Reliance on golden generations no basis for long-term Wallabies success

Noah Lolesio has found his feet quickly at the Brumbies. Picture: Getty Images

When I began my senior rugby ­career with Sydney club Randwick in 1978 I was part of a new generation of young players.

Along with my brothers Gary and Glen, I was a member of “The Invincible” 1977-78 Australian Schoolboys who completed an ­undefeated tour of Japan and ­Europe by playing an attacking style of rugby.

No fewer than 10 members of that celebrated team — Tony D’Arcy, Michael Hawker, Tony Melrose, Shane Nightingale, ­Michael O’Connor, Chris Roche, Dominic Vaughan and us three Ellas — went on to play for the Wallabies, while Wally Lewis ­became a rugby league Immortal.

To say there was pressure on the players in that team to succeed as seniors would be an under­statement.

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So I can certainly empathise with the so-called golden generation of young Australian players who have emerged in Super Rugby this season — Angus Bell, Will Harrison, Noah Lolesio, Lachlan Lonergan, Fraser Mc­Reight, Josh Nasser, Harry Wilson and Mark Nawaqanitawase — after graduating from the successful Junior Wallabies.

Some pundits have described these wonder kids as the saviours of Australian rugby. No pressure!

What worries me about this young generation is that we seem to be over-reliant on them.

Is it because they are so good or is it because we have lost so many players to overseas clubs and our depth is wafer-thin?

I have always subscribed to the view that if you are good enough, you are old enough.

When my old schoolboy teammate Tony Melrose made his Test debut for the Wallabies at the age of 19 against Ireland in 1979 it seemed normal.

Michael O’Connor joined Melrose in the Wallabies side in ­Argentina at the end of that year, while myself, Michael Hawker and Tony D’Arcy got the call-up the following season when we were all about 20 years of age.

I never felt any of us were rushed into state or national teams before we were ready because it seemed like a natural progression. But I feel with the current generation of young players it has been more of a case of sink or swim.

Fortunately, most are going swimmingly.

The pick of the bunch for me has been Lolesio. I like the way he has been directing the Brumbies around the field. He plays with a lot of maturity but he is also willing to have a go, which is something I like to see.

Like all the young guns, Lolesio makes mistakes, but as long as they are positive mistakes it’s nothing to be too concerned about.

I imagine veterans James O’Connor and Matt Toomua will play first and second five-eighth, to use the Kiwi expression, for the Wallabies this year but I would like to see Lolesio involved with the national squad to develop his game.

Lolesio has definitely got the jump on Harrison, who has struggled to assert himself at five-eighth for the NSW Waratahs.

Harrison certainly has the requisite skill-set but, unlike Lolesio, he seems to sit back and wait for things to happen, which indicates to me that he was not mentally ready for the responsibility of running a Super Rugby team.

There has been a lot of debate about whether Waratahs coach Rob Penney should move fullback Kurtley Beale to five-eighth and bring Harrison off the bench.

The last thing you want to do is destroy Harrison’s confidence.

I would play Beale at inside-centre to take pressure off Harrison as he grows into the playmaking role.

The other members of the “golden generation” seem to be finding their feet at Super Rugby level, particularly Nawaqanitawase, who has the kind of X-factor that Australian rugby is yearning for.

But one generation of players, however talented, is not going to save Australian rugby, at least not in the long term.

Three years after The Invincibles tour of 1977-78, another Australian Schoolboys team em­barked on an undefeated tour of Britain and Ireland. It also produced a host of future Wallabies, including brothers Brad and Matt Burke, Mark Hartill, Cameron ­Lillicrap, Michael Lynagh, David Knox, Brett Papworth, Steve Tuynman, Tim Kava and Ian ­Williams.

Significantly, eight players from those two Australian Schoolboys teams — Matt Burke, Lynagh, Williams, Hawker, Roche, Tuynman, Lillicrap and yours truly — played for the Wallabies on the historic 1984 Grand Slam tour of Britain and Ireland.

There would have been more if Melrose, O’Connor and D’Arcy did not switch to league.

It just highlights the fact that Australian rugby needs to continually unearth and develop promising junior talent rather than relying on a single golden generation.