How the best club rugby team in the world and one of Australia's most respected universities are pairing up to nurture rugby's upcoming talent
It would take a brave man to refute the argument that the Crusaders are the best club rugby team in the world.
The Canterbury-based franchise have won 10 Super Rugby titles since the competition’s inception in 1996 and have featured in all but four post-seasons.
They’ve also produced some of New Zealand’s greatest players, including the likes of Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Kieran Read and Justin Marshall.
Leinster, Leicester and Toulouse may have achieved a greater number of feats throughout their history but when comparing just the last 25 years of accomplishments, it’s clear that the Crusaders are leading the way.
And that’s exactly why, when Australia’s University of Wollongong were searching for a rugby club to partner up with for their new rugby development program, the Crusaders were the obvious choice.
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“In the Crusaders, I think we got the best rugby franchise in the world, without a doubt,” says the University of Wollongong’ Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Alex Frino.
“In my opinion, you can’t go past the All Blacks brand and philosophy. It’s unbeatable.
“And the thing that’s remarkable about the Crusaders is the number of All Blacks and All Blacks legends they produce.”
Frino joined the university in 2016 and has since overseen the creation of a successful football development program with England’s Tottenham club.
The program involves coaches from Tottenham, who were runners up the 2018-2019 European Champions League, spending a year in Wollongong working with upcoming football talent.
Now, it’s rugby’s turn.
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Students enrolled in the new Crusaders Global Rugby Program will maintain a full academic course-load whilst also receiving 16 to 20 hours of training and mentoring a week.
The combination of academic and sporting development will ensure that players aren’t left scrambling when their rugby careers inevitably come to an end – it’s an incredibly proactive alternative to the ‘future skills’ workshops that many professional rugby clubs around the world have now instigated.
“In Australia, especially, you’ve got mountains of former rugby representatives who are struggling now and we want to help remedy that,” Frino says.
“We want our students to be developing their non-rugby qualifications as well as their rugby skills and talents. That’s the view we’ve had all along; we prepare them for life after rugby.”
It’s not simply a branding exercise for the University or the Crusaders franchise, either.
“There are a lot of ‘academies’ around Australia that carry names of big clubs – but all they are is brand-plays,” says Frino. “They have no real connection to the club, they just carry the name.
“We want to do something more genuine.”
In practice, this means the Super Rugby franchise will be providing the university with up-and-coming coaching talent from within the Crusaders region to really expose the program’s participants to what it’s like to be a part of one of the world’s most successful rugby teams.
Given the club’s proximity to the university – at least when compared with Tottenham – Frino expects the initiative will function slightly differently to the football program.
“Because New Zealand is really close, it allows a lot more flexibility. We’ll probably rotate coaches more frequently depending on what we’re focussing on in any month.
“One month, we could focus on attack and have a couple of attack coaches over, then we could focus on defence the next month and bring some defence coaches over.
“Whenever the Crusaders are in the country, it’d be great to have the kids get some of that exposure and meet them – that’s something we just can’t do with our other programs. I think that’s a massive, massive plus to this whole endeavour.
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“My hope is that we’ll get a few legends along – that always fires up the youngsters.”
For the Crusaders, it’s a development program not just for the players but for the coaches too.
Current Super Rugby head coaches Scott Robertson (Crusaders), Leon MacDonald (Blues), Aaron Mauger (Highlanders), Rob Penney (Waratahs) and Brad Thorn (Reds) have all spent time playing for or coaching within the Crusaders environment.
While someone like current head coach Robertson might not be giving up a month to work with the University of Wollongong Global Rugby Program, the next tier of coaches from within the Canterbury and Tasman region will be given an opportunity to work with some of the best up-and-coming rugby talent from around the world.
“Our targets initially are Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong… There are massive numbers of teenaged registered rugby players. Kenya, too, and then the Pacific Islands and the United States. And, of course, Australia.
“My sense is that this program will have more internationals in it than domestic students.”
He's learnt how to lead by watching Michael Hooper, now one of Australia's most promising youngsters is gunning for his @wallabies spot.https://t.co/RSxk5GDZaJ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 24, 2020
What, then, is the end goal for the program?
“We aim to take rugby talent and make it a lot better and then use the network to find them the best playing opportunity that they can possibly get,” Frino says.
“With football, we’ve got some of the guys already part of Sydney FC, the most elite level they can play in Australia, all the way down to regional and state-level teams.
“It’s not just the Premiership and Super Rugby, there’s a lot of competitions that can sustain a person’s career as a rugby player. There are clubs in France, Japan, Italy, Spain – you name it – who are looking for talented players.
“They’ve got the financial resources to pay a reasonable wage for a rugby player. There are opportunities everywhere.”
Whilst Australia have never been a global superpower in footballing terms, the nation has historically excelled in the oval-ball code. Some may therefore question why an Australian university is pairing up with a New Zealand team instead of one closer to home.
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“Some haven’t been happy about this,” Frino reveals, “but I think the way most people are looking at this is it’s going to add a new dimension to Australian rugby that didn’t previously exist.
“If you look at the English Premier League, the reason why that league is so great is because it has so many foreign players. I think that does wonders for the local players to get exposure to the best talent from all around.”
The simple truth of the matter is that the Crusaders are just so much better than anything Australia currently has to offer.
The Crusaders have won three Super Rugby championships on the trot. The Australian clubs, on the other hand, have only collectively mustered three match-wins in 2020’s season to date.
Frino sums it up nicely: “To the astute, rugby knowledgeable individual, there’s no doubt that this was the most appropriate and most powerful combination.”
WATCH: Featuring a host of international stars including Dan Carter, Duane Vermuelen, Samu Kerevi, Andy Ellis, Matt Giteau, Brodie Retallick, RG Snyman, Sam Whitelock, and more! Catch up on all the highlights from Round 5 of the Japanese Top League.
Comments on RugbyPass
Ben Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
19 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
19 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
86 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
9 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
19 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to comments