Payto & Panda: Wallabies to wear specially designed indigenous jerseys during Rugby Championship

PAYTO & PANDA:FOR the first time in history, the Wallabies will take the field in a jersey honouring the contributions of indigenous people to rugby.

IN a historic development, the Wallabies will take the field in an indigenous jersey during The Rugby Championship.

We can reveal that a specially designed jersey will be worn by the team in one of the home matches this year, either against the All Blacks, Springboks or Argentina.

The artwork on the jersey commemorates the role of indigenous people who have made a contribution to Australian rugby.

ARU chief executive Bill Pulver unveiled the top secret jersey at the Lloyd McDermott rugby dinner last week and received a standing ovation, before it was purchased for $5000 in an off-the-cuff auction.

Kurtley Beale has been a champion of the Wallabies wearing an indigenous jersey. Picture: Brett Costello

While only a roomful of guests and some ARU heavyweights have seen the design, we can tell you that it was specifically drawn to incorporate the 14 indigenous men who have represented the Wallabies: Cecil Ramalli, Lloyd McDermott, Mark Ella, Gary Ella, Glen Ella, Lloyd Walker, Andrew Walker, Jim Williams, Wendell Sailor, Timana Tahu, Saia Faingaa, Anthony Faingaa, Kurtley Beale and Matt Hodgson.

Beale forecast the Wallabies playing in an indigenous strip just last year.

“Even playing in a printed Wallaby gold jersey, I think that’d be, obviously going against some of the rules, but I think every code has definitely given some recognition to the indigenous culture and I think moving forward rugby should be doing that as well,” Beale said last May.

“I’m sure there’s something in the next couple of years where we are paying respects to our indigenous culture which I think is a fantastic thing for us to develop in our game.”

The jersey will be publicly unveiled during NAIDOC Week in early July.

USING THE FORCE

THE Western Force are growing more confident of remaining in Super Rugby after advice from lawyers, and will likely meet the ARU next week to present their case.

PODCAST: Australian under 20s coach Simon Cron joins Payto and Panda to talk about his plans for our next gen stars, Super Rugby and the Lions’ changes in New Zealand

However, the fact remains that if Melbourne Rebels owner Andrew Cox refuses to sell his licence, legally the ARU cannot remove them, leaving the Force as the only option.

What the Force are banking on is a backflip from SANZAAR on the 15-team competition, to restore it to the 18 teams it has now.

Perth officials believe they can exhaust enough money and time through legal avenues that the ARU will cave on their decision to remove a team, and they believe their South African counterparts in similar situations will do the same.

But remaining with 18 teams and the same format, identified as financially suicidal by SANZAAR, would kill much of the already dwindling interest in Super Rugby now it has become clear that officials think it is second rate.

FREIER TUCK’S INTO MEAT PIE

RARE is the situation where a media manager outdoes a player on the field, but poor Nick Phipps will find it hard to live down this photo.

Phipps looks on as ‘Freier Tuck’ scores the winning try in the Shute shield grudge match.

The Waratahs and Wallabies halfback returned to club rugby last weekend with Sydney University, only to get a close-up view of Wallabies digital media manager Adam Freier scoring the winning try for Randwick in the grudge match.

This photo was kindly uploaded to social media by Phipps’ former Tahs teammate and Randwick man-about-town Stephen Hoiles.

Freier, the former Wallabies hooker, is showing signs that he is ready for a call-up to Michael Cheika’s squad for the June Tests should there be a spate of injuries.

CRON’S GRAND PLAN FOR GEN NEXT

AUSTRALIAN under 20s coach Simon Cron says emerging New Zealand players aren’t more naturally talented, they’re just coached better.

In a revealing podcast with this column (see above), Cron said he was extremely confident there is ample talent in Australia to be successful but to match the Kiwis, we have to focus more on developing young players.

“I think they are here,” Cron told us.

“We have talent. There’s talent everywhere in Australia. We have just got to make the time to coach that talent and make it the best we cab.

“People say all the time “oh New Zealanders play heads up rugby a lot better”. No they don’t, they coach it.

“That’s not a natural thing. They coach that, they plan that and they coach it at training.”

Cron’s under 20s team will play in the Oceania tournament next week on the Gold Coast, before the World Championships in Georgia starts in late May.

England and New Zealand are dominant in the under 20s level, and Australia haven’t finished higher than 5th for the last five years.

Cron says Australian rugby needs to work on ways for the under 20s to spend more time together preparing.

“My big thing is scheduling,” Cron said.

“To make better rugby players you have to coach them and to coach them you have to have time with them.

“England have been training for the last eight months for this one tournament, as a squad. New Zealand have had four camps already.

“I have had two days with my boys. Our scheduling is out of whack.”

DREW’S NEXT MOVE

DREW Mitchell had hoped for a final stint in Australia to finish his rugby career, but after talks stalled with the Waratahs he called time earlier this week.

The 33-year-old will still move back to Sydney from Toulon, and we expect the articulate 71-Test Wallaby winger to transition towards a television career.

We hear FoxSports are already interested in signing Mitchell. They used him regularly in panel shows while playing for the Tahs and more recently during the Brisbane Tens at the start of this year.

CHAUFFEUR

SHANICE Parker, the youngest member of Australia’s women’s sevens team, has taken a weight of the shoulders of housemate and teammate Shannon Parry by getting her drivers licence.

Parry, 27, has become known as Parker’s “mum” in the team circle given she’s had to drop off and pick up her 18-year-old buddy all over the place since the teenager moved to Sydney from Western Australia.

But Parker nailed her driving test on Thursday and can now make her way around town without Parry in tow.

NO PRESSURE, BEN ...

BEN Te’o’s will “carve up” Sonny Bill Williams when the British & Irish Lions play the All Blacks in June, England legend Jeremy Guscott has predicted.

The two former NRL stars are set for another showdown after Te’o was named in the Lions’ touring squad.

“There will be no aura about Sonny Bill Williams, Ben Te’o will carve him up and he will look forward to doing it,” Guscott told BBC Five.

“This man will think nothing of cutting [Williams] in half.”

Te’o’s selection gave All Blacks coach Steve Hansen some ammunition to throw at rival Warren Gatland.

Ben Te'o has been selected in the Lions squad.

Hansen intimated that Lions coach Gatland, who has been in charge of several hammerings by New Zealand as Wales coach, is one-dimensional with his game plans.

“It tells you what his mindset is, how wants to play, if he shoves Ben Te’o to No.12,” Hansen told Radio Sport.

“You will see Ben carrying strong up the middle a la Jamie Roberts for years for Wales.”

Interestingly, Te’o effectively took the place of Roberts, who starred in the Lions’ series win over the Wallabies in 2013.

Hansen said Gatland’s bash and barge plans are predictable.

“I’ve never seen him do anything else other than that, I guess we need to be prepared for what we normally get and prepare for something different as well,” Hansen said.

“He’s done most of his coaching up north got a particular style he likes which works for him up there using big ball carriers up front, big midfielders to carry.”