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Why new Rugby Australia chair Daniel Herbert needs to be quiet

Newly appointed Rugby Australia Chair Daniel Herbert poses for a portrait during a press conference at GPS Rugby Club on November 20, 2023 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)

I would encourage new Rugby Australia chairman Daniel Herbert to be quiet.

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Don’t air the organisation’s business in public. Don’t hire a national coach capable of going rogue. Don’t go seeking publicity and sugar-hits from raids on rugby league players.

Do the boring stuff. Grow your game, coach players to get better, support them at all times and cherish your competition and broadcast partners.

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I tend to mythologise the Wallaby teams of the last 1990s and early 2000s but, actually, for much of my life Australia has been an outstanding rugby nation.

I properly started watching test rugby in the 1980s. I well remember Australia’s series win over New Zealand in 1980, David Campese running rings around us at Athletic Park in 1982, Alan Jones coaching them to another series here in 1986, the world champion All Blacks surrendering their long unbeaten run at Athletic Park in 1990.

Their 1992 series win over the All Blacks was an absolute belter too.

Big forwards, skillful backs, there was so much to like about Wallaby rugby.

In the absence of apartheid South Africa, they were by far our greatest foes.

The Home Nations weren’t the forces they are now. France was always competitive, but there was a sense of shared endeavour in the way rugby was run in New Zealand in Australia.

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We each needed competition and each needed to grow and we largely did that together.

I won’t linger on the departure of Hamish McLennan as Rugby Australia chairman or the search to find a Wallaby coach to replace Eddie Jones.

Both men are gone and picking apart their tenures is of no benefit to anyone. We need Australia now as much as we’ve ever done.

It’s not for New Zealand to hold the whip hand in the trans-Tasman rugby relationship. It’s not for us to tell them how to run their game or even to criticise the capability of their Super Rugby clubs.

If Australia isn’t good at test and franchise level, we won’t be good either. We’re not big enough to go it alone. If there was a market for an elite domestic competition here, we’d have it by now.

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If we have designs on winning Rugby World Cups again, then we have to ensure our strongest competition comes from Australia.

It’s not a time to be at loggerheads or resorting to the foghorn diplomacy, of which McLennan was fond. We need collaboration.

So let’s have more competition and a greater sharing of ideas. Schools rugby, club rugby, provincial rugby – let’s play each other at as many levels as we’re able.

Rugby in Australia loses players to other codes in a way we don’t really have here.

Well, clear pathways to high performance – that include regular competition with your New Zealand counterparts – might keep more future Wallabies in the game.

If I was running rugby in Australia and New Zealand, I’d want a strategic partnership at all levels of our game. I’d want to attract people to rugby and work hard to keep them via a shared pathway.

The All Blacks and Wallabies will largely take care of themselves in the short term but, if we want sustained success on the world stage, we have to work together.

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Comments

18 Comments
B
Bob Marler 471 days ago

Yes! Daniel Herbert must STFU!

Who is Daniel Herbert?

j
john 481 days ago

A few less kiwi coaches in Australia undermining us would help.

All they have done is dragged us down.

NZ coaches in Australia have tried to ensure NZ teams have been playing against Australian teams who are copies of NZ teams, making it easy for them. Instead of coming up against some Aussie innovation and brains. It’s been deliberate.

Do us a favour will ya and bugger off.

B
Bruce 481 days ago

Hamish I largely disagree with everything you say but with this article you have hit the nail on the head. Rugby is strong when there are as many international side performing as possible.
While you would say that the international game has never been stronger arguably 2 nations (England and Australia) could pick their game up and make it more competitive,(not to mention Wales and Scotland).
I strongly believe that if there is a close relationship between NZ and Aus that they have the players to get back to the top. They weren’t that far away last year, it was only the brain dead idea to get rid of Rennie that undermined them at the World Cup. Here’s hoping that there can be stability over in OZ and they can get their house in order.

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Amelia Jonathan 3 hours ago
Don't get out over your skis on the Highlanders

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JW 5 hours ago
Crusaders vs Force takes: Let's talk about Sevu Reece, forgotten All Black returns

I think Reece has bulked up too much and now doesn’t have the pace to perform to his previously high standards. He’s making himself less of a winger but I’m not really sure he’s filling another role succinctly either. I think criticism at the AB level has seen him try to redevelop his game, I’m really not sure he can be continued to be used at the highest level. Definitely becoming the wing version Richie Mo’unga is possible (if not already attained) at Super Rugby level however. I loved watching him play when he first broke through.

The Force are undeniably much improved this season, but it’s going to take some reps to prove to themselves that they really can hang with the big dogs.

Yeah they’re still well off in the quality personal front.

It was the 21-year-old’s first appearance of the season, and he certainly made the most of it, with 13 carries accounting for 50 running metres – each of them passing by in a blur as Springer made his may to the try line time and time again.

Will Jordan was playmaking superbly to assist the youngster’s points tally, but it was all individual brilliance in the 53rd minute when Springer tiptoed down the sideline before collecting his own chip kick and outpacing the final two defenders to score under the posts.

After pre-season I said that I wanted Springer to cement the starting jersey, and that (well I’ve not no idea exactly which sides they play) another new wing recruit, Kunawave, would replace Reece as the Fijian Flyer in the team by season end. Reece might be making that tough, but unfortunately it looks like there wasn’t a full squad spot for the young fella and he has since made his AB7s debut instead. Watch this space though as he and Saifoloi look to have the X factor👍


That Jordan pass to Springer aside it was otherwise a very lackluster game for him as he looks to be struggling with processing his option taking in this new style he’s trying. Still have to think a man of that talent and ingenuity is going to make it click sooner or later though!

t’s a congested position, and after Ennor shot down talk of him being swept up by a Top 14 outfit this week, it looks as if the Crusaders have some selection headaches to solve in the coming weeks.

That’s great news. I can’t remember if it was because he actually made his return in pre-season or not but for some reason I was liking how Ennor looked like he might be providing the right options for Saders and even ABs when back. Very pleased to see him fit straight in though there was plenty of space on offer but he almost looked as if he was more dangerous with no space. Could be the long looked for option at 13?

11 Go to comments
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