Rugby Australia has a plan. To me, it looks more like a Christmas wish list

So. Rugby Australia’s just announced five-year strategy, you say?

You know, the one titled by the marketing department – who was surely up all night to do it – “Green to gold”.

Under normal circumstances I would sneer a little unpleasantly that the plan wishes for everything bar a partridge in a pear tree, and has about as much chance of being delivered.

After all, with goals of beating the British and Irish Lions, finishing in the top four of the 2027 and 2029 Rugby World Cups and with a 70 per cent success rate by 2029, not to mention winning the Bledisloe Cup every second year, it boils down to “After over two decades of struggling and often floundering, our new goal is to be a colossal success.”

And what, pray tell, was the aim of previous boards of Rugby Australia, if not exactly that? Tempering my sneering is the performance of the Wallabies on the recent spring tour, but we’ll get to that.

In the meantime, let’s dig down on how they intend to get the said partridge to land in their pear tree.

Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh at the launch of the ‘Green and gold’ report.Credit: Getty Images

For after convening summit sessions of high-performance poohbahs with cauliflower ears, RA has also announced its strategy under the headings of Performance Excellence, Participation Growth and Promotion Effectiveness.

It won’t surprise you that they want the Wallabies to perform out of their tree; for the grassroots to grow by 30 per cent in men’s rugby, and by 70 per cent in women’s rugby over the next five years, while having – let’s see, dot three, carry one, subtract four – yes, around 50 per cent of all Australians are active Wallabies and Wallaroos fans.

Cue Michael Caton from The Castle: “Tell em, they’re dreaming.”

And yes, they don’t call me Scoop for nothing.

In the most congested football market in the world, with both the NRL and AFL pretty much going gangbusters, and soccer – via the Matildas, at least – going better than ever, it is all but impossible to see how such percentages can be gained.

“All three pillars are interdependent and critical to a thriving rugby ecosystem,” RA CEO Phil Waugh said in the statement. “And all have been developed in collaboration with member unions, Super Rugby clubs and RUPA. Australian Rugby is united, aligned, and poised for success on and off the field. The benefits of this all-of-game strategy will be realised for many years to come.”

As I say, these are pretty much what we used to call “motherhood” statements, but are now, I guess, parenthood statements. We all want that for rugby, and it is not news.

The Wallabies celebrate with the Ella Mobbs Cup after their victory.Credit: Getty Images

As to specifically HOW they are going to do things like increase participation, it is not, at first glance particularly … nuanced. Witness:

KEY ACTIONS

• Implement Get into Rugby in all junior clubs as the entry level format of the game for young boys and girls.
• Expand Tri Tag Rugby to every region in Australia
• Partner with Australian Schools Rugby Union to expand existing National Competitions in both the XVs and 7s format.
• Enhance the mentoring and development opportunities for coaches, match officials and administrators.

You get the drift. If you, too, have been looking for the magic formula – we all have – to my eyes it doesn’t look like there is one.

But against all that?

Well, against all that, are two new things that really do make it less pie-in-the-sky than it otherwise would be.

The first is – and I think I mentioned this once or twice? – the wonderful performance of the Wallabies on the just completed spring tour. Beating England at Twickenham in the manner they did, with the winning try coming in the 85th minute of a stunning match, brought the game alive, and the supporters from out of the mahogany woodwork. They’re all still there, they’ve just been buried for a while.

The win against Wales confirmed that, and even though the match against Scotland was slightly disappointing, the fact that they came within an ace of beating Ireland in Dublin was confirmation that it is possible, just possible, that a new age might be upon us. For it wasn’t just the results, it was the thrilling way they played, the razzle and dazzle, the swerve and verve, (Cliquot), the way they chanced their arm and never wavered. And if this does prove to be the team we have been waiting for, for so long, then the timing really couldn’t be better – with the Lions next year and hosting the Rugby World Cup two years after that.

“With a once-in-a-generation runway of major events, coupled with an aligned and energised Australian Rugby ecosystem,” RA Chair Daniel Herbert said, “there has never been a better time to be involved in this great game.”

If our blokes can play like they did against England and Ireland, in both those coming tournaments – and win – then the transformation really will be stunning. Rugby’s great strength against its key competitors of the AFL and NRL is its genuinely global nature. If the Wallabies performed well on those stages it will be the best show in town, played out on the world stage, and indeed drive ratings and participation rates into the previously unheard of territory.

No, that territory still won’t be within a bull’s roar of the aforementioned stated goals, but it will be great nevertheless.

The key is seeing the Wallabies build on their hard-won momentum from this last tour, while also allocating sufficient resources to the other forms of the game to see them grow. The partridge won’t land, but we might at least be able to feel the flutter of its wings.