This rings true to me. I was involved in coaching at club level in the late 80’s and ended up doing a Level 1 course at the AIS in 91. I then ended up coaching the Solomon Islands national team and went to the SP Games. That course taught me a lot about the finer technical aspects of rugby. There was a lot of detail about running lines, alignment for backs, special ball handling skills, specialised forward play, scrummaging techniques and the list goes on. Importantly there were an array of drills supported by the manual and associated videos. I used these to great effect in coaching the Solomon Islands team. Later that year my club side won the championship and the National team went on to unprecedented success at the SP Games. I attribute that success to the things I learnt as a coach at the AIS COURSE and the subseqyent support I got from the ARU in developing rugby skills in the SI.

Tedious to watch. Green and Smith woefully under done and vulnerable. Soinis’s dismissal sunk a big score. And then we bowled with the same array of test bowlers, not particularly skilled at T20 and with the pace on any contact with the bat has the runs flowing. Zampa made quite a difference with his contribution. We have a bucket load of T20 specialist bowlers in this country but somehow we just keep picking the same lot who arent particulary good in this format. Maxwell didnt even get a bowl tonight when in previous games his bowling has been very good. A part timer, Stoinis gets the last over and was ordinary. All round dopey performance by Australia. We will be eliminated. Looking forward to Finch’s retirement announcement.

Dear God, why oh why are we perservering with Mr. Foley? The spring tour is about testing out the future. Lolesio was brought on the tour …..why? The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome. Surely we can do better than this. This weekends game against France is quite a litmus test. Happy to don sack cloth and crawl to the cathedral to beg forgiveness if I am wrong, but he will be exposed in both attack and defence. I just dont see a future for the Wallabies with Foley at 5/8.

As much as I like him and think he would be a good leader, its a bit of a conflict of interest as well as an additional load he could do without, unless you had a very strong vice to assist. But who else. I am not a fan of Smith’s recall as his introspective leadership style was a flaw last time around. Does anyone here think an Alan Border or Mark Waugh led team would have considered that little sand paper gig or presided over the development of a culture that bred it? I dont think so. Lampshade has potential but still developing. Maybe due to no better option Big C will get it, with Smou as his deputy?

Feel sorry for the refs ( sometimes), as the leather arm patched administrators just cant stop fiddling. The slap down law is a mess. So is the head knock nonsense when a player with the ball can just about do anything to the head of a tackler with forearm, hip or shoulder with impunity. We all expected it to be about that swinging arm, shoulder charge or coat hanger when it came in, but geez they have screwed it up.

You are right to call out the gulf between Kiwi and Oz rugby, it has never been so stark. Increased funding is important but is not going to solve the problem unless there is a comprehensive costed and funded plan going forward 5-10 years. The demise of Australian Rugby was guaranteed by the reign of Castles et al ( certainly didnt start with her but she and her team rammed it home). The present ARU regime arent filling me with confidence either. I sense some fiddling whilst rome burns.
We need a whole of Rugby review, starting at school, junior/club level. A comprehensive strategy with identifiable and measurable targets with associated funding levels. Govt needs to buy in also, particularly if we are going to host a World Cup. Glen Ella was lamenting recently the loss of idigenous players to AFL and RL ( and he is employed by the AFL as a scout !!). THe ARU have lost the plot. We are so far off the pace in terms of skill, intensity and nouse. That starts at a junior rugby in my view and your are right to point the finger in that direction. Need to be careful where we get the money from, private owners will steer the ARU not the other way around. Thanks for your post.

Yes something is amiss. The toss should not decide the outcome but increasingly it is. And yes bugger, it’s only day two and the pitch is destroyed.

Ha yep correct! I stand corrected too – its only the second day and it is virtually unplayable. Now I do understand that a team should have a home ground advantage but come on India, that is not a test standard wicket. Interesting to listen to the commentators not making any disparaging comments. Mustn’t upset the Indian Cricket Board.

Morning of 3 rd day. Wicket surface completely disintegrated! Appalling test wicket. Doctored to suit spin no doubt. England will not escape this level of wicket manipulation.

Actually thought the error was just before half time. We had em on the ropes and the ref was itching to send an argie to the bin. We took the points. Should have put down a scrum and worked a move (or taken the lineout). Either or.

Lack of composure at the death too. Noone seemed to understand that control was required to retain possession and move the ball to a position for a penalty or drop goal. Like a bunch of headless chooks. Hooper went missing again. The other thing is that our backline play is looking a bit one dinensional ( and predictable). Deep passes with decoy runners ( very rugby league). A sliding defence fixes that most times. No changes in running lines to create a bit of doubt.

