Wallabies trying to be better in their interaction with refs

Starts from the top Adrian, just watch Cheika's behaviour with Referee decisions - disgraceful. His players would pick up on that and of course the rest as they say is history!

Hoopers on the money. Talking to the ref can be dam difficult. People don't realise. You have a mouth guard to contend with, you could stutter because you're nervous and if you mumble to your team mate "Mumm" the ref could think you're talking to him and send you in the bin for 10 for accusing him for being your mother.

Unfortunately Moore got used to Wayn Barnes who acts like he's one of his mates at his barbecue. "We will have a beer after this mate and how about a yellow?! Common cobber just one yellow mate?!" So when a normal ref turned up Moore thought it was same old. But no, mates rates only applied to Barnes and he came across as a whinner. Learn to change the tricks Moore. Only Barnes likes the one trick Poney...neigh neigh (sound of a pony).

"even if u recall that famos penalty which cost crusaders the title against waratahs, Joubert publically stated that mccaw was correct and he was wrong in interpretation. in fact this was the only time joubert did something like that ( he never said anything about the scotland decision)" Joubert never publicly said any of this. It was McCaw in a radio interview some weeks later saying that Joubert called Blackadder after the game and allegedly apologised for the penalty. I'm not calling McCaw a liar but this is third hand information that you and may other Kiwis now share as gospel.

maybe Mccaw read Art of War. “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” Sun Tzu

Apparently the bloke would sit the refs exams and everything, such was his dedication to understanding the laws.

Knowing what you are talking about, helps a lot and only bringing up issues of relevance to the ref makes them more conscious of what they are doing, hence putting pressure on them to make the right call...mind games and if the ref cocks up, they know that you know.Great captains and the leadership group on the field of play can really put pressure on the ref, if they know their stuff.

i think one way to be on the right side of the referee , is by being well versed in the LAWS of the game. that is where Ritchie Mccaw was a great dealer with refs. He really knew the Laws. i can vaguely remember once, after getting penalized he had a chat with the ref and said to him what the correct Law was ; and to my amazement the ref said something like like " yes u r probably right there" (but did not reverse the penalty :) ) even if u recall that famos penalty which cost crusaders the title against waratahs, Joubert publically stated that mccaw was correct and he was wrong in interpretation. in fact this was the only time joubert did something like that ( he never said anything about the scotland decision). another way which anyone can adopt is to go easy and humoros. JDV was a master at that. even when things went his way , he would crack a joke or a smart line , and then things were just fine. i remember one time when he got clothslined by a tuilagi , he just got up and shook his hand with a big smile and then wiped his brow at the ref. the ref gave a red to tuilagi but the whole incident looked more palletable than a big brawl for a dangeros tackle. on the other hand , pestering the ref like a little child crying for an ice-cream only irritates the ref. any parent will tell u that. :)

Ah, I never said Australian rugby had no leaders, I said the playing group... by that I meant the Wallabies... Of the players you mention, I guess they are all better captains than the Wallabies have had for a period, Mowen inclusive of course, but as you say, he was only in briefly... All OK leaders, not captains though are they? If we had a great captain, would JOC be here still? Would Beale have had the issues he had? Would Cooper have felt the need to speak out? Would we have the mental lapses that we do?

As much as opposition and even some Wallabies fans hated him, Gregan was a great captain. Strong decision making, and with the exception of Andre Watson he had a great rapport with referees. I disagree that Australian Rugby has been lacking true leaders. Matt Hodgson, Ben Mowen and Dave Dennis have all been good captains and leaders, then players like Greg Holmes and Christian Lealiifano among others have been good leaders even if not really being captaincy material. The problem you will notice with the list above is that all the best leaders have not been good enough players to consistently make the Wallabies, so instead the Wallabies have been stuck trying to find the best remaining captain and leaders out of the best players.

Wallabies have not had a great captain since Eales... Mortlock was OK. When you look at the playing group over the last 5 years or so, there really has been an absolute lack of leadership. Not just captaincy, but leadership. The rotation of captains the Wallabies have had shows that really. Horne being one of the VCs during the English series shows that. It is a sad indictment on Australian Rugby that we have so very few true leaders. And I can't see any on the horizon really.

The wallabies ploy of questioning referee decisions regarding opposition penalties is purely about slowing the game down ,similar tactic used during lineouts with infringements prior to the throw in ......and you will likely see similar tactics prior to setting scrums as well...additionally the odds of them starting a ruckus are higher when under pressure in their own 22 .

to be fair, on re-reading it, the story might be a bit of a beat-up to the extent it's based on Hooper's actual quotes.

What?!? It's hard not to keep your mouth shut because you are hot and bothered. And when you do speak you come across as petulant. That has little to do with being hot and bothered and more about a persons ability to compose themselves. If the captain and vice captain can't do that you have to wonder at their credentials to lead or speak for the side.

Well put scrum

Moore after having a great World Cup let himself & the team down badly in the English series. Constantly badgering Referees is not smart. Some may think that by applying constant pressure on the Ref he will end up favouring your team. This is naive in the extreme. As it happened the Referees basically told Moore his approach was unacceptable & by this stage Moore had destroyed his relationship with the Ref. Opposed to this was the bad boy of Rugby Dylan Hartley who took the correct approach & worked with the Ref. One can only think that the respective Coaches were pivotal in these outcomes.

talking to the ref is easy. i train my kids to always say sir, please and thank you. I even have them say thankyou when the ref penalises them. they hate it but they have a better chance of the ref listening to them when they have something to ask. the ref faced with these kind of manners cannot help but respond well .

Extraordinary admission of failure. sheeesh!