As the Wallabies prepare for Argentina, Wednesday’s Rugby News sees rugby greats call for change, the “Izzy Law” is introduced, the Wallabies brush off any altitude worry and Fiji look to the Drua and the NRC as the catalyst for their World Cup campaign
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Papworth, Jones lead Clarion Call on the Castle
Tony Kirwan once said, “We only have two choices – do something or do nothing.” With Australian rugby on the decline, it seems that a consortium of disgruntled Australian rugby greats is planning on choosing the first option.
Former Wallaby Brett Papworth has been appointed as the “acting co-ordinator” of a ‘steering committee’ that includes other members of the “old men yells at Wallaby cloud” club such as Alan Jones, Bob Dwyer, Dilip Kumar, Dick Marks, Peter Maxwell and Russell Tulloch.
Papworth has outlined their concerns and visions in a 2613 word essay sent out to 850 rugby clubs across the country in which they criticise the lack of direction and rugby knowledge within the current governance of the game.
The letter discusses their issues within the game in a fair amount of detail, outlining what Papworth views as a harmful disconnect between Rugby Australia and the game’s grassroots, and seeks the support of clubs to form a new association with a strong advocacy role whose options will be endless.
“This is a call for action; not action from a few whose influence would be limited, but from the entire grassroots of the game of rugby in Australia,” Papworth writes. “The influence generated from such action could be the catalyst for the unequivocal change that is needed.”
The Committee’s solution is the creation of a system that will remove the lack of bureaucrats who do not have the specialised knowledge within rugby to run the game and provide the grassroots with a greater voice.
“Rugby needs directors from a rugby background that, preferably, qualifies them to immediately go straight to an international forum if they need to and to command respect.”
The Committee claims to have the backing of the RUPA and quoted its president Damien Fitzpatrick as being “supportive of any mechanism for the Clubs to consolidate a consensus view”, which has been strongly denied with the claims being classified as a complete blindside by Papworth.
“The single-sentence quote attributed to RUPA President Damien Fitzpatrick comes from a private email between himself and Dick Marks in February. It is taken completely out of context, and nowhere in that email has RUPA endorsed the formation of an Australian Rugby Clubs Association.” a RUPA spokesperson said today.
Whilst it makes some great points about trying to give grassroots a greater voice, it has a slight reek of disgruntled ex-players trying to work their way back into the rugby fold and fails to include any discussion around Women’s rugby or rugby in Victoria.
Check out the letter as it covers a number of other avenues and tell us if you think there onto a winner here.
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Izzy ready to fly again
The introduction of an “Izzy Law” has come as a win for common sense, which has been well received by Wallabies ahead of their must-win clash against Argentina.
After their worldwind visit to Sydney, World Rugby have announced an amendment to the law whereby the onus when lifting a player up in the air would now be put on the person lifting the teammate to bring him or her down safely to the ground, rather than the contesting playing.
This comes in response to the ridiculous yellow carding of Israel Folau after coming in contact with Ireland’s Peter O’Mahony in an aerial contest during the 3rd test which saw the star suspended for a week.
The star fullback/winger has not appeared to be unsettled by the suspension, however, this change will provide further confidence for himself and the Wallabies to attack the ball in the air, along with ensuring that the art of the aerial contest would not go extinct, as Daryl Gibson predicted it would after the incident.
“I think that’s great, we can’t be stopping people from contesting,” said Wallabies fullback Dane Haylett-Petty. “It’s a sport where you try and make everything a contest and especially for us having Izzy, who’s the world’s best in the air, it’s definitely an area of the game that we want to contest.
During the South African match, there was a clear ploy to kick the ball in midfield for Folau and Dane Haylett Petty and whilst it was unsuccessful, it would be wise to assume that this is going to be a significant part of the Australian gameplan against the Pumas.
