Wallabies caught in a storm not of their making
Wallabies coach Dave Rennie says the team is not looking to make a political statement and will not be taking the knee.
I had no idea who first used the phrase “damned if I do, damned if I don’t” in the public arena, so I Googled it and was not overly surprised to discover it was Eleanor Roosevelt. She did have a way with homespun wisdom.
And just to prove that what she said was true, it seems that in using that particular phrase, she sparked a public debate over whether or not “damned” was a swear word.
It has been that kind of week for Rugby Australia, where it has found itself embroiled in all manner of controversies not of its own making. The most vexing, of course, came when it was wedged on whether the Wallabies would take a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter campaign.
Now, I am reliably informed that the Wallabies have never discussed this issue before it was raised this week. It’s not that they are uncaring, insensitive oafs but rather that they had a new coach, 16 new teammates and the All Blacks to contend with so perhaps they just had other things on their mind. But in an oblique way, they did invite the debate by holding a press conference to celebrate the fact that they would be wearing their indigenous jersey for Bledisloe III next weekend. In the minds of journalists, the two issues overlapped and it just happened that Dane Haylett-Petty was in the hot seat when the questions started firing.
The first two times he was asked by an ABC journalist about whether the Wallabies would take a knee, he employed the old tailender’s method of scoring runs, deflection. But the journalist was persistent and eventually DHP provided an answer: Maybe the team should discuss it.
And there you have it. “Australian rugby team considers kneeling during anthem” shouted the headlines. If, of course, he had said that at 1-0 down in the Bledisloe series, the Wallabies had more pressing matters to be focusing on, the headlined would have been even bolder: “Australian rugby team not considering kneeling during anthem”.
If there was one thing that Australian rugby didn’t need, it was another Israel “Go woke, go broke” Folau controversy and yet, out of a clear-blue sky that was precisely what it found itself embroiled in. Inevitably, it escalated, with Nick Farr-Jones coming out with this statement: “I don’t think here in Australia that we have a major issue in relation to discrimination of coloured people.” And then this retort from Gary Ella: “Without saying they should drop a knee or shouldn’t – to me, that’s up to individuals – but that’s crazy. That’s just stupid talk.” All this from two Wallabies who harmoniously played two Tests together back in 1988.
Remember, too, this all stemmed from something the Wallabies only discussed this week as a result of what was said at the press conference. The outcome. They would not be taking the knee. “We are not looking to make a political statement,” said coach Dave Rennie.
All they were looking to do was celebrate and encourage the contribution of indigenous players to Australian rugby. There have only been 14 Aboriginal footballers don the Wallaby gold and given that Harry Wilson became the latest new cap, Wallaby number 933, that’s not nearly good enough.
Still, the Wallabies were the first Australian national team to wear an indigenous jersey into the Test arena – in the process generating a greater awareness of the First Australians – so maybe rugby was doing something. And they want to do more, bringing indigenous culture in as a permanent element of the Wallabies jersey.
Beyond that, they are on a hiding to nothing. Frankly, the further Australia stays away from mimicking American politics at this point in time – where even the most genuine of actions has been politicised beyond belief at both ends of the spectrum – the happier most Australians will be.
By comparison, the other controversies the Wallabies were tangled up in were honest-to-goodness rugby disputes. Is Rennie tinkering too much with his selections? And why on earth did he have the Australian team playing pick-and-drive rugby during the Eden Park Test?
“Tinkering” became a dirty word under Michael Cheika. In his five years as Wallabies coach, he gave Test debuts to 45 players. That’s three full teams of rookies, nine per year. Australia only played five matches at the World Cup last year in Japan but it went through no fewer than three players being tried in the playmaking five-eighth position. There was tinkering in the backrow, tinkering in the three-quarter line, tinkering on the bench. And it had been going on for quite some time, long before the tournament began. By the end, Wallabies supporters just wanted some consistency in selection.
So Rennie brought in three new caps for Bledisloe I in Wellington and then made two more changes for Bledisloe II, reintroducing hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa and Ned Hanigan to the pack. All three debutants are still in the team while Paenga-Amosa and Hanigan both finished on the positive side of the ledger even as Australia tumbled to a 27-7 defeat at Eden Park.
Rennie had taken 44 players to New Zealand because no late replacements would get through quarantine in time, and he was obliged to pick 23 per Test. So the fact he returned home with 18 players still unused suggests he was pretty conservative in his choices. Indeed, expect more changes next weekend.
As for the fact that the Wallabies reverted to pick-and-drive rugby at times, blame the All Blacks. They have this nasty habit of committing only a bare minimum of players to each ruck. Every now and then, when they sense an opportunity, they will flood the breakdown seeking a turnover but mostly they send in one or two and then spread the rest out across the field. If it often looks like New Zealand has more defenders than Australia has attackers, this is the reason.
The pick and drive? That’s simply the easiest way of pulling defenders into the breakdown and taking numbers out of the defensive line.
Rennie seems comfortable with all of that. Indeed, he comes across as pretty much unflappable. Still, if he does ever feels misunderstood, perhaps the full quote from Mrs Roosevelt might be of some comfort.
“Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you’ll be criticised anyway. You’ll be damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”
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