A serious question – why are coaches allowed to jump from country to country (Eddie Jones is a good example – 3 countries within 18 months) but a player has to serve a stand down period. Considering the amount of corporate knowledge a coach walks away with when leaving their post to go to another country, why do they get the opportunity to experience a free market?

What’s the issue? A process occurred to ensure the NZRU does not make the same mistake in 2019 by appointing a coach before possible candidates commit elsewhere before the end of the season. I think the media is making a big deal out of this being a disruption for the upcoming international season and World Cup for the players. Considering players contractual negotiations occur through out the year why all off a sudden would it be an issue and distraction for players when it is a coach. The players now know who the 2024 coach and will just crack on now. If this is a distraction and hampers their ability to play then maybe something bigger is an issue.

Very true about the Rebels leaving points on the pitch. However it could be said if the Hurricanes didn’t receive the red card and play 40mins with 14 players in the second half, then they would have continued on from the 24-7 HT lead.

Unfortunately money talks. Whilst the players may have been coerced to stay and fulfil their obligations to the clubs, at the end of the day the players made the final decision. The players had a choice – wear the Wallaby jersey for a tour and receive relevant match payments or rejuvenate their bodies in preparation for the upcoming Japanese league which has their contracts and possible future contracts. Whilst Clause 9.3 has been developed to avoid such scenarios RA is faced with now, this is nothing new to the Tier 2 nations who struggle to get their players back.

RA may be silent over this because maybe RA need JRU more than the other way round. RA is running out of allies after the fallout with RNZ, the JRU has a strong domestic comp and the JRU has been accommodating with player sabbaticals (allowing ARU contracted players to play short term for good money and return to Australia rather than leaving long term). I believe it will better for RA to stop slagging the players in public (will only give them more conviction they have made the right choice) and negotiate something meaningful with the JRU that is enduring and a win/win for both parties. Right or wrong, this is professional sport, money talks and when a player is a commodity for the club the athlete will always do what is right for them.

Very good article and it does put it in perspective. Looks like RA need to do its due diligence and stop running to the media to cover up its inability to administer the game in Australia and do their core roles to justify their wages. As a staunch AB fan, I certainly hope RA can sort this all out. A strong Wallaby team is good for all.

TJ Force Fan, it is unfortunate Cooper, Kerevi and McMahon have chosen (pressured or otherwise – only the individuals involved know) to stay with their respective clubs over playing with the Wallabies. However, I think this may be a glimpse into the “selection future” with more Wallaby eligible players being selected from overseas.
The point you do raise regarding RA (Marinos) is that this is his MOU – slag people via the media. We saw this with BC2 when he complained about the NZRU postponing their arrival date and now he is publically having a go at Wallaby players that have chosen to stay with the clubs that are paying their wages. We must remember the three players were no longer playing for the Wallabies and were signed by their respective clubs on good money with the knowledge they will have their full services. There were no sabbatical clauses written into their contracts to be released to play for the Wallabies. Fans will be saying they should have chosen country over club, but why? They are one serious injury away from their careers ending and in Cooper’s case, he was thrown out with the dirty water when he was excess to Wallabies requirements after the 2011 WC. It is a difficult position for all involved but I assess we will see more off this happening (country vs club). But when you are an athlete, your body/skills is a business and that is how a lot of modern athletes are treating it now a days. Loyalty does not pay the bills.

Totally agree. The Wallabies did very well to break down the black wall, but the crux is they didn’t take advantage of all the half breaks or really take advantage of having the extra man for 20mins. My original point being, have they trained for such contingencies that may arise like having an extra player or why didn’t an international player (who is talented because they are an international player) manage to call on their experience in rugby and training and formulate a plan with the team leaders to take advantage of the extra man for 20mins?

