When are we going to address the crisis of not being able to play in rain?

[grievous]

First against the Scots (its been seen as an Achilles heal by the UK, NZ for decades now) and now the u20 side go down to Arg saying they didnt factor for the weather enough. So now its confirmed the future of Oz rugby have no clue how to catch and pass in the rain.
Yes, a winter sport OK so Sydney and Brisbane can have dry winters from time to time, many training sessions were closed last year by councils because of rain for my club, IT DOES RAIN IN THOSE CITIES.
SA play on the dry high veld, dont seem to suffer, in fact their game suits wet weather conditions, likewise Arg who you wouldnt say have a nth europe climate.
The PI teams seem to manage with the cold when they come to the UK/Europe
And of course teams from colder climates have to play in hotter weather our way.
It seems to be a without saying advantage every time its wet, we dont seem to have any game plan to play in it, we get cold...boo hooo....how bloody soft are our teams these days?
We definately need some intelligence in our national teams that is lacking now not too mention some HTFU.

 

[RugbyReg]

tomorrow

 

[grievous]

we will only play indoors?

 

[nugget]

I blame the junior clubs. It starts there. They are so precious about their fields getting damaged they call off games after two drops of rain. Our kids just don't get to play in the rain ever, it's bullshit.

 

[HG]

When we get a coach that can select the right team. And they do away with some of the dead wood at ARU HQ.

 

[Groucho]

This is a good thread. While we endlessly wring our hands about transient weaknesses such as the players and the coach, we tend to ignore some major weaknesses that persist through all coaches and players, and our inability to play in poor conditions is one of them.

It seems anyone can beat us when it rains, and when it rains really heavily, we can't win.

As tempting as it may be to believe otherwise, Robbie Deans didn't do it: it's been true since I started following rugby in the 70s.

 

[Paradox]

why the hell is Nucifora still coaching the u20 side?

 

[Bardon]

I think it's absolutely ridiculous that the safety brigade don't let your Aus kids play in the rain. As for parents if they don't want their kids playing in the rain and the muck then they should consider signing them up for indoor activities instead.

Maybe sending school teams to tour the NH during our winter or even spring would be a bit of help too.

 

[AngrySeahorse]

I blame the junior clubs. It starts there. They are so precious about their fields getting damaged they call off games after two drops of rain. Our kids just don't get to play in the rain ever, it's bullshit.

I agree but where I'm from it's mainly the councils & sporting organisations (like for Newcastle Uni we have NuSport - i.e. they, not the council or the club itself, dictate whether the grounds are played on in wet weather) who dictate whether a ground is playable or not given the weather.

Even as a person who sprints & loves a dry track to take advantage of my speed - I really enjoy playing in the wet & if there is mud then even better. I think kids & senior players alike get robbed of being able to play wet weather Rugby more often so that they can actually come to enjoy it.

 

[Bardon]

Wet weather rugby would also enhance Australia's tactical/territory kicking game to give additional options even on a dry pitch.

 

[Cardiffblue]

Insist on playing indoors whenever possible - Oh forgot- you do!

 

[Groucho]

I think it's absolutely ridiculous that the safety brigade don't let your Aus kids play in the rain. As for parents if they don't want their kids playing in the rain and the muck then they should consider signing them up for indoor activities instead.

Maybe sending school teams to tour the NH during our winter or even spring would be a bit of help too.

It would indeed be ridiculous if it were so, but it isn't. There's no safety constraint on kids playing in the rain, only ground constraints, and only on certain grounds in certain conditions, in order to protect the playing surface. It's a problem on multi-sport pitches in many countries.

This may seem painfully obvious, but the main problem with players getting sufficient wet weather in Australia is that we don't have enough wet weather.

 

[grievous]

It would indeed be ridiculous if it were so, but it isn't. There's no safety constraint on kids playing in the rain, only ground constraints, and only on certain grounds in certain conditions, in order to protect the playing surface. It's a problem on multi-sport pitches in many countries.

This may seem painfully obvious, but the main problem with players getting sufficient wet weather in Australia is that we don't have enough wet weather.

I think we get plenty Grouch, especially to prepare a weather game for our national side.Look at Manly last week, a quagmire, Uni is for at least have the season
The GPS schools have their own grounds that councils dont close, what are they doing?
I think we just ignore it at the top level and we must to close to losing 8 or so games like tuesday's if you go back 10 years. Thats quite a lot and against the same teams

 

[ChargerWA]

I have the solution.

There is a 7's tournament which helps identify and develop talented players who make their way into the backlines of the 15 man game.

Australia should invent and begin a Rugby 9's tournament. Numbers 1 to 9 only with the 9 only utilised to feed scrums and pass the ball from the base of the scrum to pods of forward runners. Bring the sidelines in 10 metres and create a generation of pick and drive, maul loving bigmen to feed our forward packs.

 

[Sully]

IT's not the clubs that put the games off it's the local Councils! they don't want to spend the money on ground repairs.

 

[Karl]

I dont see the issue.

 

[AngrySeahorse]

Drizabone & bare feet I love it.

 

[Gnostic]

Blame Tim Flannery, he told us it wouldn't rain any more so we didn't bother training for it.

 

[Redsfan]

Just to play devil's advocate, it is kind of understandable that grounds staff don't allow juniors to play in the rain. I'm sure TG Milner will be ripped up after the under 15s state champs (for which it rains every fucking year), and then you have a rock-hard dirt patch for the rest of the season, which produces far more safety concerns than playing in the wet.

Who cares anyway? It pretty much never rains.

 

[Redsfan]

I do recall reading an article about the grand final preparation for Melbourne Storm a few years back. It was forecast for rain, so apparently Cronk and Smith stayed back after training a few times, dipping the balls in an esky full of vegetable oil and practicing passing.