Time to turn the worm

February 15, 2008

This season is make or break for the game, and the Waratahs, writes Greg Growden.

The message was brutal. John O'Neill sat in the Tom Richards Room, which doubles as the Australian Rugby Union's boardroom at its St Leonards headquarters, and unloaded.

Over the next hour, O'Neill insisted the game had become boring and revealed the ARU could recently have gone broke. Despite $7 million in grants from the International Rugby Board, an ARU loss of $7m to $8m still looms. O'Neill's message was that participation numbers are a bit iffy, increasing only in the area of the occasional social participant.

Spectator interest had fallen away. The rugby laws were turning too many off. And the Wallabies culture needed a shake-up.

For all the wrong reasons, rugby union was back on the front page. Then several days later came the devastating announcement that the Federal Government had taken $25m off the game, meaning the end for a proposed National Rugby Academy in Ballymore. Suddenly financial concerns confront all four provinces.

Only five years after Australia staged the most successful World Cup tournament, and just nine since they were crowned the world's best, rugby's heartland is looking decidedly shaky.

It isn't quite as bad as the grim, early 1950s, when the cash-strapped ARU contemplated cancelling tours to New Zealand and called on the Fijians to travel around Australia to save them. But it is still pretty grim.

As always, O'Neill was looking to bounce back. At a Super 14 launch last week in Sydney, his message was that this was the year to "relight and reignite rugby". Sporting bodies like to use sexy catchphrases, which usually lack substance. But the theme of this year's Super 14 could not be more direct. It means what it says.
This is the season when Australian rugby really does have to reignite itself and get back on track. Otherwise, it will find itself getting further behind the other three football codes, which vie for the corporate, sponsorship and spectator dollar. Despite the naive comments of certain northern hemisphere commentators who do not understand the local market and argue that rugby should not worry about Australian football and rugby league, the truth is they must.

The confusing laws and defensive approach of so many international teams (and, yes, the Wallabies have been guilty as well - just remember the Wales Test in Brisbane last June) are strangling the game, prompting many diehards to walk away and seek better sporting entertainment. You cannot blame them, especially considering the high admission price for any rugby game.


But the drop in spectator numbers hits the local union hard, in particular the four provinces, which rely on home gates to fund their many operations. Yet Australian rugby could be saved by the same tournament that revitalised the southern hemisphere game a decade ago. Super rugby is going through a sluggish period, but should be revived this season with several new laws, which will open up the game and make it faster.

More attacking space at scrums, penalties turned into free kicks and greater scope for counterattacks should encourage teams to be more adventurous. With the pace quickening, the fatigue factor will be even more important - as it should be.

But for Australian rugby to revive, the easiest solution is for the Brumbies, Waratahs, Force and Reds to improve - and dramatically. There is nothing more intoxicating than winning and nowhere is victory more important than in Sydney. Despite the mumblings of the other provinces, NSW is the centre of Australian rugby and continues to produce the bulk of the players, but the Waratahs have failed to meet Super expectations. They have only occasionally threatened at finals time and then it all went wrong last year, when the standards dropped alarmingly as they finished second-last, with just three victories and a draw from 13 games.

If that continues this year, the NSW Rugby Union, which several years ago was facing bankruptcy until baled out by the ARU, will be stretched again. That's why it is a crucial year for coach Ewen McKenzie.

Already the whispers are getting louder that McKenzie's fifth year as NSW coach could be his last, with survival hinging on the Waratahs making the semi-finals.
It's debatable if that will happen, especially with doubts about the NSW back line, in particular the lack of experienced leaders, and uncertainty over who will be the goalkicker. Improvement is inevitable, but whether there will be enough to see certain major figures within the team remain is uncertain. Relight and Reignite is the motto at Waratahland. If it doesn't happen, the ramifications will be severe.


HERALD EXPERTS' TIPS
Greg Growden 6th. Rupert Guinness 3rd. Phil Wilkins 6th. Spiro Zavos 4th. Last year: 13th


THE SQUAD: Ben Batger, Alastair Baxter, Luke Burgess, Matt Carraro, David Dennis, Kurtley Beale, Will Caldwell, Tom Carter, Matt Dunning, Rocky Elsom, Adam Freier, Daniel Halangahu, Ben Hand, Sam Harris, Ben Jacobs, Sekope Kepu, David Lyons, Alfi Mafi, Dean Mumm, Ben Mowen, Sam Norton-Knight, Wycliff Palu, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Beau Robinson, Benn Robinson, Brett Sheehan, Timana Tahu, Jeremy Tilse, Lote Tuqiri, Lachlan Turner, Josh Valentine, Daniel Vickerman, Phil Waugh.