Moore says 'this is the time for the change' in Australian rugby
Former Australia great Stephen Moore says urgent action is needed to save rugby in this country following the Wallabies’ disastrous World Cup demise.
Australia missed the quarter-finals in France on a countback, but had they scraped through it would have only papered over cracks that have been years in the making, according to Moore.
The 129-Test hooker said the sport needed a reset, including cutting Super Rugby teams, or Australia risked becoming a second-tier rugby nation – an embarrassing prospect with the British and Irish Lions coming in 2025 and the next World Cup to be held here in 2027.
Rugby Australia (RA) will conduct an independent review following the dual champions’ failure to advance from the pool rounds for the first time.
Record losses to Wales and Fiji, and coach Eddie Jones being forced to deny he was set to jump ship to Japan less than a year into his five-year contract, were the low points of an ugly campaign.
However, barring exposure of having lied to his bosses over an alleged Japan job interview, Jones is set to survive, with defiant RA chairman Hamish McLennan and chief executive Phil Waugh already voicing their support.
Moore, who played in three World Cups including captaining the Wallabies to a loss to New Zealand in the 2015 final, was disappointed but not entirely surprised by the performance.
“It’s been alarming the way the team’s gone backwards,” a frustrated Moore told AAP.
“It’s really been in the last couple of years that we’ve really slipped down into that bordering on being a second-tier side, so it’s been a rapid decline.”
He said the rushed recruitment of Jones, his misguided youth policy and his misfiring game plan had contributed to their World Cup failure but the problems were widespread.
Moore said the sport needed an overhaul from top to bottom including a Super Rugby restructure, despite RA stating their opposition with lucrative broadcast dollars at stake.
He felt money should be redirected from Melbourne and Perth’s Super Rugby teams into those cities’ club scenes, for them to field strong sides in a lower tier competition, while more resources were put into resurrecting country rugby in NSW and Queensland.
Moore also wanted RA to stop chasing “shiny new things” such as NRL stars.
“Five Australian teams is not working for us from a performance point of view, from an entertainment point either, so we need to look at different ways of doing it,” the 40-year-old said.
“I think the trigger for all these things is that we just we’re not improving, so we have to keep exploring how we can get better and we seem to be keen to just keep going down the same path and expecting something different to happen.
“We’ve got to be pretty courageous about what the future looks like, because we’re at that point now, aren’t we?
“I think the code in Australia has probably gone to another low, so we really have to do something urgently.”
While Waugh has trumpeted centralisation as part of the solution, Moore expected resistance to change from the states, who he felt had lost trust with the RA hierarchy.
“The stakeholders of the game need to decide if the people running the game are going to be able to get us out the other end. If that’s ‘yes’, then great, but if it’s ‘no’, we need to know now, because this is the time for the change.
“We can say we just need to centralise everything but I can guarantee you the support for that will be limited because Australian rugby just hasn’t got their own backyard in order enough for the trust to be there for the stakeholders to hand the keys over.”
Comments on RugbyPass
wel the crusaders were beaten by a queensland reds side that hadnt beaten them at home since 1999 and queensland reds partied like it was 1999
4 Go to commentsHard to disagree with the 5 points - with the exception that Wilson should be a squad member but, depending on the other loose forward selections, is not yet a shoo-in. McReight is. Aussie is looking a lot better this year and JS has some selection options. Also, Havili’s tendency to get caught, charged down is also a liability at times but he seemed focused (mostly) and is definitely a consideration for utility back-up. Still feel Reihana is a better prospect at 1st five for Saders.
4 Go to commentsYeah nah, still not sure on Havili tbh. Even though I’m a Crusaders fan through and through I’d be stunned if Razor considers him after seeing some of the stunning talent coming through up North.
4 Go to commentsThink it was a great defensive performance by Northampton. They didn't have stage fright in the first half, the Nienaber defense smothered them. They limited Leinster to 15-3 in the first half. It could have been over by then. A great try from Leinster in the start of the second half looked to have sealed it. But Byrne missed another conversion. Northampton started trying little kicks behind the Leinster wingers. Leinster messed one and Smith brilliantly made the conversion. Leinster decided to tighten the game after Byrne missed a straight forward penalty. A few errors got NH into the 22 and they scored and converted with a few minutes left. Another brilliant steal from Lawes saw NH have a final attack which was turned over by Conan. A classic semi final. World record attendance of 82,300. Leinsters 3 week preparation warranted for this one.
1 Go to commentsJust came back from the game and the atmosphere was amazing. Players stayed afterwards for more than a hour to sign stuff and take photos with fans. Great day out.
5 Go to commentsA great game. The Sharks without Etsebeth are a shadow of the team compared to when he plays. The limitations of Some of the expensive Sharks players are being exposed. Credit to Clermont for some exhilaration play at times.
5 Go to comments100% Mr Owens. But who would want to be a referee.? It must be the most difficult job on earth.
1 Go to commentsStarts to be overdone and oversold this systematic SA narrative…which nevertheless has the merit in this case to recognise blatant refereeing mistakes in their favor
5 Go to commentsNice article. Shades of Steinbeck. They can win the final if they take the game seriously; but only if they take it seriously.
5 Go to commentsWhat a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
5 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
5 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
238 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
4 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
90 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
20 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments