It will be a relief, this coming weekend, to see some actual rugby being played in Australia and New Zealand: genuine, serious, no-fooling, for-keeps, non-trial rugby.
The beginning of the Super Rugby season will come as manna from heaven for those of us who are suffering severe sports administration fatigue – and not that I want to speak for anyone else, but I’m guessing that’s pretty much literally every Australian rugby fan up to and including Phil Waugh.
Don’t get me wrong, all the talk of coaches and pathways and structures and plans and funding and staffing and teams ceasing to exist is important, and it will keep going, and it will have to be sorted, and I desperately hope that those whose job it is to sort it do it well. But this weekend we will be able, I hope, to simply watch the games and spend a few hours concentrating on nothing else but the reason that all that off-field stuff matters in the first place: the fact that we love the sport, as maddening as it can be. It’ll be nice to take a break from wondering whether Rugby Australia can service its debt or what, exactly, a high performance program is, and just watch some footy.
Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh will be ectastic to watch footy this weekend. (Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images for Rugby Australia)
That being said, the games themselves obviously have the potential to drive we Aussie fans into an even deeper gloom, as the local teams have made a habit in recent years of using their on-field actions more as a reminder of the game’s overall malaise than as a distraction from it. Spirits, it has to be said, are not high across this great land.
If your team isn’t worrying that their personnel are insufficient to avoid humiliation, they’re worrying that any day now they might find out that their clubhouse has been sold to pay the lighting bill. The most hopeful among us think that maybe one of the five teams might sneak into a semi-final, if the wind is fair and everything goes right. The least hopeful among us think that if anyone even knows Australian rugby exists by year’s end we can call it a win.
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We seem to have every reason to prepare for an intensely depressing experience in Super Rugby this year. Which is why I want to say, right here and right now: bollocks to that.
I want to send a message to every Australian rugby supporter, but most of all to everyone suiting up for a Super Rugby franchise in 2024, and that message is: nil desperandum, dear friends. For in the depths of despair lie always the seeds of the greatest glory. Lest we forget that the Chinese word for “crisis” is also the word for “urban myth about the Chinese language”.
I would like Australian rugby as a whole to look on 2024 not as the season that threatens exciting new ways to experience pain, but as a chance to do the extraordinary. That chance is a gift to Australian rugby, a gift that New Zealanders will probably never get, because when you’re always on top you never get the chance to stun the world with unexpected magnificence.
That is what lies before every Australian Super Rugby team as the season begins: an opportunity to spit in the face of doubt, to obliterate expectations and to make the world cast a bewildered eye upon Australia as it gasps in astonishment, “Where the bloody hell did THAT come from?”
That might seem impossible, given the reality of who is playing for our teams and who is playing for theirs, and the mountains of evidence gathered over a couple of decades of the direction that all Australian rugby teams are trending in.
Happy times are here again. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)
But the first point to make is a crucial one: when you’re starting from a base this low, you don’t necessarily have to do much to prove people wrong. When everyone thinks you’re in an irreversible coma, you don’t have to climb Everest to surprise them: you just have to get out of bed. This Super Rugby season is a chance for the Waratahs, Reds, Brumbies, Force and even the battered old Rebels to get out of bed. It’s a chance to tell everyone that there is still life in this country. More than that, there is still FIGHT in this country.
That’s what I want every team to show, and every fan to look for: the fight. The scrap. The willingness to hurl bodies again and again into a brutal fray even when all seems lost, because the time has come to stand in the light and declare that Australian rugby teams can be beaten, but they can never be broken. The time has come for everyone taking the field this weekend to let their opponents know what they are made of. The time has come for Australian rugby to inspire us as it once did, and inspiration does not always require spectacular skills or incredible athleticism, or even ruthless efficiency. Sometimes, to inspire, all you need to do is to go into battle with the promise that whatever happens out there, you would suffer anything before you’ll be accused of letting your team down.
Sometimes, all that is needed to bring hope and joy to your followers is, as the song says, to be willing to march into Hell for a Heavenly cause.
That’s the first point. The second is this: you just never bloody know, do you? The West Indies could not possibly have won the last Test match against Australia. Leicester City could not possibly have won the Premier League in 2016. Kieren Perkins cannot possibly have won a gold medal in the 1500m from lane eight. Australia had absolutely no chance of winning the America’s Cup. We love sport because as illogically heartbreaking as it tends to be, it offers the hope of the utterly ludicrous, every now and then, actually happening.
