Brendan Cannon: ARU to blame for Aussie Super Rugby sides’ soft losses to New Zealand rivals

CLUTCHING at positives from Kiwi defeats shows Australian rugby is growing soft. The problem comes from absent ARU leadership, writes Brendan Cannon.

IT IRKS me when players and coaches walk off the field after a loss and instantly rattle off the positives.

Pardon me? It was a loss. You lost. How about we own the negatives first?

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Last weekend Australian teams lost another clean sweep to Kiwi teams and I heard a lot of noise about “coming close” and “character” and not being far off.

Western Force players have been left in limbo. Picture: AAP

Have we adopted a mentality of near enough is good enough?

If we get close to beating a Kiwi team, how is that deemed to be a positive outcome?

When a coach talks about being happy his team got to a position where they could have won, to the players it might feel nice. It is supportive.

But rugby isn’t nice. It is a brutal sport. You need an angry edge.

Those positives and that support has nothing but softness around it.

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We need a sharp-edge attitude where coaches and captains say: “that wasn’t good enough. We got close but we are not where we need to be”.

Rugby is about winning so until you get to that point, you’re failing. Honesty is the first step towards success.

We all know when politicians are giving you the spin. So we want a coach to be brutally honest about these absent performances that are continuing week-in, week-out in Australian rugby.

We can’t have gone from one of the leading rugby nations in the world to having this inferiority complex, where we accept “almost” and can’t be honest about things.

Reds coach Nick Stiles hates losing. Picture: Getty Images

Nick Stiles is probably the exception at the Reds — he hates the notion of gallant losses — but there is far too much sugar coating in Australian rugby. Everyone wants to search for positives and let the players down gently.

You know who benefits from that? Not our players.

Rivals benefit. Hearing near-enough-good-enough talk from our shores, they know in the last 10 minutes Aussie sides have it in them to just be satisfied with coming close.

Losing a game but showing good character doesn’t get marked down with asterisk. In the record books, it’s just another loss.

The Waratahs have been consistently inconsistent. Picture: Getty Images

That’s the massive danger with adopting a concessional position

Taking a step back, I’d argue our softness and concessional approach is filtering down from the top of Australian rugby.

The ARU board and CEO Bill Pulver have been so disturbingly quiet and hidden for the last month or two, at a time when Australian rugby has desperately needed to maintain the rage and proudly displaying its identity.

More than ever, we’ve needed ARU leaders to be out there every few days engaging with the rugby community and assuring us Australian rugby in good hands, self-reliant and going forward.

Or are we conceding we have lost our identity, and we need SANZAAR partners to keep us afloat?

ARU boss Bill Pulver has been missing in action. Picture: Karen Watson

People say we have no bargaining power in SANZAAR because of market size or results or whatever. That’s rubbish.

Irrespective of perceptions, Australia helped create professional rugby, we are one of the proudest rugby nations in the world, and we have won two World Cups. We have a voice, and a strong one at that.

But the silence from the leaders of Australian rugby right now is deafening.

As the game has been burning, the lack of visibility of Pulver on any public platform — giving comfort to Aussie rugby fans and the reasons for hope, optimism and purpose — has only poured fuel on the flames.

Empty seats at GIO stadium are a big worry for the ACT Brumbies. Picture: AAP

If he isn’t trusted to talk and engage with the Australian rugby community, that should be a sign for the ARU board when deciding whether Pulver should keep his job.

If it is not Pulver, find us someone in the ARU to stand up for our game; nationally and internationally.

The game is in crisis in Australia. If ever they needed someone to have a presence, it is now.

To maintain silence to respect the SANZAAR agreement, it shows they are letting the game down in Australia at a grassroots level.

Reds centre Samu Kerevi tries to cut loose during the loss to the Hurricanes. Picture: Getty Images

And they are who matter most. The mums and dads and kids who go and watch Super Rugby teams play and keep alive the great game in our country.

I get that the ARU believe the best thing for Australia is through the SANZAAR agreement, and the Test match revenues.

But the best thing for Australian rugby was never to hide behind SANZAAR and stay silent.

So at a time of great concern for the rugby community, the game’s lifeblood, that silence is offensive.

Engaging is a must, and listening might be a good place to start.

There’s more fire in the rugby follower in the street than any of the levels above.

Originally published as Brendan Cannon: ARU to blame for Aussie Super Rugby sides’ soft losses to New Zealand rivals