These last few weeks have been strange. On the field the rugby has been pretty damn exciting. The Reds are on a roll and the Force, while not quite getting the wins, are right there with the best teams in the comp, just lacking that killer one-two combo to get them over the line.
The last couple of Waratahs games have been difficult to watch but you can’t fault the effort and the results have come. The Rebels continue to frustrate; there is the talent there without a doubt. The Brumbies are just MIA this season; there is too much quality there for this team to be languishing in 12th place.
Off the field, however, I have been reading about some things that have just been a farce. Were I still at one of the Super 14 provinces I may see things differently; however, sometimes to see things clearly you have to be on the outside looking in.
Farce 1: The first situation with Danny Cipriani
This guy is talent personified. He can do it all and that includes tackle. I’ve seen him defend very well in this hemisphere, where it is slower and more physical; it is not guts that he lacks. He can play!! Watching his games there is no doubt that he has been struggling a little in defence with the extra class of backs that run around in the Super comp. Since his axing the Rebels certainly have not fared any better in the tries-against column and they are certainly missing his attacking qualities.
For those not aware, from what we have been told it went as follows: after the Waratahs loss the team decided that no players were to go out after the game. Danny disobeyed this, went out and returned late. Consequently he was stood down by the Players Standards Group for the following game against Queensland. He also went out the following night and missed training. The team and coaches then decided he would be left out of the South African tour group for these combined offences. Next time you’re near a bus be careful: Danny Cipriani might still be caught in the metaphorical wheels where he was thrown by the Rebels.
First, the idea of a Players Standards group is outdated and ridiculous. This is where I get the benefit of being on the outside looking in. When I was involved in the Australian system I was all for such groups; I probably actually wanted to be picked in one. Now, from the outside, I can think of nothing more harmful than having the guys who are meant to be your brothers-in-arms dealing out the justice. What a great way to make a guy who already is obviously struggling to fit in feel like he can never be one of the boys, never be accepted or taken seriously.
I have no problem with the punishment. But the idea that the guys he stood side-by-side with in battle are the same ones going behind closed doors to exclude him from the team? That can’t be the best way. If and when he is reinstated into the team, how can he or they feel like the have each other’s backs? How can they be ready to put their bodies in places where they will be hurt in order to keep the opposition out? You have to want to do those things for your teammates. I can’t see how that can be possible ever again. There is a reason the army sends soldiers to a court martial and doesn’t let the regiment dish out its own justice.
Second, the Australian teams do great work with the assistance of the Rugby Union Players Association (RUPA) in preparing players for life after rugby through various education programs. No course, however, can teach you to act like an adult. If these guys are being constantly mothered and told when they can or can’t exercise their right to a social life then they may as well go back to high school and stay there.
I know after a night game I can’t sleep till the wee hours of the morning. There is still too much adrenalin and energy in the system. The Rebels played a night game in Sydney. After the match, the massages, the warm-down, the showers and the bite to eat with the opposition team and sponsors, it must have been midnight before Danny and Richard Kingi even looked like getting out the door of the hotel. So if they went for three hours and a few beers and then caught a cab home, they would have made it back by say 4:00am. Which, when you break it down like that, is not at all bad.
Now whether that is how it all went down, I don’t know. If that sort of thing were allowed, instead of ordered against, Danny would still have been a part of the team the following week. It his responsibility to present 100 per cent at the next training session; if he does not then the coaches and management make the call — not his teammates. This is more to highlight that these guys are adults and need to be treated as such. This team directive he disobeyed (which incidentally never is decided by the whole team, generally just the senior guys) does not allow for this. When Danny’s career is over there will be no such directive from his next bosses. You can’t teach or force maturity.
Had things happened this way, maybe Danny wouldn’t have had his second night out; maybe he wouldn’t have missed the training session. However, as it stands the punishment fit the crime. Missing training is a cardinal sin and the ultimate way to let your team down. I am no way saying Danny had no fault in this situation; I’m just saying that the way it was handled by everyone contributed to the unhappy outcome.
I honestly believe that the Rebels have to bring this guy in and give him all the support he needs. They have a responsibility to do this. If he hasn’t been receptive the first few times, try again and keep trying till his contract is up. Queensland had the chance to kick Quade Cooper to the curb following his Gold Coast incident, but they stuck by him. The players, his brothers on the field, stood behind him and he has become a magnificent player, representative of rugby and person.
Farce 2: the Waratahs Fan Forum
Wasn’t this basically a chance for angry fans to get up and say why aren’t you doing this, that or the other? Then it was unnecessary, and purely a media management exercise. The Waratahs know the people aren’t happy. The attendances reflect this. I wasn’t at the forum so I can only go on what was said in the papers. Reading that a former Wallaby (from 1957) said the Waratahs are ‘in the entertainment business’ drew a line in the sand for me.
What a crock of shit!! Bono is in the entertainment business, as are Lady Gaga and Brad Pitt. A bunch of guys putting their very health on the line with every collision are not entertainers. They are rugby players. The second a player makes a decision on the field because it is the more entertaining option is the day this game becomes nothing more than a Harlem Globetrotters-style spectacle. If the result doesn’t matter why do we keep score? The Reds don’t play how they do for entertainment — they play to their strengths. They just happen to be strengths that are great to watch.
I’ve written before how people at games are no longer just ‘supporters’, they are fans paying for entertainment. It’s a sad and tragic thing and I wish I knew how to turn it round. Giving teams their identities back and giving players their personalities back might be one way of doing it. I can’t stand the company line of ‘it’s just another game’ when talking local derbies. I hate that it is ‘Waratahs v. Reds’ rather than ‘NSW v. Queensland’. I can’t wait for some true hardhead to step up and say ‘we hate these guys for the next 80 minutes and I’ll be looking to bash anyone who crosses my path, just to win this game’.
A loaded fan forum where the whole aim is sprout negativity can’t be the way to make us remember why we all fell in love with the game, our team and its colours in first place.
Farce 3: Josh Holmes benching it at Warringah (till the phone call)
Last week in club rugby the reserve halfbacks of the Waratahs went back for some much-needed game time. Luke Burgess has been in good form and minutes have been hard to come by for them. But the way this was approached showed the Waratahs are an organisation in fear.
Luke Holmes, currently number 3 halfback at the Waratahs, was ordered by Waratahs management to sit on the bench for Warringah, the team he captains. Meanwhile, the Tahs’ number 2 scrummie, Brendan McKibbon, was on the field for Easts for the first half of their game. Holmes was allowed to enter the fray for the Rats only once a phone call had been made from Easts confirming McKibb0n had come off at half-time uninjured.
Fear breeds fear in an organisation and last I looked, players need to play and enjoy playing. Let them. What a slap in the face to the two clubs — at opposite ends of the points table — who would have loved to have both players out there from the start and as long as their legs would carry them into the game.
Still, a lot of good does happen in our game. All the time! It’s why there is so much support for a site like G&GR; it’s why we all want things to be better. Because we all love this game, at the end of the day.
I miss being involved in the Super competition. It’s a pity there isn’t as much interest going back towards the Super 15 from Europe as there is coming out of Australia toward the game here. Looking on from the outside has certainly opened my eyes.
Cam plays for Bordeaux Begles against Albi in the final of the Rugby Pro D2 competition this Sunday 3.15pm French Time (23.15 AEST). You can find a link to watch it here. Good luck Cam from all at G&GR!
