Rugby Australia board must dump flawed model to succeed

South Africa's head coach Rassie Erasmus lifts the Webb Ellis Cup as the Springboks celebrate their World Cup final win over England. Picture: AFP

A members’ “update” meeting of Rugby Australia was held in Sydney this week.

Whatever that means.

Unless I’m moving in the wrong circles, and unless the hundreds and hundreds of people who comment each week on these stories are wrong, nothing short of a rugby revolution will be acceptable for long-suffering rugby followers.

Michael says: “Clyne and Castle must go. They should be joined by many others. Clyne does not possess the people and leadership skills to bring the rugby tribes together. Castle is a bag of corporate spin tied up with a bow of no ideas.

READ MORE: Rugby Australia losers can’t be their own judge and jury, writes Alan Jones

“For both of them it’s just a job with a good pay cheque and some decent perks … the people in these jobs should bleed green and gold and passion for the game should be such that they’d do the job for nix. It is past midnight and they both must do the right thing.”

Another Michael: “Alan, of course losers can’t be their own judge and jury. Look at politicians, journalists and lawyers — almost the most untrusted professions on a global basis. Do any of them reflect on the impact their vocation is having on the world? Well, maybe a few, but not many. They are their own judge and jury.”

Andrew: “Good summary. The current RA administration are inept. If this was a public company they would be gone, based on performance alone. Ditch the wokeness and focus on rugby and getting Australia back being competitive as a minimum. Players have a choice of codes. Why play union with the administration the way it is?”

Mike: “Wholeheartedly agree AJ. Time for a rout of the board and administrators. The self-serving review process is flawed and will only perpetuate the ongoing demise of the Wallabies.”

At a minimum, voting members should recommend change to the constitution and an extraordinary general meeting should hear those changes and vote on them. All board positions should be declared vacant by the April annual general meeting and nominations called prior to the annual general meeting. Voting members must be engaged.

Something has to give.

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By way of example, under guidelines recommended by Sport Australia, the chair of the nominations committee should be independent of the chair of the board.

This is not the case with Rugby Australia.

My view is the nominations committee should be abolished.

All nominations for the board should be presented to a general meeting to be voted upon by the voting members.

Pretty simple.

The fact is, Rugby Australia does not comply with various Sport Australia guidelines but it still receives funding from them.

Where, in all this may we ask, is the leadership of NSW and Queensland, the two biggest constituents of Rugby Australia.

Leadership from them on the critical issues confronting the game seems invertebrate and unprepared to strike.

But, as with the last federal election, there is a silent majority of support within the rugby family and among voting members.

And it is time for the silent majority to not remain silent or, as Tony Abbott has warned, they will not remain a majority.

There is no future while the leadership of Rugby Australia is in denial. Voting members have a high responsibility. They must exercise it.

Forget about this review. It is nothing more than a lame attempt to divert the spotlight away from administrative incompetence.

These are the people who appointed a director of rugby over the top of the Wallaby coach.

No coach, good or bad will work in that environment.

This is the administration that failed to make the tough decisions after the 2018 season, when the Wallabies delivered the worst result in living memory.

Any “review” that fails to look at the lack of leadership from the board and key executive staff will be a waste of time.

By the way, please begin by telling us how much Pat Howard and his panel are being paid.

Instead of bringing in another so-called independent panel for this ludicrous “review”, how about looking at what history has told us about World Cups.

Real rugby people know this stuff. It is in their bones.

It is a shame that the shambles that is Rugby Australia does not know what you know; a shame that the so-called custodians of the game do not know our history. In 1999, Rod Macqueen assembled a coaching team. He chose no foreigners. He harnessed the knowledge and skill of a group of coaching winners.

Alec Evans, Tim Lane and Jeff Miller were part of the 1984 Grand Slam and 1986 Bledisloe Cup-winning Wallabies.

Rod Macqueen did not need a director of rugby. He was given a job to do by the board of the then Australian Rugby Union and allowed to get on with the job.

And that is what he did.

The 1999 World Cup was won by the Wallabies at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff against a French team that had taken out the All Blacks in the semi-final.