It was an interesting game considering the ABs started with out a couple of their first line starters, a red card and two players failing HAI in the first half. The red card, loosing your hooker and captain in the first half would send tremors for most teams. However I suspect what gave the players confidence is that the ABs train for various scenarios like playing a man down. This gives the players an opportunity to walk through and talk through various options, but it also highlighted the importance of the team leaders to keep the players focused. This is what was not really observed with the Wallabies when they had a man advantage. Yes MacD or Lolesio are inexperienced at the international level, but are you saying throughout their respective representative careers or on the training paddock they have not been exposed to these scenarios? As I highlighted before regarding the leadership group for the ABs, who were the leadership group for the Wallabies to assist MacD or Lolesio and provide that guidance. As good as Kerevi was at making the advantage line, was he using his experience to communicate to Lolesio? What is letting the Wallabies down at the moment is the corporate knowledge they develop throughout their representative career from age grade to state to international and the inability for them to transfer that onto the rugby paddock. I do not know what the answer is for the Wallabies but I suspect the issue is not at the tip of the spear but earlier in the players development.

I think we, as in All Black supporters, and most definitely ex All Blacks coaches need to just shut up and let each country play to their strengths. Personally the series between the Boks and BI Lions was boring – but I was a neutral observer. Just like Boks supporters may have thought the ABs game against the Wallabies was a game of touch in BC1. However when I watch the ABs play the Boks it’s exciting seeing the different teams play to their strengths whilst trying to mitigate the opposition’s strengths. That is the beauty of rugby. Teams will continue to formulate a game plan to win the game, if they constantly loose they will change. It’s up to the ABs and the rest of the rugby nations to come up with a successful game plan to win games against the Boks. They are the World Champions, instead of moaning how they win, come up with something to beat them. Hell, if it means the ABs win with drop goals and penalties I don’t care. Maybe boring for a neutral viewer but I am sure an ABs supporter or Bok supporter will be saying what a tough traditional test match between old rivals.
What is ruining it for me are the shots CEOs and coaches are taking at each other in the media and constantly getting reported on or the interviews taken out of context for a click bait headline. Some days it feels like a pre fight show of a boxing match. This is what is ruining the game and enjoyment for many.

I totally agree ozinsa. The interview on Rugby Heaven felt like one last dig at the the NZR and baseless facts were again raised. It is this pettiness that got us to this point in the first place with emotional outbursts through the media not only by the CEO but also the coach and some of the “analysts” on Rugby Heaven keep rehashing baseless facts. I put more credibility into NZRPA president Rob Nichols recall of events considering Marino coming out later stating he knew NZR position.

https://www.google.co.nz/amp/s/www.newshub.co.nz/home/sport/2021/08/rugby-championship-nz-players-association-boss-rob-nichol-backs-decision-to-suspend-all-blacks-travel-to-perth.amp.html

People praising the ARU for pausing and to plan and get this tournament running in QLD. Wasn’t this the whole reason why NZ said wait and give all the stakeholders an opportunity to finalise the planning rather than having 200 odd players and support staff in limbo in AUS (massive kudos to the ARU and QLD government for organising this in such a short time and during such uncertainty though). Let us not forget the SA and ARG teams did exactly the same thing as NZ and waited for final confirmation if the tournament would go ahead. This was always a delay in travel to allow such planning to occur.

I hope this is the last of it with the respective CEOs playing their agendas out in the media and they put their big boy pants on discuss any issues in the future in the boardrooms – let the players do the talking on the rugby pitch and the let the fans forget about all this uncertainty and stress from COVID for at least 80mins.

Why would NZR agree to release their centrally contracted players and remove them from the high performance gateways established to the Australian system at the moment? Generally speaking, issues that arose at the beginning of the TT comp with Australian sides not being able to consistently perform the basic fundamentals were still evident at the tail end of the competition (passing both sides, out of hand kicking, defence structures….). Which shows me a broken high performance model at the moment where players are not being developed within the ARU structures. Will NZ players return better more rounded players – on the evidence of what we have seen the last 2 years, I highly doubt it.

