In recent posts many Roarers have expressed their excitement for the upcoming rugby season and in particular the 2013 Lions tour.
I have found myself in keen discussion with friends over the Lions tour, but in our case, it has usually been about how awesome the 2001 tour was to this country.
It will be a hard act to follow for the 2013 Lions, emulating the extraordinary achievements of their 2001 counterparts.
Those of us who were around at the time not only witnessed a great Test series but also a great tour.
The 2001 Lions are easily the best edition to have arrived on our shores (the 1971 Lions played two matches but no Tests). There are several reasons for this.
The 2001 Lions were man for man a better outfit than the Wallabies and by rights should have won the series.
They were coached by the formidable Graham Henry and captained by the equally formidable Martin Johnson.
But the Wallabies were no pushovers themselves. They were still a great team coached by the legendary Rod McQueen and captained by the equally legendary John Eales.
In the end, the Wallabies won the series not because they were necessarily the better players, but they ultimately played the smarter rugby.
The England players, who comprised the bulk of the 2001 Lions, learnt their lessons well and returned in 2003 to claim the World Cup.
The other thing that made the tour such a success was the quality of the non-Test matches. With the exception of the Brumbies match, squeezed in between the first and second Tests, most of the other teams selected contained the best players available.
Most people would have fond memories of the Australia A game in Gosford, when the Lions suffered their first defeat (albeit unluckily for them) but provided encouragement for Australian fans that this Lions team, which had until then crushed all before them, could actually be beaten.
In 2013, it seems this new practice of Player Management System (PMS – or does this stand for something else?) will be utilised.
This means the five major provinces are likely to be without their leading Wallaby candidates, thus depriving fans of a quality match-up.
The practice of PMS, or rotation policy, is currently incurring the wrath of fans in cricket, who feel they are being short-changed of seeing the best available players most of the time, especially in Tests.
The ARU needs to be careful that they don’t overdo this PMS to the extent that it will kill future Lions tours. If too many leading players are going to be quarantined from non-Test matches, then the quality of the contest will suffer accordingly.
In recent years, we’ve seen European nations send severely weakened teams to Australia, which has done little for the vibrancy of the June tests.
It seems both cricket and rugby are discovering that in their quest to squeeze ever more matches of various importance into the calendar in order to satisfy the insatiable appetite of pay TV, suddenly players are breaking down from over-exposure.
Perhaps sporting organisations need to realise they can’t have their cake and eat it too, and more pragmatic scheduling might need to be considered.
For the ARU, if they’re going to schedule 13-14 Tests per year on top of 18-21 Super Rugby matches, plus a Lions tour, eventually something’s going to have to give.
And it seems it is the players’ bodies that are giving out.
2012 saw an unprecedented injury toll among leading Wallabies.
I can’t recall a season like it apart from 1978, when as many as 7-8 leading Wallabies fell by the wayside through the season and subsequent tour of NZ.
The jury is still out as to how many of these injuries were due to natural wear and tear and bad luck, or how many were due to accumulated body stresses of the modern day schedule.
And the future sporting landscape is likely to get even more crowded if, as hoped or expected, sevens rugby takes off at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Suddenly there will be a clamour for a high profile sevens circuit during the prime time of the season.
So how will a sevens program of anything from 7-20 games be squeezed into a season already featuring 13-14 Tests and 18-21 Super Rugby matches?
Australian cricket is discovering that while it is desirable to play BBL in the peak December-January period, it is also having an unintended adverse effect on the quality of the Test team.
Something is going to have to give, but at the moment it seems the only concession is players’ bodies that are breaking down under the strain of too much concentrated rugby.
I don’t confess to have the answers, fellow Roarers, but perhaps some of you out there do?
chris
Guest
Wish the world Rugby season be like the NFL season and not last any longer then 8 months so ht gives player the well deserved break from the full contact sport and gives fans a 4 month break to wet there appitite. Also think 7s Rugby might become a monster we can not control with the likes of China and Brazil become greats at 7s yet will never engage the 15 man game which leads to a thrid code of Rugby.
