Rugby misses golden opportunity to make game more entertaining

Few viewers got to see James O’Connor kick the winning goal for the Reds against the Waratahs. Picture: Getty Images

Sadly, the world of rugby, administratively, seems to be more of the same. Not a word about constitutional reform.

Not a word about my suggestion last week to raise money by giving rugby supporters a say.

I wrote: “Call them Australian rugby gold members. Treat them like the family, because without them, the game is dead.”

A bit like Rugby Australia’s response – dead.

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There is a quote from the 1990 Kevin Costner film Field of Dreams, “build it and they will come”. It has become a catchcry for all leaders of business and sport, with the premise being, there is no use having a vision or a dream unless you follow it up with decisive action.

Peter V’landys has clearly built a field of dreams in both horse racing and the NRL. The Storm ­versus Roosters NRL match last week was a wonderful spectacle and a memorable clash.

Unfortunately, for Australian rugby, the Reds versus Waratahs contest, on the same field 24 hours later, paled in comparison.

Even diehard rugby fans were reaching for the remote control during the 10-minute scrum fest in the first half, where there were four reset scrums, three scrum penalties and a yellow card.

The proof is in the pudding. Over a million viewers are tuning in to watch NRL matches and around 60,000 are tuning into Super Rugby AU. That means rugby is only generating 6 per cent of an NRL audience.

It is ironic that Rugby Australia’s director of rugby Scott Johnson throws in seven new trial laws for Super Rugby AU, but does nothing to address the two biggest oxygen sucking problems in our game. In the Reds v Waratahs game, more than 15 minutes were wasted on scrums; and a similar chunk of time was wasted on penalty kicks.

If we want viewers to watch the games and we want the broadcast revenue that comes with entertaining matches, we need to put on a good show. It is simple. What is on offer must make the turnstiles turn.

Our professional game is bleeding and needs broadcast cash to keep it alive. That means we have to shape our game to bring supporters through the gate. A game exhibiting high skill and controlled ball movement makes the punter want more.

If you saw James O’Connor step up to kick the match-winning goal for Queensland at the end of the game, you would have already paid a heavy price. There were 27 penalties and more than 40 kicks in general play.

On average, the ball was in play for around 30 minutes in both Super Rugby AU matches last weekend. That means there were 50 minutes of down time.

In comparison, the NRL is tracking at around 60 minutes of ball-in-play time. The NRL is offering almost twice as much action for viewers and broadcasters.

Surely, we have to address this if we are to dig our game out of the ditch.

Talking about ditches, across the ditch it has been interesting to see a survey of New Zealand players that revealed the All Blacks coach, Ian Foster, is considered a dud. Only 28 per cent of Kiwi Super Rugby players believe Foster is the right man for the job.

Clearly, most of the players wanted the enigmatic breakdancing Scott Robertson from the Crusaders. Robertson has won the past three Super Rugby titles; not enough, apparently, to get him the job.

At least Foster only signed for two years. In contrast, Rugby Australia are locked into a four-year contract with Dave Rennie, yet Rennie has done very little by way of coaching a winning team.

His most recent stint coaching Glasgow has not been successful. When the European season was suspended, Glasgow sat seventh in the Pro 14 league after 19 games. Yet, Rennie took over a squad that won the Pro 14 in 2015.

Rugby Australia will argue he enjoyed success with the Waikato Chiefs back when he had Sonny Bill Williams playing for him, but the outstanding coach Wayne Smith did most of the coaching.

Johnson has a lot to answer for. He sold Rugby Australia on giving four-year contracts to himself and all the coaching team when surely the prudent thing to do would be to offer, at the maximum, two-year deals. If you do not deliver, you should not keep the job.

Rugby Australia and the Brisbane Broncos have a bit in common. Both groups have overcomitted themselves to unproven coaches. How ironic to think that Rugby Australia are actually considering the Broncos CEO, Paul White, as a replacement for the current interim CEO, Rob Clarke.

If Hamish McLennan wants to be the architect of a reinvigorated game in this country and build a field of dreams, he needs to do three further things to those I have regularly outlined.

First, he must ensure we have an engaging game that is a pleasure to watch. I hate the word “product”. We are talking about sport. But we are in a competitive environment. The ball must be in play for much longer if we are to challenge rugby league.

We must reduce the number of scrums and penalties. Eliminating scrum resets and replacing technical penalties with free kicks is all that is required.

Second, we need all our professional teams to be competitive. Super Rugby AU is a good start because Australian provincial teams will be more successful in a domestic competition. Then the Wallabies need to be successful and that means building a team that can win. It means the spine of the team being experienced world-class players.

Then you have to get a good balance between great professionals and enthusiastic youngsters to round out the squad.

Finally, McLennan needs to leave a facilities legacy. After 25 years of professional rugby, the Waratahs are run out of a demountable shed in Daceyville. By now, we should have wonderful facilities and rugby academies in each province. Instead, we have squandered almost every broadcast dollar on inflated coach and player salaries and now we have not one plank of rugby infrastructure that we own.

Time is running out. The only initiative so far from Rugby Australia is some campaign to secure the World Cup in seven years’ time.

If we want to build a field of dreams, we need to step up. The rugby family have had enough of the ocean of nightmares.