It was another bleak week of Super Rugby for the majority of the Australian teams, with the Reds getting carved up by a pretty weak Force side and the Waratahs going back into their shells again.
It really highlights the lack of depth in local rugby at the moment.
There just isn’t the talent pool here that there is in New Zealand and South Africa. If an Australian team loses a couple of key players, the back-ups they bring in generally aren’t up to the standard required to make an impact at this level.
The Reds are a case in point.
Without Cooper, the team is struggling. The players simply didn’t look interested on the weekend and I’d say, based on that performance, they’re gone for this season. What’s more, Genia’s form has slumped dramatically without that creative spark inside of him to take the pressure off.
The Force played well against a Reds side that have now been belted two weeks in a row, but they haven’t got the players to be a serious threat this season.
The same goes for the Rebels, who were thumped by the Highlanders and don’t have the combinations needed to perform consistently in Super Rugby.
And then we get to the Waratahs, who were disappointing, again, a week after the vocal criticism had woken them and encouraged them to play good rugby. They need to learn that a positive win the previous week won’t win them the game the week after.
They also need to understand that you can’t make mistakes, then just give any ball they do get straight back to the opposition. They’re just not respecting possession.
But it all comes back to the grassroots of Australian rugby.
It is being neglected by the administration who prefer instead to throw money at the top end of the game and forget about getting young players involved. As a result, we’re being killed by AFL and rugby league, who look after their grassroot player base very well by using ex-players to promote the game.
In rugby, the officials are threatened by us and don’t want us involved,
So Australian rugby is failing on two major levels: it’s not doing enough to encourage the kids to play and love the game, and the decision-makers are continually appointing foreign coaches to senior roles within Wallabes.
We got a further example of that this week when it was revealed that new coaching co-ordinator, Tony McGahan (who himself has just finished up a stint at Irish club Munster), is likely to appoint former Edinburgh and Scotland A coach Nick Scrivener as the Wallabies scrum coach.
Andrew Blades is the other option. Why not give it to him? Or better yet, get Ewen McKenzie involved.
Until Australian rugby gets serious about the development and promotion of the game in this country, the Wallabies will continue to struggle against the stronger rugby nations.
drama city
Guest
Johnno Don't you think the sevens schedule I listed above is the equivalent of Auskick or Kanga cricket? I think it is more so and a graduate of a schoolboys rugby sevens program could play for Australia at the the Olympics in Rio in 2016 while all an Auskick graduate could aspire to play is for the Western Bulldogs in Footescray. How boring,
mania
Guest
El Gamba - fair nuff. 2011 WC was much more satisfying and hard fought anyways
El Gamba
Guest
The sole reason is that then NZ would only have one WC to our two ;)
mania
Guest
peeko - both. parents Samoan i was born in NZ. I support the AB's except when they play Manu.
peeeko
Roar Guru
i thought that you were samoan, not kiwi?
p.Tah
Guest
State school won't be able compete against GPS schools? Did you miss Keebra Park High (QLD) and Hills Sports High (NSW) knocking off the GPS boys at the national 7s championship. Dion Tuamata from Keebra is now in the Australian rugby academy squad. You'll noticed that there is fair number of schoolboys being picked for the Australian schoolboys from non traditional rugby schools. http://www.rugby.com.au/Teams/AustralianSchoolboys.aspx
mania
Guest
El Gamba - why not count the 1987 WC? i suppose it doesnt count because aus got knocked out by the french? or are all the WC b4 professionalism not counted? so anything prior to 1996 is null and void. in which case aus, eng, SA and NZ have won one a piece why shouldnt the inaugural tounament that started it all count? would love to hear your reasons
mania
Guest
jeznes - guys like you will change the face of aussie rugby. your the spark that will cause the fire. i applaud your commitment. its people like you that i remember when playing as a kid that got me into this beautiful sport. keep up the good work. just wish the people like KPM and emric realise that what you're doing is the real work and the priority. money would help but the real key is getting volunteers who love the game to pass that love onto the rookies. this is where the high profile ex players like campo. markElla, larkham and gregan should be helping out. good luck in your endeavours jeznez. hope the ARU doesnt make it difficult
mania
Guest
