Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has backed David Pocock for standing up against homophobic slurs and says his strong opinions and outspoken nature won’t affect his Australian captaincy ambitions.
Brumbies flanker Pocock divided opinion with his decision to complain to the referee when NSW’s Jacques Potgieter’s was heard to direct the slur towards the visiting side’s players during the Allianz Stadium Super Rugby clash on Sunday.
The Waratahs’ marquee international was on Monday fined $20,000 and has since apologised for his comments during his side’s 28-13 win.
While supported by many pundits on social media, former Wallaby Greg Martin on Tuesday said Pocock’s principled stand against homophobia, coupled with a history of outspokenness, will cost him any chance of captaining Australia again.
Martin feels some officials the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) won’t look favourably on having such an opinionated skipper.
Cheika demurred.
While he said recent Wallabies captains Stephen Moore and Michael Hooper will be the likely contenders to lead the side this year, former skipper Pocock hadn’t hindered his leadership prospects by speaking out.
“Are you kidding? Not at all. I love characters. I don’t want rugby to be full of robots or people who don’t have an opinion,” Cheika said.
“I respect people who have their own opinion. Some people have more confidence to broadcast them, and some like to keep them to themselves.
“I want characters in the team.”
Pocock has been criticised in some circles for how he handled the matter with suggestions he could have waited until after the game to have it dealt with behind closed doors.
But Cheika defended his decision to bring it up on the field.
“In the heat of the moment he decided that was the right course of action,” Cheika said.
“Far be it from me to judge anyone about the heat of the moment, lord knows I’ve made plenty of mistakes in the heat of the moment, so I don’t think that deserves criticism either.”
Cheika, who doubles as the Waratahs mentor, agreed Potgieter’s slurs were unacceptable and said he was glad to see the matter dealt with swiftly by the ARU.
“There’s always niggle in games and we spoke about, from my point of view, what’s acceptable and that’s not acceptable,” he said.
“Jacques obviously realised he’d crossed the line, came and saw me and manned up and was feeling very bad about it.
“Sometimes you don’t know in the heat of the battle. No excuse though.
“He took responsibility and we dealt with it in a way we thought was right, hopefully with a minimum of fuss or damage to anybody.”
MH01
Guest
Careful mate, you could sound like a hooper apologist ! Anytime someone dares to raise a question in relation to Hooper, you accuse them of being a Hooper hater. That is rubbish, and just as pathetic as people who are haters . My point that people are choosing to ignore, why could this not have been handled on the field? Why can't a player go upto the opposing captain and inform them that one of his troops is way out of order? Explain to me why this could not have been handled on the field? Your are laughing it off as though this was always going to go viral! get off the anti hooper rant and focus on this incident, pretend it was not hooper but Dennis!! I take exception that people are blaming pocock for the way he handled this, he did the right damn thing, he went upto the captain and reporterd it, it was the captains complete non action and acknowledge that this was serious that lead to he escalation. And if it was not pocock, but another player? Let's assume it was player x. So you acknowledge that a homophobic slur is really serious????? And yet you defend, sorry apologise for hooper dismissing it as " that's rugby" ??? Suggests Hooper does not share your view on this. if we are pathetic haters on the anti hooper bandwagon, you and a few others are pathetic apologists. Neither of us gets the high moral ground of being better than the other . From running websites for a long time, I can tell you that one thing that turns new member off, is being labeled as haters to trolls when they posts a valid opinion and existing members abuse them for being something they are not. This is not a hooper fan site, it's a sports opinion site. If you are going to label anyone who questions hooper s hater, start your own fan site mate, and moderate it the way you like.
DMac
Guest
Best post around here in a long time.
DMac
Guest
Get with the program mate. Anyone who questions the group mind of the sanctimonious blowhards who've swarmed to the roar over the last couple of days is by definition a homophobe whose arguments can merely be disregarded without question.
Morsie
Guest
I reckon some want to drive Hooper out of Australian rugby by hounding him with the sort of treatment usually dished out to politicians.
ben
Guest
Dave Dennis certainly has the mana, steel and poise to be the man to "manage the Wallabies". I recall Mike Brearley was sometimes referred to as the "Non playing" Captain of English cricket. Brearley fulfilled the role of a well respected, effective manager able to give a great pep talk and better after match speech while rarely troubling the scorer personally. The selection of Dennis as part of the management group rather than as a player could indeed reinforce the Wallaby culture.
eagleJack
Roar Guru
Pray tell what exactly it is that I have to learn? From the outset I have stated that homophobic slurs have no place in modern society. I also felt the process was handled well and in a timely manner and we should all move on. Lesson learned. The only thing I am guilty of is sticking up for a young man who has done the Wallaby jersey proud after giving his all. With a workrate that is outstanding. It seems people have used this incident as a platform to again lambast Hooper. When in fact there wasn't a lot he could do. More than likely he never heard it (as neither did Pocock or Moore), so him saying "We're not into that" is in fact confirmation that he believes homophobic slurs will not be tolerated.
