It’s an all-bleak future for Rugby Australia with New Zealand

The way New Zealand Rugby behaved in the Perth “no-show” fiasco is unforgivable and highlights why Australian rugby must go it alone.

New Zealand’s original refusal to travel to Perth for Bledisloe III was the biggest betrayal in the history of rugby relations between the trans-Tasman rivals Picture: Getty Images

It has been a rollercoaster week for Australian rugby supporters. First, the All Blacks unilaterally abandoned the final Bledisloe Cup Test match scheduled to be played in Perth on Saturday; and when all looked lost, in stepped the Queensland government to save the day by agreeing to host the remainder of the Rugby Championship.

So, all’s well that ends well?

I’m not so sure. Perhaps Shakespeare had a more appropriate response in his play, King Henry VI, when Queen Elizabeth I said: “Trust not him who has once broken faith.”

Let’s be honest. The way New Zealand Rugby behaved in the Perth “no-show” fiasco is unforgivable. It is almost 30 years since Richard Loe broke Paul Carozza’s nose at Ballymore in the biggest “dog act” in Bledisloe Cup history; but the “no-show” in Perth easily trumps the behaviour of the Neanderthal Loe.

Almost 60,000 rugby fans have been left high and dry, as have the West Australian government and Rugby Australia.

The WA government had committed $5m for the third Bledisloe Cup Test in Perth.

The match is now on September 5, but only after a lot of angst was caused by our Kiwi mates.

That is why I must say it is bitterly disappointing that Rugby Australia has allowed itself to be bullied into another old-school Super Rugby format by New Zealand Rugby.

It is almost unbelievable to think that Rugby Australia would abandon the Super Rugby AU format that was successful at ­generating support and positivity around our game.

Super Rugby in 2022 will involve our five provincial teams playing against the five Kiwi teams and two Pacific Island teams in a 12-team format.

Have we learnt nothing from our recent experiences in provincial rugby?

Last year, the world-renowned sports consultancy group, Gemba Group, urged Australian Rugby to forget the Kiwis and go it alone.

The Gemba Group has worked with Formula One, Cricket Australia, FIFA, Tennis Australia and the NRL on their commercial and broadcast rights.

Gemba’s founder, Rob Mills, made two things crystal clear in his report.

First, he said the old-school Super Rugby format had Australian rugby fans turning off in droves.

In fact, since 2013, there has been a 43 per cent audience decline and it’s a frightening 73 per cent in the 16 to 39 demographic.

Second, Mills said Super Rugby did not strengthen the Wallabies.

Our win rate was 68 per cent when Super Rugby first started and, since then, it’s been a steady downward trend.

The Wallabies’ win rate is now 45 per cent.

Rob Mills suggested that Rugby Australia look at the Eng­lish Premiership, which is a 12-team domestic competition.

He points out that the English model broadens the depth of ­professional players and, therefore, creates better Test match performances.

Mills suggested Australian rugby should encourage private investors to support a vibrant local domestic system so that Rugby Australia could focus on Wallaby pathways.

Why won’t Hamish McLennan and the board of Rugby Australia listen to the Gemba Group and former successful Wallaby players and Wallaby coaches?

It’s a simple truth. We don’t need the Kiwis in order to rebuild the game in Australia.

Australian rugby fans supported Super Rugby AU this year, but they won’t stick around to see their team whacked by Kiwi teams next year.

We should be growing our own Super Rugby AU competition. Rob Mills has said it and I am saying it, too. When McLennan took over Australian Rugby last year, he said: “I’m looking forward to working with the board to rebuild trust among the rugby community and, in particular, the grassroots.”

Trust is a very powerful word.

If McLennan was genuine when he said he would support the grassroots, why has he allowed Penrith to be kicked out of club rugby?

Western Sydney is the biggest sports talent base in the country.

Every other football code is ­investing in Western Sydney, yet Rugby Australia is doing nothing in this talent-rich region.

What is even more disturbing is that I am hearing that Newcastle Rugby may be next for the chopping block in the Shute Shield.

The Hunter region is chock-full of talented junior players.

The Newcastle basin has a proud history of providing Wallaby talent and the Wildfires in Newcastle are well organised, well run and command tremendous community support.

Is Rugby Australia now going to allow Newcastle to follow Penrith out the back door?

So much for building trust with the grassroots rugby community.

Like all those before him, McLennan is trying to fix our game from the top down instead of from the ground up.

He also promised, when he got the job, to deliver constitutional reform.

In this column, I have called for the genuine democratisation of Australian rugby.

My model would engage and mobilise the entire rugby community, giving them a vote and a genuine say on how our game is run.

The boss of Australian Rugby would be elected every four years directly after the Rugby World Cup.

There would be no more jobs for the boys on the board of Rugby Australia and the blazer brigade would be shown the exit door.

Decisions on what’s best for the game would be made, then executed from the ground up with everyone aligned and pulling in the same direction.

McLennan also made one other promise when he got the top job in our game.

He promised us a winning Wallaby team.

So far there have been a few flickers of hope as Dave Rennie and the rest of the rent-a-coach crew from the Scott Johnson-­endorsed Esportif stable look to rebuild a winning Wallaby team.

I guess we will know a lot more about this promise once we have seen the rest of the Rugby Championship.

But so far, the picture is not bright.

Remember Shakespeare: “Don’t trust the person who has broken faith once.”

It’s pretty clear that Australian Rugby can’t trust the Kiwis and we should be developing our own Super Rugby AU competition.

It also seems pretty clear that McLennan can’t be trusted to deliver on his promises to the rugby community in relation to grassroots support and constitutional reform.

Perhaps I have trust issues because bureaucrats on both sides of the Tasman seem to have truth issues.

Before signing off, I want to acknowledge your responses to the last column.

It is clear that the rugby family feels strongly about “walking the talk”.

I await with great interest to hear your views on the week when the Kiwis turned their back on Perth and the Australian rugby family.