Wednesday’s Rugby News has a super meeting in Adelaide, a possible government intervention in the ARU, a positive Mick Byrne and the ABs’ thoughts on the WBs’ defence.
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Adelaide the Peacemaker
ARU officials met with chief Force agitator Twiggy Forrest in Adelaide yesterday, and had a meeting of sorts.
The big news is that the ARU have rejected a bid from Forrest to keep the Force in Super Rugby, supposedly around the $50m mark. While the Force have been kicked out of Super, it’s sort of secondary to the fact that the ARU are even more screwed as a 15-team comp has been agreed to by the 4 Sanzaar nations and the 18 Super broadcasters for next year.
However, it appears that some good did come out of the meeting, with the ARU seemingly backing Forrest’s idea of a new rugby comp.
“The ARU committed to working with the Western Force … to develop a new international competition,” Forrest said in a statement (via rugby.com.au)
“This will be based in Western Australia, with a focus firmly on the Indo Pacific region and a time zone that WA shares.
“This is a region containing 60 per cent of the world’s population, which has a burgeoning appetite for participation in international sport.
“This commitment was made regardless of the outcome of the appeal hearings in the Supreme Court.”
The ARU, through chairman Cameron Clyne, said a lot of things in a parallel statement, one of which was the following:
“We were asked about the possibilities of retaining the Western Force in a 16-team Super Rugby competition, however a 16-team competition was eliminated by SANZAAR during its review process based on a number of factors,” said Clyne.
“These factors included the extensive cost and limited appeal of a 16-team round-robin competition, player welfare issues due to extra travel requirements, and the loss of popular home and away ‘derbies’ in each country.
“Our decision to discontinue the Western Force Super Rugby licence is subject to appeal and we await the outcome of this process before making any further comment on the matter.”
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We Need Jerry Springer
The Australian is reporting that Western Australia Liberal senator Linda Reynolds may call for a Senate inquiry into the running of Australian rugby and the ARU.
“There are serious questions that need to be answered on how the ARU came to this decision and I believe a Senate inquiry can bring much-needed transparency to the process, ” Reynolds told the Australian.
“When someone as well respected as former ARU board member [and GAGR friend] Geoffrey Stooke OAM resigns and publicly states ARU processes ‘lacked integrity and due diligence’, it is time to act.’’
Reynolds was also upset that no ARU officials rocked up to the Save the Force rally on Sunday (well to be fair, would any ARU official leave without getting tomatoes thrown at them?).
“Therefore, I will be calling for the first public inquiry hearing to be conducted in Perth, so that those most impacted by their decision can hear first-hand the reasons why,” she said.
“If the ARU has nothing to hide, they have nothing to fear from Senate and public scrutiny of their decision making processes.”
Sports Minister Greg Hunt may also support the effort.
“We have an overwhelming preference for five Australian teams as part of the Super Rugby competition,” Hunt said.
“Any external review that charted a path to this outcome would be welcome.”
“The loss of a team for any state is devastating for both players and supporters. I would urge the ARU to work with the Force and the WA Government to look for a five team solution. I have now raised the issue with the ARU.”
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Patience My Love
Wallabies skills coach Mick Byrne is asking for patience as he slowly teaches the Wallabies how to catch and pass a ball.
Byrne used to be the ABs coach, and started around 2005, 2 years before *that* 2007 RWC Rainbow Warrior classic between France and NZ.
“If you go back, 2007 wasn’t a flash year for us trying to get things right,” Byrne said, according to ESPN. “But certainly when it clicks into gear, it happens, and when you turn the corner, you turn it pretty quickly.
“The key is perseverance and these boys’ energy to do that has been tremendous.”
The Waratahs were criticised for chatting about how well they’d done in training earlier this year, but Byrne echoes their sentiments.
“What we know, and it’s been no different in any environment I’ve been in, we see the improvement on the training field before it transfers to the game,” he said. “If we not seeing on it the training field, that’s when I get frustrated or start questioning what we are doing. But we are seeing huge improvements there and it’s going to be persistence that will start to transfer it out into the game.”
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ABs Attack Coach
The All Blacks’ attack coach has offered his insight into why the Wallabies were so torn apart. Are these following quotes part of a mad mindgame strategy, or are they so bleeding obvious and the Wallabies’ so inept at positive change that it really doesn’t matter?
“We weren’t surprised,” Foster said, according to the SMH. “They have been [hiding their 10] for a couple of years where they position the 10 in different positions. And I guess when they have got both Foley and Beale on the park, they are more inclined to put them elsewhere than the traditional roles.
“So they have been consistent with that for a couple of years, to be fair. We kind of expected to see what we saw in the midfield. Will they change it? I am not sure.
“I am not sure it is the structural issues that I hear them talking about, it is more of an individual tackle thing,” Foster continued. “We will see [if the Wallabies improve].”
It seems like Wallabies D is different at every set piece. Constant swapping of positions depending upon field position. Can’t fathom it.
— Laurie Fisher (@LordLaurie58) August 19, 2017
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