As a lot of previous commentary stated over the last couple of days about the boards doing what is right for them should NZ allow AUS franchises access to its players to strengthen their teams? Or should the ARU have 3 teams and have that talent pool condensed rather than spread out over 5 teams. Is it coincidental that the Wallabies and provincial teams were at their strongest when they had 3 teams? There is no simple answer and I can see arguments for both sides, but at the end of the day NZ will do what’s best for them and AUS will also do what they think is right for them and the Australian rugby public.

Mark Robinson never stated the players and support staff were flying out on Saturday, multiple reporting indicates this was occurring on the Sunday. Hence the issue with the soft quarantine off 7 days (if it got confirmed that was indeed the duration when they arrived in Perth), they would have been released on game day. Due to unforeseen circumstances of a snap lockdown there was very little wriggle room to manoeuvre.

Well written JD Kiwi.

I heard that may be a alternative neutral venue to celebrate a 100 years of rugby between the ABs and SA as the game in NZ was cancelled. Regarding the report from Fox. No 12.5% sale of the All Blacks has occurred. Any sale requires player approval and the New Zealand Rugby Players’ Association has blocked such a deal for the time being. If the NZRPA even remotely believes the NZR board is jumping to the demands of a PE firm, I can only imagine the $hit storm that would cause with the players and the NZRPA against the NZR board. That would be a messy outcome. That article everyone refers to contains a lot of assumptions and is a publication by Fox determined, I believe, to keep this spat between Marino and Robinson in the headlines just as the dust was settling to cause a lot more angst in the rugby community.

The game will be getting played. It was postponed – plus they will be telecasting all the RC games which were originally scheduled for the home nations as Australia (for the second year) will be hosting the RC. Win win. It’s a shame it will not be played on the 28th, but it is getting played.

Are you going to fine Australia and Argentina for canceling their charter flights also?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newshub.co.nz/home/sport/2021/08/rugby-championship-nz-players-association-boss-rob-nichol-backs-decision-to-suspend-all-blacks-travel-to-perth.amp.html
Sounds like everyone knew what was occurring except the ARU outside of Merino himself? Rob Nichol’s relationship with Robinson is strained at the best of times but it sounds like there was clear communication between all countries involved last week and a reasonable justification for the deadline last Friday evening. SA and Arg are in the same boat canceling their respective charter flights.
What people do not understand – this is just a postponement of the tournament until certainly in this uncertain COVID time is given – the ARU will get their games and more. Just like last year they are hosting the games, making money that they may not have made if the other countries were playing home games. What is the issue?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newshub.co.nz/home/sport/2021/08/rugby-championship-nz-players-association-boss-rob-nichol-backs-decision-to-suspend-all-blacks-travel-to-perth.amp.html
If Rob Nichol, head of the NZPA, had situational awareness of the developments prior to last Friday evening when there was uncertainty amongst the 3 nations, why was Marino caught off guard?

None at all, because as of now, no 12.5% sale of the All Blacks has occurred. Any sale requires player approval and the New Zealand Rugby Players’ Association has blocked such a deal for the time being. That article everyone refers to contains a lot of assumptions and is a publication by Fox determined to keep this spat between Marino and Robinson in the headlines just as the dust was settling to cause a lot more angst in the rugby community.

NZR are committed to playing all the games they just needed certainty where the RC games are being played. That is a fair request isn’t it. Having 60 players and support staff in limbo in Australia until something (if it can even get sorted) get finalised. All the CEOs expect the RC games to be played in AUS (NZL cancelled the remainder of its home games), they just needed the new updated schedule which wasn’t forthcoming before the deadline. All the NZR are doing is postponing in the short term their arrival so all parties can sort out respective contingencies and work within state government perimeters which is continually evolving. A lot of emotion is getting thrown around from ARU CEO coming out in the media but then we have the NZR CEO saying everyone has been informed in writing on Thursday of their intent if no answers can be resolved. The sad thing about the state of affairs are the remarks getting thrown around of dealings that have happened in the boardroom that none of the commentators in this forum have had access too. All we are getting is drip feed narratives from the respective PR boards and we are jumping to conclusions. Is this another nail in the the professional relationship between the two rugby boards? I say so. Should each country go their own way – maybe. Each board will do what is in their best interests at the end of the day. It is just a shame a lot of this thread has been tainted with personal attacks and not about its core theme about the great game of rugby we all love.

