Rugby World Cup: Why Hamish McLennan, Eddie Jones should have nothing more to do with Australian rugby | Alan Jones

The pictures of Wallabies players openly weeping in front of the world after their loss to Wales are here forever, with only Hamish McLennan and Eddie Jones to blame, writes ALAN JONES.

The pictures of Wallabies players openly weeping after their humiliating loss to Wales are here forever, writes Alan Jones. Picture: Getty Images.

There are many reasons why Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan and the so-called “coach”, Eddie Jones, should have nothing more to do with Australian rugby.

I couldn’t believe what I witnessed after the defeat of the Wallabies by Wales.

There were proud, grown men in the famous Wallaby jersey in the middle of the rugby paddock, on which they had just played, weeping before a worldwide television audience.

Those pictures are here forever.

McLennan was the architect of the Jones experiment yet here they have shamefully visited such humiliation on these young men that players were openly weeping.

It is a disgusting indictment of where this team has been led.

Surely the future of Australian rugby is now in the hands of the gifted former Wallaby Joe Roff. As president of Rugby Australia, he must call an emergency meeting of the board and prosecute a vote of no confidence in the chairman and the “coach”.

It is vitally important that the rugby public don’t have to suffer any more excuses rolled out by both.

The pictures of Wallabies players openly weeping after their humiliating loss to Wales are here forever, writes Alan Jones. Picture: Getty Images.

Fancy McLennan telling loyal supporters of the game, who had expressed anger at the direction in which rugby was being taken, not to watch the Wales match if they were critics.

On that alone, McLennan should go — an arrogant insult to loyal believers.

The performance of the Wallabies at this World Cup has nothing to do with structural problems in our game. That is another excuse being trotted out by McLennan and Jones.

We had the same structures in place when Michael Cheika took the Wallabies to the 2015 World Cup Final.

There is no perfect structure except to stop wasting money; do something about the grassroots; have a credible presence in our schools, to encourage young men and women, in their post-secondary school life, to carry on with their rugby.

Put David Campese into the schools, in a paid commitment, to encourage young people to stay with the game.

Reviews are rubbish. Reviews are for cowards.

We all know that Dave Rennie should have been given the opportunity to take the Wallabies to the World Cup.

How much does it cost to sack Rennie and appoint Jones, money we don’t have. Put simply, McLennan screwed up. He is now pretending that the “game” is the problem.

When he signed Jones he lectured journalists that Jones was yearning for an opportunity to coach the Wallabies.

Jones said at the media conference, “ … I am confident we can go to France and break the 24-year drought of winning the Rugby World Cup”.

McLennan was asked by journalists if he agreed, “absolutely, we have enough time to get it right”.

Now, those words are forgotten as McLennan and Jones run for cover and blame the “system”.

It seems a cruel thing to say but it is true – McLennan and Jones give every impression of wanting to hang on to what they have, rather than recognise that, almost universally, the rugby family is saying they must go.

I have news for McLennan and Jones. Great governance structures don’t create victory over major rugby challenges. Great players with great coaches do.

Eddie Jones picked the wrong squad for the world cup. The Wallabies needed an experienced head to manage critical games against Fiji and Wales. Picture: Getty Images.

South Africa have won three World Cups and their system is dysfunctional at best. The All Blacks have won three World Cups and my mates over the ditch tell me their system is far from perfect. We have won two World Cups with our “system”, so don’t believe the rubbish that Jones and McLennan are peddling. We have been conned by these two for too long.

Let’s be clear: Jones and McLennan are responsible for this World Cup disaster. The so-called “smash and grab”, is a smash all right, of titanic proportions.

As I have said many times, Eddie Jones, on his past record, if due diligence were done, should not have been appointed.

McLennan boasted about his captain’s pick. He described it as “a major coup”, “the best coach in the world”; “you wait, you get the Wallabies winning; we win the World Cup … we win the Bledisloe Cup, it all comes back”.

The hubris seems to have no ending.

Jones picked the wrong squad; he had six captains in as many weeks; he had a bunch of rugby league coaches helping him because no good rugby union coaches want to work with him; he churns through assistant coaches the same way he churns through players. Which international sporting team, anywhere in the world, has 11 assistant coaches?

We lost to Wales because of selection and trust. If he had Quade Cooper, he would have had an experienced playcaller to manage the critical games versus Fiji and Wales.

Jones left long-serving Wallabies captain Michael Hooper at home, yet in a key moment against Wales, when three points were on offer, with a penalty in front of the posts, the latest stand-in skipper made a diabolical call to kick for touch.

A good coach makes it unarguable in a Test match – you take the points. But then, above and beyond selection mistakes, Eddie Jones has lost the locker room and, simply, the players don’t trust him.

