Rugby Confidential: Student strike gets Pocock’s support, part-timer set for Wallabies
Wallabies star David Pocock has become the first Australian athlete to back Friday’s controversial student climate strike.
Rugby
Don't miss out on the headlines from Rugby. Followed categories will be added to My News.
David Pocock has slammed greedy corporates and politicians while hailing the thousands of students who will walk out of classrooms on Friday for the climate strike march.
The Wallabies star, a fierce planet conservationist, is the first Australian athlete to voice support for the students, who have come under intense fire from politicians and media commentators.
“This school climate march is pretty exciting, for so long we’ve just ignored future generations and have very much built up wealth at the expense of the planet,” Pocock told Rugby Confidential.
“You’ve got a whole bunch of kids now who potentially won’t even be voting age before some fairly serious climate breakdown, if scientists are correct.
“So to see kids actually decide that they want a voice, and to organise something like this strike on Friday, I certainly think it’s exciting for democracy and Australia’s future.
“Hopefully our leaders take notice and take some action.
“We have to be making decisions with a long-term view, there’s no point having wealth and prosperity, and in a few decades time not having a liveable planet.
“That’s the challenge for younger generations, to push for that and create an environment where those hard decisions get made.
“I certainly don’t remember a school strike, that’s a real sign of young people standing up and getting involved.
“People are starting to realise we live on this incredible planet that is clearly finite, yet we’ve got this economy that seems to think we’ve got infinite resources.”
Pocock, who seems destined to have a political future ahead of him once his rugby career is finished – potentially by the end of this year due to persistent injury – has been engaging with several students recently about climate change.
“Young people have grown up in a country where politics has largely been irrelevant, there’s never been a poor economy or recession, so young people have taken that for granted in Australia, largely for white middle-class Australians,” Pocock said.
“Obviously if you’re Aboriginal or part of the Sudanese community, you know the impact that politics can have.
“But they’re learning all this stuff about climate change in school and asking, ‘What’s happening? Why aren’t our leaders acting?’”
*
WE’RE now six months away from the World Cup and the Wallabies still do not have an attack coach.
The latest word is that the position vacated by Stephen Larkham – who was moved on by head coach Michael Cheika and now has a new role within Rugby Australia – will be a part-time job for the World Cup.
The list of candidates is desperately thin; we’re struggling to find many who are equipped and available.
And it will represent the first test of relations between Cheika and his incoming boss Scott Johnson, who is sure to have a say on the matter.
Johnson will start his Wallabies job in two weeks, once Scotland’s Six Nations campaign ends.
It’s hardly ideal for the World Cup campaign that such a key member of the coaching staff has yet to join the ranks when most title contenders have had their systems in place for years.
That didn’t seem to bother players at the Wallabies camp earlier this week, who were addressed by former journalist and ‘I Quit Sugar’ author Sarah Wilson, who spoke to them about resilience, self-belief, doubts and solidarity.
The players also had a sailing race on Sydney Harbour and struggled to keep the yachts moving straight.
*
NOW that Amanaki Mafi is playing for the Sunwolves, mark April 6 on your calendars.
That is the date the Sunwolves play the Rebels in Melbourne, where several former teammates are keen to get their hands on Mafi.
You’ll recall that Mafi was charged with serious assault after allegedly bashing former teammate Lopeti Timani last season.
He’s pleaded not guilty in the Dunedin courts and his legal team is attempting to have the case delayed until after the World Cup so Mafi can play for Japan in the tournament.
Rebels players have not forgotten Mafi’s antics during his time at the club, including punching winger Marika Koroibete at a bar, and eagerly await his return to AAMI Park.
Mafi was initially banned from playing for his Japanese club NTT Shining Arcs after being charged and leaving the Rebels, but he has been named on the bench for the Sunwolves to play Queensland this Saturday, and is expected to be a major figure for Japan if he is legally cleared to play at the World Cup.
*
CONFUSION abounds for SANZAAR nations over the future of the game as world rugby officials held talks overnight in Dublin.
The proposed global 12-team Nations League is now in major doubt, with Six Nations participants set to favour a proposal by private equity firm CVC Capital Partners to buy a 30 per cent stake in the tournament and the November internationals that would net them $928 million.
That’s far more than what they’d get for participating in the Nations League in conjunction with southern hemisphere teams, and also eliminate the sticking point of a relegation system that is opposed by Ireland, Scotland and Italy.
The Nations League would deliver each country a predicted extra $18 million in broadcast revenue each year, but it is pointless if promotion is closed off for second-tier nations.
Cash-strapped southern nation officials are desperate for the Nations League to be approved, for their own finances and the growth of the game, but will be met with solid resistance from their northern counterparts.
That leaves the future of The Rugby Championship in doubt.
If the Nations League is indeed scrapped, don’t rule out the introduction of the United States, Japan or Fiji into a revamped TRC.
Super Rugby is being reviewed at the same time but as we revealed last week, the likelihood is that the Sunwolves will be axed and the tournament will return to 14 teams.
*
QUEENSLAND officials are keen on re-signing coach Brad Thorn for an extra two years, despite his woeful Super Rugby record.
Thorn has lost 13 of 19 games in his coaching career since taking over the Reds last season, a win rate of 31 per cent, and his cause won’t be helped by revelations that Queensland captain Samu Kerevi will leave at the end of the season.
Kerevi is off to Japanese rugby, news that is set to be confirmed at the end of the season.
Thorn’s hard line cultural stance saw him cast off Quade Cooper, Karmichael Hunt and James Slipper, and all three are now playing extremely well for Queensland’s rivals while the Reds continue to pay them a combined $366,000 in salaries this year.
QRU chairman David Hanham reckons the Reds will win the Super title within two years, and wants to secure Thorn for that monumental task.
*
AUSTRALIA’S two best clubs square off on Saturday when Sydney University takes on GPS Brisbane.
Shute Shield champions Uni will fancy themselves against Queensland premiers GPS at Ballymore, and the match will be shown live on Fox Sports (6.45pm).
Two earlier games will also be shown live; the second-placed challenge between Warringah Rats and University of Queensland, the losers of their respective grand finals (3pm), and the Super W match between Queensland and ACT (5pm).
Originally published as Rugby Confidential: Student strike gets Pocock’s support, part-timer set for Wallabies
Just outstanding! The young guns on fire in Waratahs v Reds U15 battle
It’s a taste of things to come, a critical showcase for rising stars of rugby and the annual battle between the NSW Waratahs and Queensland Reds under 15s did not disappoint. Stars, photos
Rugby history! Australia’s rare result on New Zealand soil ‘special’
Rugby’s U18s rising stars have done something few other Aussie teams have managed in recent times - completing a shock and awe mission across the ditch for two wins. Stars, result wrap