Acknowledge what you are saying Ex Force Fan. NZR are committed to playing all the games they just needed certainty where the RC games are being played. That is a fair request isn’t it. Having 60 players and support staff in limbo in Australia until something (if it does can get sorted) get finalised. All the CEOs expected the RC games to be played in AUS (NZL cancelled the remainder of its home games), they just needed the new updated schedule which wasn’t forthcoming before the deadline. All the NZR are doing is postponing in the short term their arrival so all parties can sort out respective contingencies and work within state government perimeters which is continually evolving. A lot of emotion is getting thrown around from ARU CEO coming out in the media but then we have the NZR CEO saying everyone has been informed in writing on Thursday of their intent if no answers can be resolved. The sad thing about the state of affairs are the remarks getting thrown around of dealings that have happened in the boardroom that none of the commentators in this forum have had access too. All we are getting is drip feed narratives from the respective PR boards and we are jumping to conclusions. Is this another nail in the the professional relationship between the two rugby boards? I say so. Should each country go their own way – maybe. Each board will do what is in their best interests at the end of the day. It is just a shame a lot of this thread has been tainted with personal attacks and not about its core theme about the great game of rugby we all love.

Who had a charter plane booked for Saturday? My understanding was the ABs were flying out on a Sunday.

“We tried to give Rugby Australia as much time as possible til Friday afternoon to have quarantine tidied up with Queensland … that was unable to be achieved and therefore we weren’t really able to get on a plane – which would have been today – at such short notice and be in a position to play that game in Perth,” Robinson said. Hence why NZR had a deadline midday Friday to have answers answered and to be allowed to fly out on Sunday. There was no way for an organisation to secure the movement of 60 players and support staff within 24hrs whilst NZ is lockdown where regional travel is not allowed. If only it was that simple to click ones fingers to get people into one location then fly out to Perth or Brisbane in such a short time frame. My understanding is NZR has not pulled out they were waiting for the clarity which did not come by a deadline they needed so they could finalise their logistical plans. This did not eventuate- all key stakeholders were made aware. “We had calls right through from sort of Wednesday, Thursday; we put something in writing on Thursday, and then we spoke to them [Rugby Australia] before anything was released”. I am almost certain if NZ did not go into lockdown they would be in Perth.

I agree David, however as a NZ supporter, I have confidence a NZ side will adapt to how a referee will officiate a match. The issue is NZ and Aus referees used different interpretations from their respective competitions and when it came to TT it continued. The big issue for a lot of the Aus teams (apart from one on one tackles) was they could not adapt their game plan to how the referee was officiating through the match. One thing our respective teams should be doing is remove the referee from the game and play it to how he/she is officiating the match. The onus is on the players. Ask yourself honestly, do the Aus teams in general have the rugby nous to identify the issues during the match and change accordingly. It starts with the captain talking to referee and asking him. Last night you could always see the communication from the Chief’s wanting to understand, rather than just pleading for a penalty. Until the average rugby IQ increases for the players your players will continue to struggle to adapt to how a referee is officiating on that day.

Swinton is a flat track bully who can dominate semi-professional players down in the Shute Shield with his aggressive/abrasive style. However, in the TT against NZ sides, with his one dimensional play of physicality it it has little impact. One example being the run he had after a long run up, flat out, no hint of a side step was going to occur, ran into a Chiefs player and was stopped dead in his tracks. Again, may have worked in the Shute Shield but against NZ teams use to this type of physicality it means nothing. Swinton is a physical specimen, as a professional rugby player, he needs to start utilising his DNA gifts and add extra skill sets. Can Australian coaches teach that – I don’t know, does Swinton have the desire to add to his game – after the last two years from what I have seen no.