Wallabies David Pocock, Will Genia and Isi Naisarani line up for the national anthem prior to last year's Rugby World Cup quarter-final clash against England. Photo / Getty Images
Wallabies David Pocock, Will Genia and Isi Naisarani line up for the national anthem prior to last year's Rugby World Cup quarter-final clash against England. Photo / Getty Images
COMMENT:
Wow. That was big and brave of Sir Steve Hansen, giving Australian rugby a good old kicking while it was down.
There was so much irony in the way Hansen, to my mind our greatest All Blacks coach despite the final fade last year, brought up old ghosts ashe declared: "We owe Australia nothing".
Digging deep, he recalled how the terrible Australians had snatched the 2003 World Cup sub-hosting rights away, although it took Australia's old rugby supremo John O'Neill to more accurately detail events of that time and provide a more intelligent view of the current landscape.
O'Neill can rest easy, because most Kiwis had forgotten about 2003 well and truly.
Here's the irony around this burst aimed at the Aussies.
Hansen was mirroring the attitudes which have driven World Rugby, and world rugby, in such a debilitating way and caused this country so many issues.
Steve Hansen stepped down as All Blacks coach after the failed 2019 Rugby World Cup campaign. Photo / Photosport
Attempts at encouraging rugby to flower through non-partisan skill have been repeatedly crushed by these attitudes - of scores to settle, of bashing the weak, of old men clinging to power.
Apart from constantly tampering with the rules, this is a world of convenient inaction.
New Zealand has bleated for years about not getting a fair deal from tour receipts in England. In effect, England and mates have said: "Take a hike - we owe you nothing".
As for Hansen's claim that Australian rugby has "gone missing" when New Zealand needed its support, here's who has gone missing: New Zealand Rugby, in giving the likes of Samoa, Tonga and Fiji the respect which in turn could have done wonders for rugby in this country.
Actually, we owe Australian rugby plenty. Despite being a niche of well-heeled sport in its own land, Australia has produced among the most remarkable figures in the game - John Eales, Mark Ella, David Campese, George Gregan, George Smith, David Pocock, Stephen Larkham, Bob Dwyer, Rod Macqueen, Alan Jones, Eddie Jones et al.
For many years, Australian rugby was bright and interesting, while New Zealand still stomps along with its head down, saying little. There was often a wonderful rivalry.
Owe them nothing? Really? I don't think so. Not to this fan, anyway.
Australian rugby has produced some of the game's biggest stars - like David Campese. Photo / Photosport
And Hansen's claim that New Zealand has been "looking after the Aussies for years" is nonsense.
The whole history of New Zealand rugby is built on looking after number one - that's why it skipped along hand in hand with South Africa, supporting apartheid while subjecting this country to the 1981 turmoil.
Further to Hansen's claim of supporting Australia, New Zealand rugby simply kept trundling along in Sanzaar's marriage of convenience which provided easy money from a broadcaster.
New Zealand Rugby's problems have been exaggerated because the totally dominant national sport has never had to work hard to thrive or just survive, unlike rugby in Australia.
Enterprise and initiative were squashed by a national administration with total control that only cared about the All Blacks.
It didn't even truly care about its own Super Rugby teams, let alone Australian rugby.
Wallabies David Pocock, Will Genia and Isi Naisarani line up for the national anthem prior to last year's Rugby World Cup quarter-final clash against England. Photo / Getty Images
Rule number one is this: it is never our fault.
The Aussies are not our primary rugby problem. It's been our fellow Kiwis, the ones who never accept responsibility for anything which goes wrong, who lack initiative and vision and operate in secrecy, who have left rugby so vulnerable.
Solutions to rugby's complex problems will be hard to find at this very critical point. But famous rugby figures revelling in jingoism doesn't seem like the best way of finding them right now.
