a part. But Ireland forever has a problem finding front row players and has a much smaller population so men the right shape and build are out there in Australia, it's what is done to train them surely that has to change. What i find astonishing is that a scrum that in Europe isn't rated as one of the best could cause Australia such problems.
mattamkII
Guest
Johnno. Sorry mate, the Saffers haven't been strong at scrum time for a very long time. Like I said above, a few good days here and there is all.. Even the great Os Du Rant, a man I admire, wouldn't have been in the top 10 loose head scrummagers in word rugby. That might not be the case early in his career but certainly was after his comeback. What he had was an amazing and I mean amazing work rate. Even the current lot aren't that great. The games I saw CJ van der Linde play in Europe were shocking.
mattamkII
Guest
Sorry, have to agree with Ben here...ouch. The myth of saffers being great at scrum time is exactly that...a myth. They have had a couple of good days out here and there but they really aren't any better than the wallabies. The saffer back row is also mildly over rated by some. Where the saffer forwards have it all over the wallabies is the almost rabid dog approach to break downs. The Aussies have it from time to time but the saffers produce it 90% of the time.