I dont think many will argue that the Bledisloe is an important fixture on the world rugby calendar and that World Rugby needs a close fought spectacle. The challenge is to make the Wallabies competetive. We will occassionally catch the ABs on a bad day and convince ourselves we are on the cusp of a Wallaby revival, but year after year our hopes are dashed. You know that well worn saying about the ‘definition of stupidity – doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome”. Rugby in Australia is struggling big time. A root and branch review is required, from juniors all the way thru to the national side. Any ardent follower of the code will lament the dilution of skills at almost every level. If any reader of this blog is skeptical, pull up some footage of the 1984 grand slam tour of UK ( just for a sample of the running and passing skills …. and yes the game has changed but have a look anyway). Can we follow the NZ system? I dont know but worth a review. Reinvigorate junior and club rugby ..yes but how. What else? We are well of the pace at the moment and we need an intervention. Those folks earning the big bucks on the board of the ARU need to pull their collective fingers out.

When all is said and done ( yep more is said then done I know i Know )…. Cheika was not an intelligent rugby coach. Noone can deny his passion. To play the so called expansive running game you have to have the players with the requisite skill levels. He didnt have those players and yet he couldn’t see it. I have been banging on about this in blogs past. We have fallen well behind in our skill levels, so Spiro is correct. The fault is in part leaving Cheika in charge for so long but it is mainly the ineptitude of the ARFU – Castle Clyne et al. Going off and buying another coach wont fix the problems. Our system is broken and needs a complete reboot ..starting at the top. They all should step aside.

The game last night was just a window through which to view a generational decline in Rugby in this country. From a macro perspective, I dont see the ARFU as an effective body. They seem from an outsiders view to control little and effect nothing at the grass roots and intermediate levels. There appears no strategy ( or none that I have seen or heard of) The argument has waxed and wained over the years about a more centralised system similar to the NZRFU. perhaps it is time for a complete reboot. Cline, Castles et al should step down. They have been inept from wo ( and more woe) to go. We need to better marshall and manage our scarce resources, focus on grass roots and club and Ux rugby with a centralised program to build skills and resilience/depth in our game. We are so off the pace with skills that we drop in the rankings behind Japan is a fair call. Anyone who doubts the skill issue, jump onto google and have a look at some of the 1984 grand slam footage. And please no “rugby is different now, faster harder” etc comments …. heard it all before…… might have been recently from a Wallabies coach.

Gee that’s a big call, we have had some shockers over the last 10-15. 😂

Just watching NRL – Souths V Raiders. Counted rugby 5 red card offences in the first two sets of 6. Wake up IRFU you have made Rugby a joke.

Early days yet. LGBTIQ ….satire digger, keep up.

Just watched both Samoan yellow cards. In both cases the tackling player attempts to wrap their arms, both lean in with the shoulder as per correct tackling technique. No ball carrier injury but in the second case the tackler is injured and then subsequently given a yellow card. Yes some head to head contact as a result of the collision. Normal stuff that happens in a contact sport. Having head down this dark tunnel the IRFU has turned the game into a farce. More to come on this. The discussion about this world cup will go on for months and it wont be about the rugby. “All inclusive, safe, equal opportunity, LGBTIQ sanctioned, Land rights for gay whales” Rugby. I’m headed off to watch some AFL I think.

Am afraid all contact sports are going the same way, AFL and league included. Administrators are terrified of bad press/social media and especially Mums who dont want their ‘precious’ playing toxic male sports. I have a notion ( and I could be drawing a long bow here) that Dad’s are having less say in this area. If we aint careful all us blokes will be sitting down to take a pee.

Can someone in world rugby explain why dropping your shoulder into a tackler is Ok when carrying the ball ( which happens plenty every game) but not the other way round? ( I aint supporting shoulder charges btw, just pointing out the nonsense). The rule was not brought in to stop the sort of mess Hodge got himself into with his attempted tackle, however the bureaucrats in IRFU have messed it up again. Rugby is becoming a nanny state pansy game.

Absolutely re Wade. He has been poorly treated. Having both Stoinus and Maxwell the Maniac, in the side was imo delinquent on the part of the selectors. We had to start well with the bat and if early wickets fell we needed proven batsmen. We were always going to need to bat well at Edgbaston whether batting first or 2nd. To continue to put faith in Maxwell ( now 10 innings at around 19 or 20) was just madness ( hey maybe his brand of madness has gone viral). And Stoinus’ average over 8 innings the same. Doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome was dumb. Hanscombe just doesnt seem to handle the pressure of high class cricket. He builds in domestic and second tier then fails as the pressure ramps up ( ref his last test series). Great bowling by England of course but we were underpowered with the Maniac and Stoinus both in the side.

Agree we look like a one trick pony when Starc is awry. He was all over the place this morning and if he aint firing against England I dont like our chances. And absolutely need to win the toss.

I am hoping.

Actually he has come in with plenty to go in most games to date.

Tongue in cheek mate, dont get too precious.