lorry - not saying to wave a magic wand and it'll just happen but someone has to give it a go. after 100 years of aus rugby, 15 years of SR i cant believe this situation has been allowed to continue. grassroots is a lot of hard work but aus has had more than enough time to start a program. the only thing i can see stopping aus is laziness and elitism. i know of these islanders in west sydney as i have cousins who are physically gifted with brains and talent who play league . i asked them why they didnt play rugby and they said its a rich kids game. i was aghast, these kids average around 6 foot, 100+ kgs, run like they dont touch the ground, have the look of eagles about them and have amazing silky skills. do u realise the talent your missing out on just because of the image of rugby is a rich kids sport? and its getting worse. i dont think aus rugby has ever been this bad. i've been watching rugby for 30 years and never have the wallabies been considered with such disdain and labeled the easy beats. but hey why do i care? we have another bledisloe game this year. we win this and its a decade of rugby dominance over the wallabies. 10 STRAIGHT BLEDISLOE WINS. yeah ABs represent
AndyS
Guest
I would also add - be more open minded about ownership structures. Hard for the NSWRU to manage three teams impartially, so if a number of the large clubs wanted to put their differences aside and run one of the teams as a collective, don't dismiss it out of hand. Hell, if one of the teams wanted to take on one of the fan-owned models, have at it. And let them have the competition to run too. The ARU clearly viewed the last version as a chore, but the goal should be break even. Let the teams manage and promote their own comp with the benefits of any revenues - it'll motivate them to make a success of it. And if they start to turn a profit, don't try to stick fingers into the pot. Let them have it, as it'll get spent on players, facilities and the comp. The goal might be to run it cheap to start, but the ambition must be something better. Never felt the ARU viewed it that way; maybe they simply never could.
Johnno
Guest
What is need for grass roots development is things like the AFL aus kick program, or the old Kanga cricket of the 1980's any one remember that . Kanga cricket was a hit it got me into cricket, was a great initiate who ever invented that. As was the old wallaroos rugby. We need in rugby much like the NRL has elite junior comps run by NRL clubs from under 15's to the toyota cup NRL under 20's. So many of the NRL players at 16 are doing a lot of elite training, they are very polished pros by about the age of 20's. We need that in rugby a strong youth comp either state based or national at under 20 level. i say franchise it out have franchises of under 20/s make them semi pro and sell the tv rights like college football in the USA, or the toyota cup NRL, or the NZ high schools show all there matches on pay tv good money spinner. If rugby neglects spending big on grass roots in Australia we will slip to a tier 2 nation by the 2019 or 2023 world cup, so better get moving. The USA is spending far more on rugby than us Aussies why are we not matching the spending of the USA on rugby now they have rugby as an Olympic sport same with russia, which is having a high school 15 a side rugby team in every high school in russia, what great commitment. Why is the australian rugby scene not matching the USA and russia in spending on rugby nations that are not even tier 1 nations. Australia should be ashamed that we ar not matching the funding of the USA and Russia, a big shame indeed that we can not keep up the funding of those 2 nations that are not even tier 1 nations yet.
AndyS
Guest
Which is why I would look to private equity for the ARC level, not the professional level. Much lower cost, so much bigger pool of potential owner/sponsors. Unlikely they will ever really compete for talent with the professional level either, unless they could somehow grow an ARC to the size and revenues of Super/Test rugby. If they could manage that, then it is probably the right model.
bozo
Guest
drama city, great of you to republish a press release but it won't change the ability of State schools to compete against GPS. It may encourage GPS schools to broaden their net and offer music scholarships to the tone deaf but capable rugby player, hence reduce the capability of State schools but getting the chance of an education and a leg up with ARU programs may assist those kids achieve their ambitions.
jeznez
Guest
I'd say a couple of things to that Johnno - firstly how many of the teachers have a rugby background to pass on to the kids? Secondly where is that money to come from? Third at the junior level it can't be about getting paid, if there is to be a payment it will be minimal - the people working with young kids have to be passionate about it. I'd much rather see ex-players putting back into the game they love than giving extra dollars to people who don't have a background in the game.
