Ah the "Running game". The Reds didn't write that playbook. They are just the latest in a long line of "pretenders" to the running rugby crown. At least it stops the Brumbies from claiming the tag.
From the venerable source, Wikipedia:
"The most famous Waratah team was the 1927/28 Waratahs who toured the United Kingdom, France and North America, introducing a style of open, running rugby never seen before, but which has been the stamp of the Australian game ever since."
Just ask Mark Ella -- or any Randwick fan -- who invented the "running game".
I'm not sure that Mark would have much knowledge of what happened more than 80 years ago.
And the answer implicit in your question, zeedok, is not necessarily correct.
A.C. "Johnnie" Wallace "was captain and coach of the Waratahs on their groundbreaking tour to Europe in 1927-28 and is considered a founding father of running Rugby."
"... a trip on which they developed a 15-man running game that became the template for Wallabies teams into the future and had European critics in raptures."
"Before the tour, Wallace had asked the Australian selectors to put skill ahead of size in their thoughts when choosing the forwards contingent.
"'Give me a man with skill, pace and pluck rather than a bonehead,' he told the selectors.
"They did, and the Waratahs ran through Europe, losing only five of the 37 matches they played." (
ARU website)
According to Jack Pollard's book,
Australian Rugby, Wallace was "an incomparable tactician who had a marked influence on running rugby in Scotland and Australia, and had notable success as a coach after he retired."
Wallace played for Sydney University from 1920 to 1922, Oxford University and Scotland from 1923 to 1925,before joining Glebe-Balmain in 1926. Interestingly only three of the 26 Original Waratahs of 1927-28 came from Randwick - A.J.A. Bowers, C.H.T.Towers and P.B. Judd.