Rugby in Disarray?
New Zilders tend to have a binary reaction to rugby – it’s either all good in the hood or doom and gloom.
There’s no mid-field so to speak when it comes to our view of rugby.
So while we seem to be in another boom period, the Aussies have a different spin on things with David Campese suggesting the game is in disarray.
We shouldn’t ignore it as more Aussie bleating as Teacher Ted himself has opined that rugby is losing its appeal.
Campo is not impressed by the new improved game of force back:
Australian rugby legend David Campese suggested the Wallabies were in “disarray”, labelling the Cape Town Tri-Nations debacle a game of “AFL” after the ball was kicked “77 times.
…
“At the moment it’s just kicking, kicking, kicking. In the game in Cape Town the ball was kicked 77 times. It was a game of Aussie Rules.
Hmm, now I’m sure if the Aussies were winning it would be a different thing.
But what about the rule changes?
Ex-Wallaby coach Eddie Jones was equally scathing about … officials who rubber-stamp the rules, suggesting the law-makers had been drinking too much of the South African white wine “Stellenbosch”.
The general consensus among the rugby fraternity is the game has become bogged down in too many technicalities and penalties and the rules mean it is too defence-orientated, ruining the appeal of the code once renowned as the “running game”.
The irony of course is that the while rugby league lurches from embarassment to worse OFF the field, it’s not having an impact ON the field:
A friend of [Campo] coaches an under-10s side and he said the heroes for the kids are rugby league players, not rugby union players.
…
Rugby league’s thriving. They’ve got so many problems off the field but people are still coming to the game because they’ve got a good product.
Indeed.
As for Henry, he’s also concerned for the Aussie game:
Henry – who also recommends the value of a penalty goal be reduced to one – said the increasing preponderance of kicking at the top level of the sport was also a disadvantage to the natural running instincts of his side and Australia.
But that’s the problem.
Only NZ and Australia are worried about playing running rugby.
South Africa only concern is to play winning rugby.
And the rest of the world just wants to stop the ABs and Wannabees from winning.