In 2003, Clive Woodward assembled an all-English coaching team to produce the best team in the world going into the World Cup where Australia were beaten in extra time.

In 2011, Graham Henry assembled his coaching dream team.

It included Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen. Each of these coaches was qualified to lead the team in their own right but they chose to unite in order for the All Blacks to shake their World Cup “chokers” tag.

Henry left after the 2011 title but Hansen and Smith remained to claim the 2015 World Cup.

Students of our game would recognise some common traits in these examples. None of the head coaches of these World Cup-winning teams was a foreign coach.

No foreign head coach has ever won a World Cup.

Should I repeat that?

No foreign head coach has ever won a World Cup.

Yet, as a metaphor of the incompetence of Australian rugby administration, it seems the Kiwi Dave Rennie may have already been signed up.

This fellow was head coach of Waikato Chiefs in the Super Rugby competition of 2016 when they were involved in an end of season “fiasco”.

The incident brought serious grievance to the game in New Zealand and the CEO at the time, Steve Tew, was not happy with the way Rennie handled the matter.

Shortly after, Rennie left New Zealand to take up his role in Glasgow. Is this man now to become head coach of the Wallabies?

Team culture and standards must be a given before the team can win on the paddock.

But all of that can be dismissed if we address the one conclusion.

No foreign coach has ever won the World Cup.

But it is worse than that.

Rugby Australia seem committed to a coaching model that sees the head coach answer to a director of rugby. Both Ireland and Scotland use this model. Both Ireland and Scotland have disastrous records at World Cups.

England tried this model. Clive Woodward would not wear it. Nor would any of his successors.

The model is flawed.

New Zealand do not have their head coach answering to a director of rugby.

Would Trent Robinson answer to a director of football at the Sydney Roosters?

Scott Johnson has already come out saying he will “pick and stick” as a selection policy; but he chaired the selection committee for the World Cup that changed the team so much that the players’ heads were spinning.

He has had a swipe at coach Michael Cheika, saying the Wallabies did not kick enough.

But he was Cheika’s boss and he picked the team, so why didn’t he demand more kicking if that was his strong belief?

As it stands, Rugby Australia have the full charm offensive dialled up. It is transparent and nauseating. It seems the strategy of the administration is to pick any media outlet that will give them some puff story.

Raelene Castle claims Israel Folau betrayed her; Scott Johnson bags Michael Cheika and the previous regime in order to distance himself from the train wreck; there is a sycophantic story with Dave Rennie and a picture of him patting a horse.

What’s next?

This strongly suggests that Rennie has been gifted the job by his Esportif stablemate, Scott Johnson. And it is clear Rugby Australia’s coaching “model” is a disaster waiting to happen, seeking to defy history.

Surely, therefore, the people responsible for restructuring the “model” have to go.

They do not have the credentials or the know-how to run our game and that is why rugby is where it is.

It is time to drain the swamp. The voting membership must clean out the board, root and branch. Its first task would be to advertise all positions with a commitment to appointing a new all-Australian coaching team.

In a transparent system, the best will come forward.

A properly credentialed selection panel would recommend to the new board who the coach should be, which is precisely what New Zealand are doing now.

And we need to remember, both Clive Woodward and Graham Henry failed in their first attempts at the World Cup.

Woodward’s England were knocked out of the 1999 World Cup in the quarter-finals; the same thing happened to Henry’s All Blacks in 2007.

Woodward and Henry were sensibly given a second chance.

Both went on to win a World Cup with no foreign coaches in their camps.

Give Australian coaches the honour and responsibility of coaching the Wallabies.

Nothing less should be acceptable. There are quality Australian coaches all over the world.

Scott Johnson must be given a yellow card before he gifts the Wallaby job to a foreigner.

Peter sums up what the current administration cannot see: “Get rid of the overseas player rule. If you’re an Australian citizen, no matter where you live, you must be allowed to be available for selection. If not, the Wallabies will always remain second grade. And the turnstiles will continue to remain silent. And, as for Kiwi coaches and administrators in the ARU, seriously??”