Wallabies v Wales: Eddie Jones is a problem but Australian rugby’s real issues are deeper - Will Toogood

OPINION

The Wallabies need a dose of good fortune to avoid this Rugby World Cup becoming the worst in their history. From the nation that was first to lift the Webb Ellis Cup twice to facing a pool stage exit, the demise of a proud rugby nation is undeniable. Criticism will be directed at Eddie Jones, but the issues in Australian rugby run far deeper.

The situation the Wallabies find themselves in is a stark reflection on the state of Australian men’s rugby – not only the stewardship of their current coach.

They have let the system become stagnant to a point at which their efforts to promote youth and tell us their aim is to build towards a World Cup in 2027 have left their current squad facing disdain from the world’s rugby followers. One cannot help but ask the question: why pick a squad with a tournament four years away in mind?

Australian rugby simply doesn’t have the talent pool to be making decisions like that and the talent they do have is mismanaged to a point you could wonder whether they’d want to continue after their showing in the past 12 months.

Head-scratching decisions concerning the young talent they do have – dropping great rugby servants and brains from their World Cup squad in favour of thrusting inexperienced players into a situation where they are tasked with winning a tournament against the highest-quality rugby teams on the planet, gives the impression Rugby Australia feels it’s better to get losing World Cup tests under your belt, than none at all.

This was typified in their handling of first five Carter Gordon.

After an up-and-down Rugby Championship, he was named as the Wallabies’ only specialist No 10 in their World Cup squad. In the loss to Fiji, he was yanked from the field with more than 30 minutes remaining and then subsequently benched for the Welsh test – only for his replacement Ben Donaldson to get the same treatment as he was pulled early in the second half – so Gordon was then sent in so he could be on the field as fulltime blew on Australia’s heaviest World Cup loss.

Rugby Australia could defend these selections by highlighting Eddie Jones’ “positionless” system – to which a simple counterpoint would be that rugby, in fact, has positions. A fullback and a first five are not the same, just ask Beauden Barrett.

A further argument against this system and selections would be that it doesn’t work. Picking a different captain every few weeks and a different 23 each match day has resulted in the Wallabies winning just one test since Jones took over from Rennie – against Georgia at this World Cup.

Systemic issues at the lowest levels of the tree, the roots if you will, are often the ones that cause the most pain at the top, the leaves.

The private schools in New South Wales that were once a kindergarten for the country’s top rugby talent have now become pre-schools for league and the NRL. In an apparent move to combat this, Rugby Australia and the powers that be threw the chequebook at promising league player Joseph Sua’ali’i in a deal that makes him their highest-ever paid player, without having taken the field.

Was this a signal to young players that you can be rewarded down the line should you make it all the way to Super Rugby Pacific and international level? Or a desperate move from an organisation desperate to show it hasn’t lost the war against a rival code?

It is moves like this that show a complete disregard for the grassroots development of their sport – $1.6 million a season could be used in a raft of ways to provide facilities, schools and coaches with the resources required to elevate young talent in the game. Not to put the boot into Sua’ali’i, who could blame the Sydney Rooster for accepting the big-money deal and a prospect of facing the British and Irish Lions?

Rarely in sporting history do we see problems solved by having money thrown at them. New Zealand Rugby knows this all too well, as was revealed in its latest report, one of a myriad recently. Resource is essential in recovery, yes, but people in the positions that direct said resource need to ensure that it is effective.

One can only hope the confidence of these young Australian players is not dented so greatly by the outcome of this World Cup that they decide to switch places with Sua’ali’i and enter the well-paid, well-supported and, frankly, more well-run outfit that is rugby league and the NRL.

Will Toogood is an online sports editor for the NZ Herald. He has previously worked for Newstalk ZB’s digital team and at Waiheke’s Gulf News, covering sport and events.