Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
NZ NZ

'Dave's our guy. He's the one we want leading us' - Don't sack our coach urges Rebels captain

By AAP
Matt Toomua (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

Dave Wessels has mounted a passionate defence for Melbourne’s failure to reach the Super Rugby AU finals and boldly declared the Rebels can win the trans-Tasman version of the competition.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Rebels ultimately missed the three-team playoff series by one competition point after beating the winless NSW Waratahs 36-25 in Saturday night’s “dead rubber” in Sydney.

Wessels rued four last-minute losses and pointed out that the Rebels played almost the entire eight-round competition without up to a dozen leading players, including Wallabies stars Reece Hodge, skipper Dane Haylett-Petty and Isi Naisarani.

Video Spacer

Three of the most destructive midfielders in New Zealand schoolboy rugby history

Video Spacer

Three of the most destructive midfielders in New Zealand schoolboy rugby history

“We lost four games on the last kick of the game after the hooter,” Wessels said.

“We could be sitting here with a totally different story.

“We’ve also gone through the season without nine or 10 of our most experienced players.

“So I’m really proud of the young group. I think the average number of caps in our team is 12.”

While acknowledging professional sport was a results-based business, Rebels captain Matt Toomua said sacking the coach wasn’t the solution.

Toomua insisted Wessels retained the full support of the playing group.

“We also understand the chat around. It’s essentially people wanting results and we’re not getting them at the moment,” he said.

“But it’s a short-sighted view to think that you just change one thing and (it will be okay). It’s not the way to go forward so we’re 100 per cent behind him.

ADVERTISEMENT

“We’ve got to make some improvements in our program – 100 per cent – but Dave’s our guy. He’s the one we want leading us.

“The big thing for us this year was we were missing so many players, so much experience.

“It’s fine margins.”

Wessels urged the Rebels board to put the 2021 season into perspective, given the upheaval because of the pandemic.

“We didn’t train at our home base until the middle of March. We didn’t have one training session on our own field until then,” he said.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Even now, we don’t have control over field time because we share the field with another team.

“And we don’t have our own gym because of COVID. You’re not allowed to share that space. We have to drive another 30 minutes to another gym.

“Unfortunately we missed out (on the finals) by a point – but I’m definitely proud of the effort.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Join free

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | Episode 6

Sam Warburton | The Big Jim Show | Full Episode

Japan Rugby League One | Sungoliath v Eagles | Full Match Replay

Japan Rugby League One | Spears v Wild Knights | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 10 | Six Nations Final Round Review

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | How can New Zealand rugby beat this Ireland team

Beyond 80 | Episode 5

Rugby Europe Men's Championship Final | Georgia v Portugal | Full Match Replay

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

35 Go to comments
FEATURE
FEATURE Andy Christie: 'Diversity breeds strength in a group rather than weakness' Andy Christie: 'Diversity breeds strength in a group rather than weakness'
Search