AliasAlias
Guest
Do you really need Hooper's litany of errors as captain replayed for you? He can't even keep the NSW captaincy. On Sunday, when confronted with a difficult situation he fails again. "We're not into that sir" was a false statement. "That's rugby" was just as false. Cheika has handled this perfectly. Hopefully Hooper can learn from his example. You could too EagleJack.
jeznez
Roar Guru
Nice one Cheika - reckon that response is pretty spot on. Would love it if we can start talking about the rugby played again.
eagleJack
Roar Guru
So if Hooper had confronted Potgieter on the field then we wouldn't be talking about this today? Is that the point being missed? Give me a break. Some people, like yourself, have turned this into an anti-Hooper agenda. Australia used to be about giving people a go, backing them. Now it is all about bringing them down, how on earth can we support a successful guy. We must deride him to make ourselves feel better. Hooper, against all odds, became the youngest captain of the Wallabies in 50+ years. To even make the Wallabies at his age is an incredible achievement. But to captain them, surrounded by experienced men, is extraordinary. So what do we do? We call him "hairflick" and the like. Cause it compensates for our own inadequacies. Last year being captain of the Wallabies would have been tough on every single past Wallabies captain. To have to encounter it in your first year, at such a young age, would have been even tougher. Did he make mistakes? Absolutely. Will he learn from them? Absolutely. Life is a constant learning curve. Not many 22 year olds are thrust into the spotlight like he was, and he did an ok job. One that he has said he could improve immensely. But that's what you want, a guy who knows that he has plenty to learn. Im close to a number of current Wallabies and the respect he has within the playing group is immense. The way he led the team in the lead-up to the final ABs Test was what has been spoken about by them. And part of the reason why we performed so admirably on the day. Does that mean he should be captain for the RWC? Not necessarily. But he is certainly in the mix and deservedly so. He'll definitely be part of the leadership group. This is an opinion site and everyone is entitled to their opinion. But the vitriol spewed at a young man, who at times has looked like the only player proud to be wearing the Wallaby gold in the past, is unacceptable. In my opinion.
MJB
Guest
Onya Cheiks, we need more of this attitude.
Dink
Guest
Once again you miss the point...
DMac
Guest
Yep, totes Hooper's fault. I think he needs to be held to account for the disappearance of MH17 as well. If he'd had the foresight to contact the pilots beforehand, like any half decent captain should, that tragedy would never have happened.
eagleJack
Roar Guru
So if Hooper had spoken to Potgeiter this would be a non-event? Really? The guy is young, but has enormous respect amongst the playing group, from each franchise, and senior management. And that's all that matters at this point in time. He has a lot to learn, but he certainly got thrown in the deep end and came out the other side still putting in exceptional performances. That earned the respect of his fellow players. He is definitely in the running for the captaincy along with Moore, Pocock and, if injury cruels the team, Slipper. Best of luck to the young man.
eagleJack
Roar Guru
And as predicted the "respected rugby commentator" Greg Martin was again full of hot air and truly should never be listened to on any matter. Very good response from Cheika. It is now up to Pocock to show us what he has got on the field again. As it is safe to say he has made far more of an impact off the field than on it of late. I truly hope he can make it through the remainder of the Super season injury-free. And put pressure on the other captaincy candidates in Moore and Hooper.
Bamboo
Guest
Yep agreed. This will be the 101 in years to come for a good player doesn't necessary make a good leader. As a non-Australian wanting my team to win the RWC I say keep selecting the kid as captain.
MH01
Guest
Cheika has to make some serious decisions about who he wants to lead the Wallabies this year. For me Hooper is not mature enough, and the incident on Saturday could have been a non event, had Hooper dealt on the pitch, as captain. Him ignoring the incident and saying "We're not into that" and 'That's rugby', shows he is not ready to lead at this stage. Good on Dennis and Cheika for supporting Pocock on this one. I wonder what would have happened had Dennis stayed on the field. Maybe Dennis should be in the running for Captain of the Wallabies? Lots of people are having a go at Pocock, I would argue that had Hooper taken this seriously and had a word with Potgieter, this would have been a non event. Hooper is a very gifted Player and must be in the Wallabies Squad, though can he still be in the running to be Captain. Pocock, Moore and Dennis handled the incident on the weekend as leaders should, Hooper ignored it, is it youth, inexperience or did he not think it was serious? I mean the ref made it clear to him. "I'm getting some pretty aggressive comments coming from your guys – that there are homophobic slurs [being made]," Joubert said. Hooper replied: "We're not into that".