Billy Bob
Guest
Allanthus, it could be argued that its easier and less draining to NOT tweet or play with the iPhone. As I am now.
AndyS
Guest
That is it for mine, they should be playing provincial sides rather than Super teams. The tour should be connecting with the clubs and amateur game, not just the professional levels.
Justin2
Guest
My point was merely they played some easy beat sides where I think you said the quality of the non tests was high or words to that effect. I've benefited from traditional tours and the playing of amateur teams, holds very special memories for me.
The Great G Nepia
Guest
the players are paid to play rugby, and the last time i checked they are not living in North Korea and don't have to do anything against their will. if they can't handle it, then they have a choice to get a real job.
The Great G Nepia
Guest
I don't care about players bodies either - the players chose to play rugby. No one is forcing them to make $100K to $200K a year, be on tv every weekend and travel the world. If players get hurt, stiff bickies
formeropenside
Guest
no idea - you'd lose Kepu, Timani and Palu out of the forward pack - I dont think either was a NSW schoolboy - but apart from that the pack would be adequate Robinson TPN Palmer Douglas Dennis Hodgson Hooper Aulaua the backline is the problem - all the present 9's are imports. Phipps (?) Foley Turner Carter Horne AAC Beale (note Folau is a Qld schoolboy in rugby) fact is though, I'm no expert on Tah rugby
FantasyTips1
Roar Rookie
got any indication on what you see the NSW equivalent side being? Obviously Tom Carter would be captain and coach but otherwise...
formeropenside
Guest
re point 5, skip the river sights, XXXX have a pretty good brewery tour I understand with some special pre-game drops not available outside its 4 walls
Allanthus
Guest
Cheers Sheek. Love the itinerary above by the way, even if you and I both know that will never happen again. Perhaps we were lucky to live through the golden age, when tours really were tours, a mix of tests and country escapades, with obvious benefits for both hosts and guests. Now these visits aren't really tours at all, commercial considerations and player welfare have seen to that. And before our time, tours were more like an ordeal, weeks on a boat just to even get there - how those guys coped with not being able to tweet and update facebook while being at sea for so long speaks volumes about their temperament....
sheek
Roar Guru
Yeah, naughty Aussies - it seems all we care about is the money - "show us the money!" It's sad, but true, us Aussies have become shallow. Maybe we were always like this, just money obsessed?
sheek
Roar Guru
Hi happy hooker, I guess I meant MacQueen & Eales were both equal legends in their field of endeavour, or achievement. Mind you, seeing what has happened over the past decade, it might have been one thing for MacQueen to have the talent, but he still had to make them produce the goods. And they did. I know we're getting off-topic here, but MacQueen changed the wallabies gameplan deliberately after the mind-boggling loss to the Boks in Cape Town. MacQueen decided even if he had a brilliant backline, he was going to play a forwards/possession game, & it worked. The world cup win might not have been pretty, but it was effective. Mind you, I've never been entirely convinced this was the only way the Wallabies could win. Allanthus & Rickety, Top of the morning to you both!
formeropenside
Guest
A proper Queensland team would be interesting - based on the Queensland schoolboy background, you'd get: JOC Morahan Tomane Tapuai Digby Cooper Genia Pocock Gill Higginbotham Horwill Simmons Slipper Moore Holmes Hanson Daley (or PAE, perhaps) Sharpe Schatz Lucas Barnes/To'omua Davies/Shipperley/Mitchell Sadly it will never happen.
