Australia hosting Rugby Championship is fool’s gold

South Africans Tendai Mtawarira, left, Bongi Mbonambi and Trevor Nyakane with the Rugby Championship trophy last year

Over the past few weeks, in this column, we have been looking at the big picture, trying to identify areas in Australian rugby that need to be kicked into shape.

Last week, I pointed out that Hamish McLennan needed to lead from the front. Your responses were amazing.

One reader wrote, “Some folk love titles. They collect them. I am not talking trophies. They love the doors that open, they love the press they get. Jones says too thin, I say wafer thin.”

John wrote, “Why are we training up coaches for other countries … how stupid can you get?”

And Steven: “We are talking about Rugby Australia who is solely responsible for the demise of the game in Australia.”

It brings me back to a simple question, do these people know what they are doing?

Rugby Australia has already been outplayed, off the pitch, on the Bledisloe Cup scheduling and it now looks like our win to host this year’s Rugby Championship is fool’s gold.

McLennan called it a great victory for Rugby Australia and said it was like winning a mini World Cup.

That might be what our broadcast partners are hoping, but we need Rugby Australia to be transparent and honest about the Rugby Championship, scheduled for November and December.

As it stands, Argentina is riddled with COVID-19. Half the squad has the virus, including the coach, Mario Ledesma.

The South Africans are in a similar position and the rugby press in that country suggests there is no appetite for the Springboks to attend the Rugby Championship this year.

So while it sounds like good news that Australia will host the Rugby Championship, the Pumas and the Springboks are likely to pull out.

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As things stand, I’m not convinced there will be a Rugby Championship this year.

If that’s the case, the Wallabies will be playing the All Blacks an awful lot before Christmas.

There will be two Bledisloe Cup matches and at least two more Tests against the All Blacks.

This sounds ridiculous but if Rugby Australia wants to keep the broadcast dollars, it will need to be playing Test matches. And even then, the “dollars” may remain an illusion.

Based on the recent North Island versus South Island All Blacks trial, the Wallabies will have their hands full against New Zealand.

The North v South match was terrific rugby, played with wonderful invention. There were mauls in centrefield and all sorts of other innovations, a breath of fresh air in terms of tactics and execution.

Simply put, it was wonderful to see rugby being played with the ball off the ground rather than people lying all over it.

Having watched this All Blacks trial match, Dave Rennie must realise he has an enormous challenge to make the Wallabies competitive against the men in black.

It appears Rennie’s first step is the naming of a 2020 Wallabies with 16 new faces in a 44-man squad. I beg your pardon?

Nonetheless, a good thing there are 16 new faces, because we have some talented young players. But 44?

Finding the perfect blend between youth and experience is the “holy grail” of coaching. It will define Rennie’s time as a Wallabies coach.

But I issue a warning now: don’t pick “new faces” and then use that as an excuse for failure.

Rugby supporters are tired of hearing the hackneyed expression, “we are building for the future with a young team”.

If I may be bold enough to say so, the 84 Grand Slam side was about seeking that balance while, at the same time, winning.

We had three 21-year-olds — Michael Lynagh, Tom Lawton and Steve Tuynman. But they were surrounded by really experienced players such as Mark Ella, Roger Gould, Steve Williams, Simon Poidevin and Andrew Slack.

It’s very rare for a team of rookies to be successful. In football, “The Busby Babes” enjoyed enormous success for Manchester United in the 1950s. Their average age was 22.

However, I can assure you that going into a Test series against New Zealand with a team full of youngsters would be a disaster.

You might recall in 1998, Clive Woodward brought a very young England team to Australia.

They were smashed 76-0 at Ballymore, England’s heaviest ever defeat.

This stuff is demoralising and inhibits team building.

Statistics tell us that the past three Rugby World Cups have been won by teams which have an average age of 29. Statistics tell us winning can’t be done with a team full of kids.

Rennie must get the balance between youth and experience spot on, or he will be humiliated in his first season in charge.

Some time ago, I called on Rennie to let the players decide on the captain and the leadership group. It’s something the very best coaches in other sports do.

Rennie is yet to name the Wallabies captain. One can only wonder what Michael Hooper makes of all of this.

The players want Hooper to lead them. The fact that Hooper has signed a contract to play in Japan next season suggests a change of leader is more than likely.

Michael Hooper. Picture: Getty Images

Who can blame Hooper for deciding to vote with his feet? If you were the incumbent captain and you were passed over by the new coach, you would probably take off too.

I have also recently called on Rennie to roll his sleeves up and coach just someone, anyone.

Instead, he has chosen to outsource all the coaching.

Who then is he coaching? Presumably, he feels a rookie scrum coach with one season of experience as a player/coach can do a better job than he can.

If that’s the case, he shouldn’t have the head coaching job. They should change Rennie’s title to “coaching co-ordinator” because, apparently, he’s not coaching.

Or has he built up the coaching staff because he intends to throw a few of them under the bus to buy himself time if things get tricky?

I hope the Wallabies have a great season.

However, success on the paddock will be difficult until Rugby Australia gets things right off the paddock.

My instincts tell me there are still multiple flaws in the new Rugby Australia set-up.

The chairman has too much on his plate, the acting CEO is a lightweight, the new head coach has been given too much rope and Scott Johnson is an enigma.

Let’s hope the new chief operating officer, “Chainsaw” Foulsham, works all this out quickly and convinces Hamish McLennan to weed out the dead wood still in residence at rugby headquarters.