@BigRob, that is not a VIC Rugby issue, but it’s a rugby “in Australia” issue.

I have a mate that coached juniors in NSW, and he’s pretty tight with a lot of the Tahs players. He went through NSW Rugby to try to get one of the injured players to come out and meet the kids at a coaching session, he was told he would have to pay for it.

The Swans will hold sessions for free, where current players will meet aspiring kids and junior players, while rugby wants to charge for the privilige. There’s the difference.

That wasn’t my point, I was merely pointing out who he was and how he’s ended up at rugby HQ. If I had my way he would never have walked through the front doors of RA, but that is my point. RA keeps hiring people who they think can do the job, purely on the basis that they were a lawyer/Bank CEO/live on the North Shore, etc, etc, or a combination of any of these. It’s just a running debacle.

He’s actually a succesful business man, and apparently only applied for the role at RA because his wife was sick of him moaning about the state of rugby in Australia.
But therein lies the problem, being a succesful business person/lawyer/Ex-NAB chairman doesn’t mean you have the skills to manage a national sports body, let alone have the skills to drive improvement and success in such an organisation.
Look at some of the past appointments, including Hamish Mclennan. Cameron Clyne, Bill Pulver, General Peter Cosgrove to name a few. All succesful in the chosen life roles, yet somehow they all manage to sneak on to senior roles at RA, and also the forgetful appointment of Ralene Castle.
My point is, the board has been responsible in all these appointments, and this includes the legend John Eales himself. It’s not just the current board that’s responsible, but the boards of RA for the past 15+ years.
This also doesn’t excuse the boards of the state unions either. Who could forget the Andrew Hore and Daryl Gibson debacle. Apologies for the lack of para spaces, for some reason my carriage returns aren’t coming through in my post 😢

Best thrower amongst an average stock of hookers. Lonergran is probs the next best option, or Tolu Latu (sans his off-field drinking problems). Apart from that, there’s not much else.

The current model isn’t working, rugby in Australia needs change otherwise we may as well give up and go and watch the mungos play. I, for one, do not want any part of that.

Whilst McLennan is a succesful business man, many of his decisions at RA have been stinkers.

Look at the decision last year to take two extra test matches on the NH spring tour. The two extra tests were purely a commercial decision as it would net RA an additional $2-3 million (not sure of the exact figure) but in the end it proved disastrous – barely scraping by Scotland and Wales and a first ever loss to Italy.

Now not withstanding that there was a ridiculous amount of injuries last year which McLennan could not have forseen, but, just but, if the NH tour started with a test against Italy, then maybe they would have beaten Ireland and France as well, instead of fielding the walking wounded for five tests in a row. Definitely a sliding doors moment that could have saved Rennie’s job.

Yeah he was able to turn England around very quickly after taking the helm. England beat the Wallabies 3-0 during the 2016 inbound series, and I think they may have also claimed a 6N grandslam that year (or maybe the year after), and they won three 6N titles with Jones.

I beleive there was talk of centralisation many years back but QLD and NSW voted it down.

That’s cherry picking a little don’t you think? We can’t just single out Cheika, as there were two WBs coaches with Copper prior to Cheika.

An immature Cooper did not have constant wins under Deans or McKenzie, whilst both Foley and Hooper had some early success under Chieka.

The retuned mature Cooper under Rennie was a more fuller package, yet even he didn’t seem the same this year after returning from injury, same with Hooper. I could see where EJ was coming from when he left both of them out of the RWC squad, though I did think he should have kept either Foley or Cooper in the squad, even as ‘advisors’.

There-in lies the problem with the NRL and V’landys. They really aren’t actually interested in promoting league, rather they’re after a short term sugar-hit, cash injection, from the lowest denomination that there is available to earn revenue from. Disgusting!

“The NRL sees the fixtures as an opportunity to break into the lucrative American sports gambling market”

Says it all really. It just typifies the NRL, always chasing the dirty gambling dollar

I reckon Izaia Perese would partner well with Kerevi, good defender and has a strong carry.

Yep you’re right. Slowing down quick ball is now almost an artform, and some teams are seemingly doing it more legally than others, but again the inconsistent reffing of the breakdown means many teams are unsure on what’s what.

A classic was Saders v Brumbies, second half Sader’s player (can’t remember who exactly) made a tackle then fell on to the Brumbies side of the ruck, sealing off the ball. The ref blew it up and ruled ball not coming out, scrum to the Brumbies.

Twenty years ago that ruling may have been correct, ball is unplayable and the team moving forward gets the put in, but in the current environment, that’s a penalty. Even Justin Marshall didn’t agree with the decision.

Thanks Highlander, I agree that the ruck is a shambles and the referees are all inconsistent in their rulings.

One that is really irking me at the moment is the counter-ruck. Teams winning turnover ball by counter-rucking aren’t necessarily winning the ball purely by pushing the opposition off the ball, quite often the first player in appears to drive over but then often turns left or right, and then goes to ground, effectively sealing off the ball for the other players to walk over the ball. This is wrong.

I really hope the Wallabies don’t hold back and try to put a big score on the Welsh, but with the amount of injuries they’ve got, combinations are going to be a worry.

Agreed. Foley plays better with another playmaker to take some pressure off.

