Rugby 2019 | Wallabies legends tee off after World Cup failure

Several Wallabies greats have demanded wholesale changes to the sport as the fallout from Australia’s World Cup failure continues.

It was a disappointing finish to the Wallabies World Cup campaign.

Former Wallaby Greg Martin has delivered one of the more blunt messages for Rugby Australia in the fallout of Australia’s World Cup quarterfinal defeat to England.

Michael Cheika has already fallen on his sword with some sticking the boot in as he leaves the national team, but the focus has begun to shift from the head coach to the administrators who kept him in the job when they had the chance for a fresh approach leading into the World Cup.

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Cheika dropped an explosive claim on his way out, admitting he had “no relationship” with RA CEO Raelene Castle and not much with the chairman Cameron Clyne.

Former Wallaby-turned-broadcaster Martin spoke to Fox Sports News on Monday and said Rugby Australia needed a radical change to turn the sport around.

Martin said the whole situation played out how he expected it to and said “there was no way in the world he (Cheika) could have continued on”.

Martin slammed the structural changes Australia put in place last November with Director of Rugby Scott Johnson put in on a management level above Cheika, which the coach grizzled at.

Rugby Australia chief executive Raelene Castle feeling like the sky is falling down.

“Scott’s a lovely bloke and I get on fine with him, but I’m sort of not really into that type of thing,” Cheika said. “Not that my way’s definitely the right way, I’m definitely not saying that, always. But that’s just the way I like to operate.

“I’ve always prided myself on not compromising my own values and what I want to do. So I found that a little bit difficult at times, yeah.”

Martin said Rugby Australia probably should have cut the cord with Cheika last year after the terrible 2018 season, which may have helped upskill the Wallabies for the World Cup.

While there are murmurings Rugby Australia couldn’t afford to pay Cheika’s contract out, Martin said the governing body should have just bitten the bullet.

“I’m of the belief that the whole thing needs to be blown up,” Martin said.

“The chairman wasn’t strong enough, the CEO hasn’t been strong enough. We need rugby people in those positions, true rugby people.

“You think of someone like my colleague Phil Kearns, who should’ve been the CEO in 2017, but was overlooked in an absolute shemozzle, and I’m sure that’ll come out one day.

“A true rugby man who knows the game, because he’s still coaching. Phil Kearns knows the game from bottom to top and has the respect of everyone around the world, if he was made the boss in 2017 we would not be in this position.”

Former Wallaby Phil Kearns was turned down as CEO in 2017.

Asked if the board needed to set the sport up before they move on, Martin rubbished the idea and demanded immediate fixes.

“They need to blow it up straight away,” Martin said. “Whatever the process is the board, and there’s some duds on it, they need to go. They need to get a new CEO and a new chairman with a bit of strength.

“I’m talking about true rugby nouse, not somebody who was a failure at her previous jobs. They need someone who understands rugby.

“What we’ve seen this year is our schoolboys beat New Zealand for the first time in years, our under-20s were runners up at the World Cup and also beat the New Zealand under-20s. We’ve got a crop coming through, and really a good crop of players can make a coach look good.”

EX-WALLABIES TAKE AIM AT RA

Speaking after the Wallabies’ loss, Kearns was on Fox Rugby and turned the blame on the administration after years of neglect in the development pathways.

“It’s not just Michael Cheika’s fault, our coaching for the past 15-20 years has been terrible and I mean not just at Wallaby level but at juniors and the skills we teach them and the way we ask them to play the game,” he said. “We teach this shape and pattern and structure and process, which is all rubbish because if you can’t catch and pass and kick and tackle, you can’t play the game.”

Former Wallabies skipper George Gregan called for Australian rugby to “smash the wheel”.

David Pocock played his last game for Australia while Jordan Petaia is the future.

He said a decade of questionable decisions contributed to the Wallabies’ decline and it was time for rugby people to come into the game.

“The board was a part of this and Michael Cheika, as you’ve gone through, there was a big process at the end of last year, not just thinking about this World Cup and beyond and they backed him,” he said.

“This run has been going on for over a decade and beyond in terms of where we are with Australian rugby and we need to actually come up with a solution which brings everyone together, not just think about it at the Wallaby level but on every level and get everyone thinking in an Australian rugby way, in the Australia way.

“Get people with the skill sets, coaches, players, administrators, everyone involved and let’s get behind that. To use a Game of Thrones analogy, you’ve got to smash the wheel.

“You have to start again and rebuild and you’ve got to rebuild with a really good framework, get yourself a good base and then good things come from that structure and that is something that we’re in a position now where we’re almost forced to do and look at what is good and there’s some positive signs even though this is not a good situation.”

Was Michael Cheika “spoiled”?

Fellow former Wallaby Rod Kafer said Cheika didn’t select himself as coach and said by sticking with the status quo, the board was just as responsible for the World Cup “failure”.

A former Wallabies captain in the 1980s, Andrew Slack told Macquarie Sports Radio Cheika was “spoiled”.

“From my perspective, and I think a lot of us outside don’t exactly know the machinations of the administrative connection with coaches but from where I stood and from what I heard from people inside he got pretty well whatever he wanted,” Slack said. “This year changed a bit with the selectors.

“It seems to me that for the first four years as coach he got absolutely everything he wanted. So if he wants to blame somebody I’m not sure he should be throwing darts at Rugby Australia. I’m not sticking up for Rugby Australia. What I’ve thought … is they’ve given him too much.”