“A long, long time ago, I can still remember how that music made me smile.”
Aeons ago, Australia bestrode the world of rugby like a colossus, playing wondrous, adventurous rugby. It was completely in tune with those words from Don MacLean’s equally wondrous American Pie. Michael Lynagh, David Campese, Simon Poidevin, Topo Rodriguez, Mark Ella and captain Andy Slack were some of the names in a team where each position was filled by a veritable maestro.
I was fortunate to referee them on several occasions, including a stunningly brilliant performance against Wales en route to a historic, unexpected grand slam. My only job was to keep the whistle in my pocket, let them at it, and do my level best to keep up with play – which was definitely the trickiest bit.
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This Wallabies team was not just about a blistering, cutting-edge attack, they only conceded one try in that slam, Wales’s David Bishop swallow-diving into the corner. Ella touched down in each test, a huge contribution to a then record haul of 12 Australian tries across the four matches. Coming out on top 12-1 in tries is a quite extraordinary statistic.
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Australia would win the World Cup in 1991, and again in 1999. It is sad, but times have now changed with significant fall-off in participation, coupled with far too few choosing to follow rugby as their preferred sport. Aussie Rules, and rugby league dominate; soccer, basketball and cricket also outweigh union’s appeal.
It’s a stark contrast with what happens here, “up north”, jam-packed grounds, tickets extremely hard to get, supporters prepared to shell out a small fortune. Australia will soon host the Lions, then both women’s and men’s World Cups. These represent important opportunities to make a very necessary dent in their large financial debt, and also to attract new fans. Consequently, Australia have put many ambitious goals in place for this decade. They cannot afford to miss.
Dr Brett Robinson is Australian and a former Wallaby. He has recently taken up the reins as chair of World Rugby and everybody must wish him success in that very hot seat. The biggest challenge facing him is how the game will be played, and under which laws.
The current law trials are designed to increase continuity and ball-in-play time. These, of course, have very significant merit, but there is precious little wrong with the game as it is. We are seeing terrific matches with a good balance between continuity and contest for possession. It’s probably time to stop tinkering.
Rugby is not, and should never become, all-singing and all-dancing, at the expense of key characteristics, such as the scrum. We should implore Robinson to give the scrum back its true identity, its purpose. Too often it is a chaotic shambles, leaving referees with the unenviable task of deciphering what the hell is going on, doing their utmost to come up with the right answers.
Whatever chance Australia have of attracting a new audience, they’ll hardly succeed if this continues. Slack’s team used the scrum as an attacking platform, fast ball and straight running doing untold damage. In Cardiff, Lynagh touched down under the posts following a scrum near halfway. A high-tempo offensive strike saw Campese scorching the critical metres, with Poidevin supplying the scoring pass.
They knew the immense value of having nine opponents tied up at scrum time, and the space and opportunities elsewhere that that provided. They also showed their set-piece power with a pushover try. Wales were caught completely napping by the unexpected tactic, code-named Samson.
Around that time, Leinster, under coach Roly Meates, planned for outhalf Paul Dean to take quick scrum ball at high pace and it was massively effective. On one memorable occasion, Meates whispered a rhetorical question before Leinster had even thrown ball into the scrum – “I wonder will we kick the conversion?” For the record, they did.
However, instead of restoring the scrum to its rightful place, where it can be used as an attacking launch pad, World Rugby seems intent on reducing the number of them, apparently ignoring the farce that it has become. The imported rugby league goal line drop out, far too big a reward for holding up an opponent over the try line, replaces a scrum. The option of another scrum when a free kick is awarded is gone, and crooked lineout throws will not be whistled if the opposition do not genuinely compete.
It’s up there with a John le Carre mystery. Why, in all their recent deliberations, has World Rugby not fixed things? The props don’t prop; the hookers don’t hook; the ball is rolled in at right angles towards the number eight. The very core issues, the nucleus of the scrum laws, are simply ignored.
Here’s a recent happening in the Champions Cup. The ball, tossed in sideways, must have rebounded from someone’s knee, towards the centre of the tunnel. Never mind, the scrumhalf put his hands far into the scrum, via the back row, and plucked it out. That’s a penalty offence, but, what the heck, the referee played on.
At last, the Six Nations is arriving, our appetite is well and truly whetted. But we are left to hope that vital, arguable scrum decisions do not influence the outcome of any match; but nothing so important should be dependent on a hope. The game deserves better, much better.