Unfortunately with RA, the only thing that drives them is the mighty dollar, results are seemingly not as important. Take SR for example, since the format changed from round-robin to conference style, Australian super rugby teams have fared worse than those across the ditch. RA believes the crowd numbers at local derbies are greater – cash driving the thought process, plus the conference format guarantees an Australian team in the playoffs – inclusion through mediocrity, and not driven by results.

The Kiwi teams argue that the conference system is harder on them because of the greater intensity, but it’s that intensity that makes their teams better. Some would point out that some of the Australian tems have improved, this is true to an extent, but some NZ teams have also begun to slide, Highlanders come to mind.

Back to the Wallabies, Dave Rennie himself said that a five test tour was simply a financial decision, never mind that schedule would enforce an already struggling side full of injuries, to stretch their resources even thinner, and thus a first ever loss to Italy and further damage to the Wallaby brand. Again, dollars before results.

My company is the same. They refuse to hire any additional local resources and have started off-shoring because they get two for the price of one, yet the quality of output is nowhere near as good. Subsequently some client have started to complain.

Dollars over results always achieves the same outsome, no matter what industry you apply it to.

I think Rennie’s been dealt some unfortunate incidents as a coach, but so have a lot other international coaches, the pandemic would have thrown more than a few spanners at every coach in one way or another.

The injuries curse is also well documented, but how much of that is due to Rennies’ well-known rigorous training schedule, my guess is we’ll never know the full truth to how much that contributed to the numerous soft-tissue injuries this year, even though that was being looked at ‘apparently’.

Lastly rotation, IMO Rennie does need to own some of this, and again injuries have affected his selection at times, but…

1.) by all means rotate your HBs, but at least start with the same HB and rotate the subs. For me White needs to start every test.
2.) 10, well we all know the issues here and there are numerous.
3.) Whoever decided to allow Kerevi to play at the Commonwealth games should leave the room right now
4.) 13. goes back to 9, 10, & 12. Personally I’d like to see consistency from 9, 10, 12 & 13. Think of the ‘golden years’, those 4 positions were pretty consistent, with later Herbert and Burke coming into the centres.
5.) A hooker that can’t throw straight into a lineout, instantly dropped.
6.) Kellaway is an instant inclusion (as would be Koroibete when available). Wright has been given ample chances to impress but only shines rarely > bench. Nawaqanitawase, take a chance and play him for the remaining tests leading up to the RWC.
7.) Fullback, I’m a bit stuck here, as it seems Rennie still is.

Discipline and having an effective cleanout, probably sits anyhwere between 1-7 or maybe even above. If you can’t secure your own ball, or give away ‘soft’ penalties then you may as well not show up.

History shows that RWC games are heavily decided by a side giving away a penalty, especially during the knockout stages, so the Wobblies need to clean-up their act, and quickly.

Agree it’s a long season, but you can’t blame RA for Rennie’s descision to make 11 (12 by match day) changes against a side that pumped Samoa a week earlier.

Would the current Wallabies side put 50 points on Samoa? Probably not, yet Rennie decides to put together a side that has only combined in training.

Disrespectful? Absolutely!

Yet you have two ACT coaches as assistant coaches seemingly pulling the strings with selection. How does Lonegran get a spot on tour? He is 4th choice at best.

Cheika was rightfully bagged for his Tahs bias, the same should apply to Rennie.

IMO, Rennie should stay on as Wallabies coach, along with McKeller and Fischer and if the Wallabies don’t make it to the semis next year, neither of the ocahces should be allowed to coach at an international level in OZ ever again.

Cheika was bagged for his bias towards Tahs players, yet now with two ACT assistant coaches and a side stacked with Brumbies players who aren’t performing, where’s the same vocal crowd?

Definitely deserves a chance. I would still like to see if he can add 5 kilos to his frame, similar to what Matt Burke was able to do when he shifted into the centres. Added the bulk but kept his pace. It would be useful for Campbell I feel, especially when the eventual collisions come with the likes of Caleb Clarke and Jordie Barrett.

They can’t drop him now, and it wouldn’t make any sense to do so.

The continued selection of players who are not performing is part the issue. Tom Wright is a classic example, he should not be in the Wallabies squad, nor should Petaia. These two are the type of players that pull of a moment of brilliance every now and then which is just enough for the selectors to stick with them.

The key to selection should be players that consistently do the basics and do them well. Kellaway and Koriobete are classic examples, sure they’ve both made some errors as all players will, but they are both excellent at the basics. Kellaway reminds me a lot of Matthew Burke, a hard-working player with a great rugby brain.

Regarding the forwards, Tupou is another who should be dropped (even though he’s currently injured) as he seems to have believed all of the media hype pumped up his own tyres.

I’ve said this elsewhere and so have others, drop the players who aren’t performing. Take some risks and take a heap of new blood on the NH tour. I’d personally take Donaldson, Edmed, Stewart, Campbell, and Gleeson to start with.

Wasn’t Quade Copper’s injury also due to intense “burst of speed” training?

Petaia and Wright need to be droppped to Australia A, and I’d include Paisami, Tupou and a few others. Also anyone who gives away a needless penalty and cops a yelow/red card; immediately unavailable for selection for the following game. There’s no point in players with mongrel if they can’t bring it in a controlled way and end up spending time in the bin, putting the rest of the team under more unwanted pressure.

It’s time Rennie started getting tough on the players who aren’t performing and the ones with poor discipline.