We’re definitely working on having variation and that part of our game is coming along,” Haylett-Petty said. “(Against South Africa) we got some great outcomes from competing in the air but we do have great kickers that are able to kick anywhere … it’s a work in progress at the moment and we’re not quite there yet.”
Haylett-Petty has been solid for the Wallabies since transferring back to his preferred position of fullback despite a couple of errors and was relishing the opportunity to play there and have Folau outside him on the wing.
“I definitely enjoy playing back there,” Haylett-Petty said. “It’s not a huge shift for us, obviously we’ve both played at the back together there. Izzy obviously is world class wherever you put him and he showed how capable he was last time we played against Argentina with an amazing solo effort.”
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Wallabies have heads in the sky about Salta
Speaking on the Wallabies, they will have to deal with much more than the Pumas when they face off in their bottom of the table clash on Sunday. The match is set to be played at Estadio Padre Ernesto Martearena in the city of Salta, located just under 3,800 feet above sea level in the foot of the Andes.
This is a huge concern for the Wallabies with one of the key criticisms around the side this year being the lack of fitness which will be put firmly under the microscope in the lung sapping conditions.
Despite the altitude, it seems that it has not been a huge concern for the side, with inside centre Matt Toomua blissfully unaware of the altitude change as the side is set to prepare at the sea level capital of Buenos Aires, before flying to Salta later in the week.
“I actually didn’t know Salta was at altitude,” Matt Toomua said when asked by reporters how he would cope with the thin air. “I still don’t know if you’re having me on.”
When ensured that this was indeed not a good old fashion classic stitch up, Tommua noted the importance of the side finding that second wind for the side to cope with the inevitable fatigue.
“You probably can manage breaks a bit better if you feel guys are getting a bit spent, either using the kicking game or taking some unofficial timeouts just to get that second wind,” Toomua said. “It’s definitely a case of fighting through that and getting that second wind because it does come.”
The Argentinians have gone with a novel approach to deal with the altitude with coach Mario Ledesma planning to spend the entire week in Salta, and with recent results at the ground indicating a high scoring match, the Pumas will hope to run the Australians off their feet late in the game.
It’s a bold move Cotton, let’s see if it pays off. I’m not sure if Cheika is trying to get the side away from the pressure but it is an odd move to not fully prepare in the altitude. Hopefully, the sides’ past experience playing in similar conditions in South Africa can help the side to a much-needed win.
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Fiji back Drua to boost their World Cup hopes
Fiji hope that the top of the table Drua can use the NRC as a boosting block for their hopes for a successful Rugby World Cup campaign. This is the view of Fiji coach John Mckee who is excited by the Drua’s red-hot form which sees the side record 4 wins and 1 loss as they average over 42 points a game.
Whilst the Drua side is primarily made up from players from the amateur ranks from the island, McKee has become increasingly reliant on calling up Drua players for international duty, singling out Frank Lomani and star playmaker Alevereti Veitokani as major contributors to the flying Fijians World Cup campaign.
“There has been quite a lag for our locally based players between playing domestic rugby and playing at international level, who probably don’t get enough competition playing at the higher levels of the game,” McKee said.
“But having that Drua campaign over eight to ten weeks, and having the players in a more high performance environment, we will really develop our best young players on the island.”
The development of their pathways has been clear to see this week when their Schoolboys team defeated a New Zealand Barbarians side 15-0 and they are hoping that this development leads to the distinction between their home grown and European talent being removed through inclusion in the revamped Super Rugby competition.
Though there is no determination yet on what Super Rugby will look like from 2021, discussions have been held about the feasibility of including a Pacific Islands team; including the best of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.
“For me, from my perspective as Fiji coach, I think that would be a great thing, to have some of the best Pacific players maybe not playing in Europe but playing in a Super Rugby team.
“It would be great for not just the Super Rugby competition, I think it would be great for Australian rugby because a team like that can generate a lot of interest in Australia. There is quite a level of Pacific populations in Australia so it could boost the interest in Super Rugby here.”
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