sheek
Roar Guru
Well Justin, Australian rugby has come a long way, & I defend the right of NSW Country & Qld Country to play the Lions as separate entities. It's not only about the rugby. Yes, the country folk get to see the Lions when otherwise they wouldn't be able to. The Lions players get to parts of Australia they might not get to see otherwise. In 2001, from what I can gather, the Lions had a huge time in Townsville, going out to the barrier reef. Traditionally, rugby has always supposedly been about more than just the rugby. My ideal Lions tour itinerary: 1. W/E v. WA in Perth (Rectangular Stm). * day trip to Margaret river wineries or Rottnest island * 2. M/W v. SA Invitation XV in Adelaide (7 interstate players to bolster SA team). * day trip to McLaren Vale wineries or Barossa Valley wineries * 3. W/E v. Victoria in Melbourne (Rectangular Stm). * day trip to Yarra Valley wineries or Ballarat Eureka park * 4. M/W v. Australia A in Gosford or some other NSW country town. * day trip to Hunter valley wineries * 5. W/E v. Queensland in Brisbane (Ballymore). * enjoy sights of Brisbane river by cruiseboat * 6.M/W v. Qld Country in Townsville or some other Qld country town. * enjoy country hospitality or ocean fishing trip * 7. W/E v. FIRST TEST at Lang Park, Brisbane. * Note - mini break for tourists, no midweek match - enjoy day trip to Gold Coast * 8. W/E v. New South Wales in Sydney (Football Stm). * enjoy day on Sydney harbour * 9. M/W v. NSW Country in Newcastle or some other NSW country town. * enjoy country hospitality or another ocean fishing trip * 10. W/E v. SECOND TEST at Docklands, Melbourne. * enjoy sights of Melbourne or Great Ocean road trip * 11. M/W v. ACT in Canberra (Bruce Stm). * I'm sure there's something of interest in Canberra! * 12. W/E v. THIRD TEST at Stm Australia, Sydney. Lions head home after being smashed in tests, but full of happy memories of Australian & all now certified alcoholics!
mania
Guest
sheek - i hope not but tbh these issues that are leading to the demeaning the tour will only ever happen in aus. in sa and nz the lions would be given top priority and we have the provincial teams that are capable of fielding decent sides for mid week games.
sheek
Roar Guru
Darwin, This is precisely part of the motivation of the article. The bigwigs tell us how important these Lions tours are, then happily go about trashing the concept by removing key players from significant tour games. Although I acknowledge non of this has happened yet. But the warning shots have been fired by the ARU. Probably Lions tours will become like Wallabies & Kangaroos tours - they'll just come out for the three tests & do away with the pretense of tour matches. That is probably what will eventuate. Which of course would be a huge shame.
Rickety Knees
Roar Guru
G'day Sheek - I was at that game at Gosford back in 2001 which will stay etched in my memory for the rest of my natural .... what a great night it was! I am heartened by the emerging depth of Australian Rugby and am starting to believe that it is time to forget about both quarantining and resting/rotating players. As one man's door closes another man's opens ... The Lions tour is big and Deans contract is up at the end of this year - so I can understand his desire to prepare the side as best he can - there is a middle ground to be had and that is to allow the players to return to their clubs and play on weekends whilst training with the Wallabies during the week.
Happy Hooker
Guest
Good article Sheek. Minor quibble: John Eales only equally as legendary as Rod Macqueen? I am a huge Rod fan, don't get me wrong - that 1999 World Cup campaign has got to go down as one of the best by any Australian team in any sport. But I would argue that Eales' status in the game is "more legendary" than Rod's.
Allanthus
Guest
Thanks Sheek, nice to read an article which doesn't once mention Usman Khawaja... The so called "off season" between the end of year Nth Hemisphere tour and Super Rugby training is ridiculously short. Injuries and niggles are not properly rested. Players cope with this grind by becoming methodical and predictable, treating it like a job that has to be endured as opposed to a fresh challenge to embrace. To mis-quote a popular TV show, they "outlast" rather than "outwit". Which feeds into the quality of play we see at international level now. To prove the point I'm expecting that (if he doesn't pick up any new injury) James O'Connor will have a big year this year. Already he just looks fresher and sharper than he has for a long time. Apart from too much time on his hands to visit the hairdresser, the rest has done him the world of good.
Darwin Stubbie
Guest
Why not then promote it differently ... Don't engage the SR franchises in the concept - keep them separate and re-introduce the States as the opposition - ACT, Qld and NSW plus maybe Aust A as the midweek games ... even make it a SoO type concept - I'm sure Sharpe would have stayed on for that one game to pull on a Qld jumper again ... There should have been more thought around what should be done to promote the uniqueness of the tour ... Otherwise can it