And as mentioned earlier, what greater gift could be given to the much-maligned rugby players of Australia than the chance to make the utterly ludicrous happen? For let’s be honest, as much as we are all death-riding our teams this year, and as much as we are certain that triumph is beyond them…there is a corner of our heart that will never stop believing miracles can happen. That’s why we’re tuning in.
Or to put it another way, with thanks to Aragorn, son of Arathorn, heir of Elendil, rightful king of Gondor and wielder of Anduri, previously Narsil, the sword that was broken and re-forged:
Hold your ground, hold your ground! Sons of Sydney, of Brisbane, of Canberra, of Melbourne, of Perth, my brothers! A day may come when the courage of Australians fails, when we forsake our rucks and break all bonds of maul, but it is not this day. An hour of missed tackles and shattered scrums, when the age of Wallaby comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you STAND, MEN OF AUSTRALIAN RUGBY!
Craig McLeod
Roar Rookie
The problem is the English team's cherries are all on the edges of their bats
Ben Pobjie
Expert
It feels that way some afternoons…
piru
Roar Rookie
Well if NZ is Middle Earth aren't we the Undying Lands?
sheek
Roar Guru
Ben, Optimism is fine as long as its rooted in some reality.
Biscuit man
Roar Rookie
Yeah hide it under the carpet and dont own it. Thats why we are in the position we are in. :thumbdown: :thumbdown: :thumbdown:
Muzzo
Roar Rookie
TBH AA, poaching, or moving around has been going on for decades, Bro. Even back in the 60’s 70’s there was movement of quality players moving around. I can remember the likes of Chris Laidlaw even my good mate Keith Murdoch doing the rounds!
Ankle-tapped Waterboy
Roar Rookie
>It’s a game IMO. Not a d swinging comp. 2023 and Mr McLennan and Mr Jones were lessons in exactly that. One with that Sydney League horse chap and the other with his smash and grab. Although I haven't seen the 2024 strategy, I'm guessing it includes the Wallabies beating Tier 1 nations in Test matches.
Jack
Roar Rookie
I’d love a game that doesn’t have 5 or more mini breaks in each half. Each stoppage is a conference, a drink and chat a wander to the lineout, 3 reset scums, a penalty, a conference, a goal kick. Even on TV I need to watch another sport at the same time, to fill the dead time. It’s not all about winning it’s about entertainment as well. AFL team regularly pull 20000 when they are not in the running to make the finals.
AgainAgain
Roar Rookie
I should have added North Harbour, Counties and Southland to that, although they weren’t poaching at the same rate that teams like Auckland were. And while a few decent players were still playing for their respective provinces like Paul Mitchell, the majority of them were being taken up by the teams at the top of the first division. Why else did Carlos Spencer go to Auckland if he wasn’t poached? Or Jason Goldsmith and Craig Innes?
AgainAgain
Roar Rookie
We are talking the same eras. Waikato was already taking the best from the surrounding provinces as was Auckland. To suggest otherwise is simply not true. And yes KC made it to the first division for a couple of years but were never competitive and dwelt at the bottom of the table before dropping back. And the fact KC won the second division and then were the bottom of the first division before dropping back changes nothing with respect to what I am saying. While they may not have been registered feeders to Waikato if they had any decent players they would have been taken. Paul Mitchell would have been at best a journeyman for any of the top sides at that time. By ‘87 through to SR teams were feeding into Waikato, Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago before they revamped the NPC, which is why the NPC had got so lopsided. So while Paul Mitchell was a KC stalwart he was not a player of the quality of John or pushing for higher honours. Paul was a KC hero and captain of the side and good for him and the KC fans, but to use that to suggest these teams weren’t feeding the top teams is nonsense. If that were true then why after the NPC was revamped did the Magpies and Taranaki suddenly start being highly competitive. And while Taranaki was in the first division they were never NPC winner contenders. The RF shield reigns of Auckland and Canterbury were further examples of how the top teams dominated the comp. The disconnect to teams like BoP and Taranaki and co. To their supporters was already hurting regional NZ, hence why when players started playing for their respective provinces in the NPC the comp suddenly became more competitive. To suggest differently is simply incorrect. And to say John was never a KC player is wrong. He was prior to 84 which is when he came and played for Fraser Tech in Hamilton. When he came to the Waikato he had already put aside his basketball ambitions, so he didn’t move to Hamilton to pursue basketball. He made the NZ secondary schools basketball. When he moved to Hamilton he was about 20.
