Haha you guys want frustration watch the Wallabies. I dont know how many dropped balls and missed tackles there were in the Argentine game but damn it was poor! SA match was similar with a victory to gloss over the fact Australia can't play rugby.
League is clinical. Virtually any club NRL side would beat the Wallabies in a cross code game. Wipe the floor really, I would expect.
Coaches fault? Yes. The players are giving 100% no doubt but are poorly trained in the main & look like an unprofessional rabble who rarely play with each other. But it's not just Cheikas fault! Yes he constantly picks the wrong players and then plays them out of position. But there's more...
There's a much smaller talent pool than league, AFL or soccer and it shows. A handful of toff schools, the Northern beaches, Eastern suburbs and patches around Sydney and Brisbane is about it. This can be fixed!
I used to play and fark it's a great but frustrating game. If you thought watching penalties against Manly were frustrating try being a forward in a rugby match. When I played league it was a much simpler game and as a result I enjoyed it more and knew my role. I was a middle forward or center so all I did was tackle, run and setup the guy outside me. Unreal
Rugby I never really knew wtf was going on despite playing for 10 years or more.
A simplified game for juniors has to happen otherwise quite frankly today's generation would simply give up and play playstation.
League imports generally flourish in union and while it's easy to cite Folau as the poster child for this, it's the guys like Koroibete and Rona who stand out for me. They can waltz into the Wallabies side while being no chance of ever getting near the Kangaroos. League is more competitive and professional.
I will never forget Ewan McKenzie's response to the questions what do league players bring to the rugby game?
"Tattoos."
While I cracked up when I heard this it really underlines the effete attitudes of the Australian rugby intelligentsia... they have a game and they dictate how it's played and run. Generally the guys at the top are there because of who they know not what and the result is a game in decline. There is no Craig Bellamy in Australian rugby. It's a lot less mercenary and therefore less professional.
The leap from club rugby to state is huge with no in between step (save me from the NRC tripe). It would be similar from going from your school league team to playing for the Sea Eagles. It's rare this step up can be made easily.
Basically rugby is broken and it needs an overhaul. It needs:
1) More grass roots support. What can be achieved here was showcased with the Rats this season. People attended games. Players improved.
2) A club "champions" league. Playing the best clubbies against each other would really help bring their game to the next level. A longer club season would help make them more professional and perhaps a greater awareness of the game in general.
3) Encourage rugby in the bush. I can't begin to tell you how irrelevant Rugby Australia treat bush footy, while this could simply be the best breeding ground for talent available to them. Oh wait, they didn't go to Shore, Joey's or Riverview? Don't worry then, we'll just naturalize a Samoan/Fijian/Tongan (with the greatest of respect to our Poly friends! I just think we can bring up local talent).
3a) An expanded club system. A handful of clubs in Sydney is hardly enough to feed the Tahs and further up the Wallabies. Does no one play in Newcastle? Illawarra? God forbid, the Riverina? Does NSW extend past the Nepean anyway?
4) Actually advertise the game! I can't tell you how many times I've missed a game as it's not been advertised. Absolutely no ads, nothing on free to air and since I don't watch enough tv to justify it I don't have foxtel. The result? 16k people turned up to an international match on the Goldie this weekend. Joke. More crowds, more money, better players, better product, better tv rights. More money. Loop.
There's more but I'm tired.