Chairman Hamish McLennan told frustrated fans not to watch the Wallabies if they were critics. For that alone he should go, writes Alan Jones. Picture: Adam Yip

Most people believe he did speak with Japanese rugby officials about coaching Japan. As Sonny Bill Williams has bravely asked, what players would follow their coach into battle if they think the coach doesn’t want to be there?

Whatever happens in the Portugal match, Jones must go and McLennan with him. It is no use showing Jones the door unless McLennan follows.

Where there are so-called problems in Australian rugby, McLennan hasn’t addressed them.

Instead of spending money on grassroots rugby, he wants hairs on his chest for poaching rugby league players. And now, post Wales, the money may well have dried up.

I never supported private equity in Australian rugby; but McLennan thought that would be his goldmine. It’s gone. What are the broadcasting rights worth after the shambles against Fiji and

McLennan has been at the helm of Australian rugby since 2020.

Since then, we have heard how he was going to save Australian rugby by pumping up broadcast deals and selling off 20 per cent of our game to private equity investors.

On both these financial deals, McLennan has failed dismally.

He has been outmanoeuvred by the Nine/Stan Group who have negotiated a deal that will see no increase in broadcast revenue for at least another two years; and after this World Cup they may even walk away from any further broadcast deal.

We all know that broadcast rights are the lifeblood of all professional sports. The brutal truth is that the failure of McLennan in this space severely limits the growth of our game.

The private equity investment that McLennan promised has disappeared; the private equity sharks looked at the carcass of Rugby Australia and decided it was completely overvalued.

Whatever happens in the Portugal match, Jones must go and McLennan with him, writes Alan Jones. Picture: Getty Images

McLennan claimed he could bring in $200 million of revenue from private equity.

He has brought in $0. Not only that, but thanks to the indulgence of the McLennan-led board, Rugby Australia are reportedly chasing loans from banks to keep our game afloat.

Let me be blunt.

We saw the mismanagement of our player base, against Wales, in full view of the world. We now have the mismanagement of the game’s financial base, 100 per cent the fault of McLennan.

Instead of doing his primary job, revenue raising, he has made two so-called captain’s calls that threaten to financially cripple Rugby Australia. The first captain’s call was, of course, the sacking of Rennie and the hiring of Jones. The responsibility of hiring coaches should have been left to the CEO, Andy Marinos, to then be endorsed by the board.

The financial consequence of flipping Rennie, and his coaching staff, has cost Australian rugby, as I assess it, around $5 million. Rugby Australia are currently paying for two Wallabies coaching teams. Rennie’s team were contracted until the end of 2023. And Jones’ coaching staff, mobs of them, are on hefty pay packets.

The second captain’s call blunder was the signing of 19-year-old Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii to a $5m deal. Joseph is a wonderful player and a fine young man, but the contract is ridiculous.

The deal is seen by everyone in world rugby for what it is — an opportunity for McLennan to self-promote.

McLennan’s ‘captain’s calls’, including the signing of Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii. Picture: Getty Images.

My understanding is that Marinos chose to resign and not be part of these reckless decisions.

If McLennan was thinking he can take on rugby league, then it’s proof of his further delusion.

He was recently quoted as saying that his dream was to take the top 10 per cent of all Pasifika players in the Penrith area – “pay them well and show them the world”.

Ireland are playing a wonderful brand of rugby. They are not obsessed with Pasifika players.

Roff must act now and he must act decisively. An emergency board meeting must resolve to relieve McLennan and Jones of their duties.

McLennan telling rugby fans not to watch the Wales game and Jones in dialogue with a competing nation both justify termination. The board has the power to do this. Or are they complicit in all these appalling decisions?

The current board must understand that if they do nothing in the wake of this humiliation then they, too, should go. Quite frankly, the board should be appointed by the paid-up members of Australian rugby clubs. They demand a stake in the game.

We only have one director on the board who knows anything about rugby, another is an airline specialist, another is a banker and others are on the board to meet gender equity quotas.

It is no wonder that the administration of our game is diabolical.

The “fat cats” are enjoying the gold mine while the real rugby people are given the shaft.

Roff, you were a wonderful player who inspired all rugby enthusiasts. Time now, Joe, to offer that inspiration again.

Get rid of the charlatans, McLennan and Jones. The rugby family will stand by you and grassroots supporters will back you.

You are a genuine rugby person when the current administration is lacking in such people.

Joe Roff, time to hand the game back to real rugby people. Do that, and the turnaround in our fortunes will follow sooner rather than later.

Originally published as Rugby World Cup: Why Hamish McLennan, Eddie Jones should have nothing more to do with Australian rugby | Alan Jones