RugbyPass People of the year - 2018
As we enter 2019, we look back at the people who we believe have made the biggest impact on the game globally over the past year. These players, coaches and administrators have all contributed to the growth of the game, and their influence will shape the future of the sport for many years to come.
Siya Kolisi
Earlier this year, Kolisi was named the first black captain of the Springboks, before proceeding to lead South Africa to a memorable series victory over England and the Boks’ first win over the All Blacks on New Zealand soil since 2009. The evolution of the rainbow nation has walked hand-in-hand with rugby and Kolisi’s achievements have been the latest in a lengthy list of examples of rugby helping the nation come together and heal old wounds. As well as being an icon of South African rugby, he is also an active role model to the children and aspiring Springboks in the townships of South Africa.
Joe Schmidt
The World Rugby Coach of the Year, Schmidt has had a fantastic 2018, first helping Ireland surpass England as the top northern hemisphere nation, before downing the All Blacks in Dublin and undermining all assertions that New Zealand are the undisputed number one side in world rugby. The Ireland coach is set to hand the reins over to Andy Farrell after next year’s Rugby World Cup but does so safe in the knowledge he has helped take Ireland from a nation punching above their weight to genuine world beaters.
Mark McCafferty
The CEO of Premiership Rugby, McCafferty is the man behind much of the competition’s recent success and few deals have the potential to impact the sport as much as the CVC Investment deal. CVC’s 27% stake in The Gallagher Premiership for £200m is changing the investment landscape for the game. For the first time, big, private institutional money is involved at a competition ownership level – and judging by how many other bids Mr McCafferty managed to attract – this is unlikely to be the last. Rugby has always been severely under monetised relative to the size and affluence of its customer base. The CVC deal represents the most significant way Rugby can change these fortunes. McCafferty may well have paved the way for Rugby to take its position as a financially profitable and sustainable sport in the future.
Portia Woodman
A Rugby World Cup-winner, Woodman has added gold medals in the Commonwealth Games and Rugby World Cup Sevens this year, with the wing lighting up the tournaments on the Gold Coast and in San Francisco respectively. She has established herself as one of, if not the most dominant player in the women’s game and was at the spearhead of a New Zealand side that became the first in the country’s history to be offered professional contracts.
Andrew Forrest
Distressed at his beloved Western Force being removed from Super Rugby competition this past year, Forrest has set about creating a new tournament in the Asia-Pacific region. After a year of exhibition matches for the Force, the Perth-based team are set to headline Forrest’s Global Rapid Rugby competition in 2019, which will feature sides from the Pacific Islands, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan, as well as tweaking current laws to make for a faster paced and more marketable product.
Jurie Roux
Being CEO of the South African Rugby Union can be an unthankful job, but Roux has managed to balance well the unique demands of the role. He has brought in Rassie Erasmus and overseen an upturn in the Springboks’ fortunes, made further progress with player quotas in a bid to bring about transformation in South Africa rugby, and continues to grow opportunities for South African club sides, with involvement in both Super Rugby and the Guinness PRO14.
Dan Carter
Having won almost everything in the game, Carter turned his sights towards Japan after his Racing 92 contract expired in the summer. He joined up with the Kobelco Steelers on a two-year contract and in his first season with the club, helped guide them to the Top League title, as they beat Suntory Sungoliath, 55-5, in the final. He was also named Top League MVP and won the award for best kicker in the competition. His successful season has helped drive huge interest in the game ahead of the Rugby World Cup in Japan later this year.
Agustín Pichot
Having already successfully campaigned for the eligibility rule in international rugby to be extended from three years to five years, Pichot continued his influential work as Vice Chairman of World Rugby in 2018, pushing forward the idea of a ‘league of nations’. The competition, which will change the way the June and November test windows are conducted, is designed to make the international game more appealing and competitive.
Raelene Castle
In January of this year, Castle was appointed CEO of Rugby Australia, becoming the first woman to be in charge of one of Australia’s major football codes. She has laid out ambitious plans to help the Wallabies return to the top of the international game and drive more interest in the game at grassroots level. She recently oversaw the appointment of Scott Johnson as director of rugby until 2021, and has thrown her support fully behind embattled head coach Michael Cheika.
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Comments on RugbyPass
If he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to commentsCan’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
16 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
16 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
81 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
2 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to commentsSo if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!
81 Go to comments