Rugby greats call for crisis summit as code lurches into abyss
AMID the worst season for Australian teams in Super Rugby history, and the SANZAAR debacle crippling the game, legends have called for a huge meeting.
Rugby
Don't miss out on the headlines from Rugby. Followed categories will be added to My News.
FORMER Wallabies captain Mark Ella says Australian rugby must “do something now” to arrest its alarming and rapid decline, and thrown his support behind a crisis summit to fix the struggling code.
Ella and other leading Australian figures believe the dire state of rugby — in which Australian Super Rugby results have nosedived dramatically this year — requires an emergency meeting to thrash out solutions, involving a range of minds from across the Australian rugby landscape.
The 2017 crisis summit, according to former Force administrator Peter O’Meara, could replicate the successful meeting in 2006 when players, coaches, officials, volunteers and other stakeholders were locked in a room for three days.
Even setting aside the off-field ugliness around the ARU’s Super Rugby cull, the on-field results of Australian rugby have been undeniably disastrous.
Australia’s five teams have won just 25 per cent of their matches, and taking out local derbies, they have collectively won a paltry three of 27 matches against overseas opponents.
PODCAST: Payto & Panda discuss the Waratahs’ consistent inconsistency and the latest news in Australian rugby
Last weekend three of five teams didn’t score a single try, and the ugly stats don’t end there. Australian teams have lost 21 consecutive matches against Kiwi teams, and conceded a staggering 1058 points in 28 straight losses across the ditch.
This season, no Aussie franchise has a positive for-and-against record and the highest-ranked team — the Brumbies — is 10th in an 18-team competition.
The crowds have stayed away, TV audiences have fallen and already precarious franchises are on course for huge financial losses.
By any measure, the alarm bells are ringing: Australian rugby is in deep trouble.
The saving grace is rugby’s hordes of passionate people. Some like Alan Jones are angry enough to fire up in the media but Ella believes the time has come for a summit where concrete solutions are nutted out.
“The ARU must do something now, not wait until we keep losing and it just gets beyond fixing,” Ella said.
BELOW: THE DIRE NUMBERS KILLING AUSTRALIAN RUGBY
“How many times we do have to lose to New Zealand teams before we say: ‘this is not right, let’s get everybody together and work out what we need to do’. I am fully on board for a summit of some kind. I am a firm believer in tapping into the many good minds in rugby in this country. We don’t use our past players and coaches enough. There are great resources sitting there doing sweet stuff all.”
Ella believes Australia must follow the path of New Zealand and embrace a centralised model.
Former Wallaby Greg Martin, who says Australian rugby’s biggest issue is recruitment and talent identification, also backed a crisis summit.
“I love the idea of a big meeting with smart, passionate people throwing ideas in the ring. (ARU chairman) Cameron Clyne does appear like he is open to listening,” Martin said.
“It has to be a mix of grassroots, clubs, professional, the whole lot. I would get Brad Thorn in that room, that’s for sure.
“There are many rugby people who don’t feel like they have a voice at the moment. It can’t hurt to have people in a room saying ‘here’s what I see from my angle’ and then work out solutions.
“As it stands, everyone is dropping their shoulders and saying ‘what can we do?’.”
The crisis meeting among Australian rugby stakeholders in 2006 led to the creation of the Australian Rugby Championship that was killed after a season and then resurrected as the NRC three years ago.
The meeting, held over three days in Sydney’s York Street, brought together around 60 leading figures from all levels, who had to agree prior to entering the room that they would agree to sign off on all the agreed conclusions, to prevent further sniping.
The summit was run by French multinational consulting firm Capgemini and independent specialists from around the world sat in to advise the warring parties to reach resolutions.
It cost about $200,000, with then ARU boss Gary Flowers providing half and the four Super Rugby franchises putting in $25,000 each.
“There is dislocation in the rank and file of the game people across all levels feel as though their voices are not being heard, so put them in a room together to find solutions to these issues,” O’Meara, the brainchild behind the idea, said.
“When we did this in 2006, we had ARU board members, the CEOs of the franchises, RUPA, professional players, club representatives, volunteers and media involved, and after three days we had solid resolutions.
“As long as everyone is prepared to listen to each other empathetically and commit to the agreed outcomes after three days you can have positive and much-needed changes that the game needs.”
HORROR NUMBERS
25 - per cent winning percentage for Australian Super Rugby franchises in 2017. New Zealand’s is 77 per cent and South Africa’s is 54 per cent.
11 - per cent winning rate against non-Australian opposition, the lowest in Super Rugby history. They have three wins from 27 games.
0 - Australian teams have a positive for-and-against in 2017.
21 - losses in a row for Australian teams in trans-Tasman games.
28 - straight losses for Australian sides in New Zealand, with a points differential of -605 and try differential of -95. Australian teams of conceded 1058 points in these 28 matches.
18 - points for the Australian conference leading Brumbies, which is fewer than all five New Zealand teams.
3 - of five Australian teams failed to score a try last round, the first time this has occurred
0 - Australian teams have won overseas this year
108 - points scored by Sharks player Curwin Bosch, more than the whole Rebels team (106)
10,555 - fans attended the Waratahs-Kings game, the club’s lowest ever home crowd
3 - years since the Force last beat a Kiwi team
2002 - last time the Wallabies won a Bledisloe Cup
Join the conversation
Sweet 16! Smart, dangerous Next Gen Sevens player you need to know about
There are former elite netballers, touch footballers, the daughter of a gun and a teens with speed. New faces and rising stars you need to know about in the Next Gen Sevens series. SQUADS
Read more
‘A little clunky’: Aussie U18s battle NZ Barbarians in high-scoring thriller
It was a taste of things to come between Australia and New Zealand rugby and while it didn’t disappoint there’s room to improve. Stars, result wrap of Australia U18s v Barbarians.
Read more