Harry Jones
Expert
I’ll be roaring still. 2024 will (by definition) be better for Aussie :rugby:
Ben Pobjie
Expert
But let’s also remember that compared to New Zealand everyone in Australia is of the west. And I’m not saying that New Zealand is Mordor, I’m just saying that they’ve got lots of volcanoes and I know a guy who went to Auckland on holiday and got eaten by a giant spider.
Ben Pobjie
Expert
Just like in A League Of Their Own when women’s baseball is a hit but Garry Marshall shuts it down anyway.
Ankle-tapped Waterboy
Roar Rookie
Let's assume the Australian equivalent of a Hollywood feel-good Little League baseball movie starring Goldie Hawn happens and the Rebels meet the Crusaders in the Final. RA are still so cack-handed they would can the franchise anyway, under some stupid "redistribute the talent" thing. We all know them. The powerful people whose mirrors tell them that they are the bestest. The people who will chop up a centipede to see if it will run faster.
AAA’s Bloody Ear
Roar Rookie
Let’s go rugby fans! Oh yeah super rugby is back, something worth watching. Vegas will show how irrelevant and sad this PR Quest really is for league. Getting fleeced with the promise of glory, a common Vegas tale. Everyone in the US just thinks it’s union. League can only exist in international communities who are familiar with Union as a watered down / turbo charged version. It’s like Big Bash Cricket. Only exists where there is a pre-existing history of cricket. Checkers vs Chess. Doesn’t matter how much bigger it is in Oz, that’s just how it works and will always work. So support the OG
Dionysus
Roar Rookie
"“Dad , we might play rugby and enjoy it but no one talks super rugby at school .. no one , we chat about league “" What is worse is that I live in Melbourne and all they chat about is AFL ..... Grrrr On a different note, the NRL has just distributed $98m to every club out of last year's profits. They are now the most watched sport in Australia having over taken AFL and they have just bought a 98 bedroom hotel on the Gold Coast. No wonder they can afford to launch the new season in Vegas. We have to find a way to tap into some of what they are doing.
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
Disagree ..First priority is your National team..It generates most interest , most viewers , most money ….Argentina wishes they have the domestic set up Australia does ..But it doesnt stop them prioritising The Pumas and they do ….One of ..No make that the biggest problem Aus has in Superugby is the domestic teams are made to look worse than they actually are ..If The Reds , Tahs , Brumbies were to compete in say the URC they would definetely look a lot better ….Aus still have enough quality 23 players to challenge a Top 3 spot in the World Rankings ..If they had made with a semi sane coach the semi finals of the WCup which was totally possible would we still be having this discussion ? This doesnt mean Australia shouldnt be working on its feeder structures bottom up ..Of course they must but the Wallabies are not part of development structures which Eddie tried to turn them into….Yes you have problems with teams going bankrupt etc ..So do many other countries actually ..How much longer can the Johannesburg Lions continue to play to empty stadiums I wonder? ..How many English , French, Italian , Japanese Clubs would survive on their own without massive cash from individual businessmen ? …Not long ..The Irish model and always NZ are the gold standard ..Rest of us need to get houses in order ..But above all keep the National flag flying while we work it all out ..
concerned supporter
Roar Rookie
Flicking through the Foxtel sports channels, watched the Fletch &Hindy show for no more 2 minutes what a lot of rubbish.
Geoff Parkes
Expert
We're talking different era's, mate. When I was there KC was a competitive 2nd division side, then in the early 90's went up to first division where they stayed for a few years. John Mitchell was never a KC player, he had already left the district, more to play higher level basketball than anything, then emerged as a Waikato player. His brother Paul however ended up becoming the most capped player for the union. It was only after professionalism, and the construct of the Super Rugby sides, that the provinces like KC, Thames Valley, BOP, started to become proper feeder sides to the Chiefs. That said, Phil Coffin ended up in Wellington, not Hamilton.
Mirt
Roar Rookie
That’s the same everywhere I go. Haven’t watched super rugby at a pub since The Lucky Shag, almost 20 years ago.