World Rugby suits need to see reality of Australia’s plight

An open letter to the World Rugby executives gathering in Sydney for next week’s meeting.

An open letter to the World Rugby executives gathering in Sydney for next week’s meeting:

Now that you have arrived in Australia, checked out the harbour views from your hotel window and made yourselves at home, I felt this might be an appropriate time to familiarise you with events in your host country.

No doubt, you would already consider yourselves fairly knowledgeable when it comes to Australian rugby: aside from New Zealand, you would be aware that Australia have been the most successful country in the history of the World Cup, winning it twice and twice being beaten in epic ­finals. Since the last World Cup in 2015, Australia have beaten every single rugby superpower, save ­curiously, for England, who they thrashed during the tournament. And while that makes their current low world ranking of seventh seem, well, extreme, you of all people would know how the world rankings work since, after all, you designed them. Beat a side ranked below you and you barely get a boost but lose to a side below you and who knows how far you will tumble down the slope. But the Wallabies will bounce back. Surely …

Australia, you would also know, are the reigning, indeed, the inaugural women’s sevens Olympic champions and the current world champions. You’d be aware, too — only because they played those matches as curtain-raisers to the Bledisloe Cup — that the Australian women’s 15-a-side team, the Wallaroos, did a surprisingly good job of limiting the damage against the Black Ferns. Give them a few more years and it might just become a serious contest. So there will be some talk in coming days about supporting Australia’s bid for the 2021 women’s World Cup.

And you may be wondering about the fallout after Australia culled one of its Super Rugby sides last year … it was the Western Force, in case you had forgotten. It may even ­appear to you that things have settled down domestically. That ludicrous run of losses to New Zealand Super Rugby sides was finally brought to an end this year but not before it reached 40. Still, only one Australian side made the Super Rugby playoffs, the Waratahs, who beat the Highlanders at home — unfairly, because the Highlanders finished above them on the table — but then lost to the Lions. That said, all four remaining Australian sides seemed slightly more competitive in Super Rugby this year compared to 2017, so it could be argued that a corner has been turned.

Indeed, to your mind, it might appear that Australian rugby is going through a testing time but, judging by its proud history, will probably come through it in the end.

And you would be dead wrong.

Rugby in Australia is not yet dying, as some have suggested, but it is on oxygen and its long-term prognosis is looking increasingly grim. Already there are more Australian professional rugby players abroad than there are at home and if the trend continues and more and more players head offshore, eventually the Wallabies will be selected entirely from overseas clubs.

You may see this as none of your concern. Even if you are concerned, you probably take encouragement that Rieko Ioane has just re-signed with New Zealand Rugby for another four years. If he is staying put because of the All Blacks jersey, surely the Wallabies will do likewise?

Wrong again.

Take note: anything that happens in New Zealand has almost zero relevance here. The game is booming there and withering here and they don’t seem in any mood to help us, even though they mouth worthy sentiments about needing a healthy Australia. They would rather link themselves with South Africa, who are starting to align with the powerful magnet of Europe, rather than go it alone with Australia in Super Rugby and the Pacific ­nations of Japan, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.

Australia will get locked into an increasingly unviable Super Rugby competition simply because it lacks the financial muscle to go it alone.

You look at this trend and see it as SANZAAR’s concern — and so it is. But when a country that made the last World Cup final is being brought to its knees, it soon will ­become your problem. Do you ­intend allowing the free market to prevail or is it possible for World Rugby to impose limits on foreign players to slow the player drain?

And there are other concerns …

When Rugby Australia complains that refereeing is driving people away from the game in droves, why do you not take action to clean up the mess? Why are neck rolls not a priority? If it was Jonny Sexton who was being targeted would you act, I wonder? Why, when referees are effectively taking out of the game one of the most spectacular of sights — Israel Folau’s aerial skills — has nothing been done to restore it, especially when your own research indicates that one-man lifts are the real safety risk? You may think you are working quickly by your standards. By Australian standards, it’s all happening at snail’s pace and the game here doesn’t have the luxury of a long-term fix. It happens now or it won’t matter when it happens.

Look hard at any Australian newspaper. Where is the rugby coverage to be found? Usually buried under pages of AFL or NRL. Australia has the most competitive sports marketplace in the world.

What you don’t realise is that Australian rugby is the canary in the mine. It might be the first to succumb but unless you pump out the carbon monoxide, and quickly, others will follow.

Yes, you can congratulate yourself on the massive growth the game is going through in Asia, and the explosion in the women’s rugby worldwide is a great achievement. But when the country that gave you John Eales and Tim Horan and David Campese is going under, why are you still ­sitting on your hands?

You might find this all too preposterous to believe. Maybe you think, as many Australians do, that all it will take is to remove Michael Cheika as national coach and Australia will quickly rebound.

History says it won’t. Australia has had five Wallabies coaches since the glory days of Rod Macqueen and the trajectory of the game under each one has been steadily downwards.

Your charter commends you to grow the game and keep it sustainable. Over many decades you turned to Australia for assistance and at times it helped even when it was not in its own best interests. Now Australia needs your help.

So enjoy your stay and please hurry back. Hopefully the game will still be here on your return.