Johnno
Guest
p.tah i defiantly think rugby union in Australia needs a toyota cup style NRL under 20 comp. That way the top under 20 players can play in a top class semi professional youth comp. Whether the local clubs do it, i don't know via the shut shield or have new youth franchises do it who knows, but a state wide youth comp would be greta and actually rate quite well on tv like the toyota cup. NZ high scolls comp rates very well on pay tv in NZ so australia should do that at school and under level. would be great to watch id watch it for sure.
p.Tah
Guest
Brilliant!
drama city
Guest
To all the doom and gloomers about Australian rugby who dominate this site - such as Campo and Sheek - its great to hear an positive announcement from the ARU that should eventually lead to an end to the demarcation between GPS schools and State schools which has so stultified the growth of Australian rugby over the last 40 years, A whole batch of sevens tournaments will now take place across the school calendar that will mean a small high school can compete on level terms with a GPS school, that in the 15 a side version, can run 10 open age 15s teams on a Saturday afternoon. This will enable all those hidden talents tucked away in NSW country and Sydney's west and south-west to discover rugby and add to the 208,000 participants who currently play rugby in Australia. 'Australian Rugby Union today (28 March 2012) announced the dates for 17 NSW Boys Secondary Schools Sevens tournaments set to be held across the state in 2012. The tournaments will act as the first stage of selection for high school teams looking to compete at the National Schoolboys Sevens Championships, held in the Gold Coast in October. The boys’ National Championships will feature the Top 3 high school sides from NSW and QLD, with an additional two teams from the ACT and one each from VIC, SA, NT and WA. This tournament, along with ARU’s Talent ID and Junior Gold Program, will act as a selection tool for the Australian 2013 Youth Olympic Festival team. ARU Program Manager of Sevens and Women’s Rugby, Dale Roberson, said the tournaments were a welcome inclusion to the boys’ Rugby Sevens calendar. “With the establishment of the Junior Gold Sevens Programs the addition of this tournament provides added opportunities to players to be identified,” Mr Roberson said. “The more time our youth grades spend playing Rugby Sevens, the better equipped our future players will be to play the game and represent Australia at the elite levels. “The players skill development starts here and what they learn now they’ll carry through to the Youth Olympic Festival, the Commonwealth Games and possibly even the Olympic Games in 2016.” Additional Secondary Schools Sevens dates in other States will be announced in the coming weeks. Date Age Group Venue Region March 29 U14, U16, U18 Waratah Park, Waratah Newcastle April 3 U14, U16, U18 Armidale Sport UNE, Armidale North West May 2 U16, Opens Woongarah Oval, Woongarah Central Coast May 7 U16, Opens Village Green 2, Mt Penang Central Coast May 9 U14 Ettalong Central Coast May 9 Opens University Oval 3, University of Wollongong Illawarra May 11 U16, Opens Slade Park, Budgewoi Central Coast May 15 Opens Granville Park, Merrylands Sydney West May 17 U14, U16, U18 St Stanislaus, Bathurst Western Region May 25 U14 Sir Joseph Banks Oval, Bateau Bay Central Coast May 29 U14, U16, Opensfinal Woongarah Oval, Woongarrah Central Coast May 29 U14, U16 Granville Park, Merrylands Sydney West June 5 Opens Regional Final Waratah Park, Waratah Newcastle June 6 U18 Northern Beaches Secondary College, Freshwater Campus Sydney North June 7 U14, U16, U18 TBC Sydney North September 6 U14, U16 TBC Sydney North TBC U14, U16, Open St. John’s, Woodlawn North Coast.'
p.Tah
Guest
like your concept and thinking Sheek but I don't think it should be a new competition. We have to ask ourselves what is the purpose of the 3rd tier. The ARC was about building depth and branding/publicity. Somethig to compete with AFL/NRL. We need to drop the last bit and build a tier for depth only. I don't care if it's not on TV or if anyone watches it at the stadium That's why I prefer an academy comp. It runs for the first part of the Super rugby season and then allows the players to return to club rugby. Please note I don't think academy should be filled with under 21s. It should contain the next best players (irrespective of age) who don't quite make super rugby. The academy comp could include Rebels rising, Force academy, Brumby Runners and 2 teams from NSW and 2 from QLD that feed in the Tahs and Reds respectively. Keep the brands and names we already have. I'm not keen on developing a new comp with new teams. We have enough sporting team names to remember in Australia. Tahs could have a Western and Eastern academy team for example. We'd probably need one more team to balance it out (I.e. 8 teams in total) perhaps Adelaide, but 7 teams maybe fine.
El Gamba
Guest
"now that NZ has finally won a 2nd WC" Surely you can't be counting that 1987 amateur competition as a World Championship without South Africa?
sheek
Guest
Yes, I did forget something quite important. 9. Play matches at smaller grounds to save on costs. Say grounds of 15-25,000 capacity. As the comp gains traction, then consider moving to larger arenas.