Super Rugby star backs SBW's radical plan to fix Australian rugby
Crusaders halfback Bryn Hall has backed the plan put forward by Sonny Bill Williams to help revitalise the Wallabies and rugby union in Australia.
Speaking on Stan Sport last week, Williams said the Wallabies could benefit if Rugby Australia [RA] allowed more top local-based players to play club rugby abroad.
The 58-test international said getting RA’s biggest earners off its payroll would enable the national governing body to reinvest its funds into schoolboy rugby and help rugby union thrive at grassroots level.
“What do we want to get out of the Wallabies at that level? We want them competing against the top-tier nations, we want them beating them consistently, we want them winning the Bledisloe Cup consistently,” Williams said.
“How do you do that? For me, I think we’ve got it wrong in the sense we think by hoarding the top-earned players, it’s not going to happen. The source of the problem is the footy at school.”
Williams, who who won two NRL Premierships and played 12 tests for the Kiwis in rugby league, said the 13-man sport is the more dominant rugby code at schoolboy level in Australia due to its accessibility in public schools.
The 36-year-old argued that by making rugby union more prevalent in public schools, the Wallabies and RA would be able to build more depth at the higher levels of the game.
“The majority of public schools all play rugby league, and it’s the majority of private schools that will play rugby union,” he told Stan Sport.
“How do we change that? Well, I wouldn’t mind that rule going where we get some top-earned players going overseas.
“Say a player that’s on 500 grand that could go overseas and get $1 million, go overseas and get that, and that 500 grand goes back into Australian rugby union.
“Australian rugby union is struggling at the moment, so the money that’s left over from that, where does that money go? It goes into schoolboy footy.
“Rugby league will never die in public schools, but if they can just open a little bit of space and create a bit of space for rugby union to thrive, I think that’s where you’ll see the depth in the higher ranks come into play.”
The weekend suddenly got much bleaker for Kiwis. https://t.co/DEyMIBj6bs
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 17, 2021
Since then, RA have toyed with the idea of scrapping the Giteau Law, the union’s eligibility rule that allows overseas-based players with at least 60 test caps and seven years of professional experience in Australia to play for the Wallabies.
The law was established in 2015 as a means to allow the Wallabies to select a few key players based abroad while encouraging less-experienced players to stay in Australia.
RA chief executive Andy Marinos has revealed the governing body will rethink its stance on the rule as pressure mounts from numerous ex-Wallabies, such as David Campese and the law’s namesake Matt Giteau, to abolish the law.
Such a move may allow the Wallabies to select any Australian in the world rather than just those based domestically, a tactic that has proven successful for the Springboks, who won the World Cup in 2019 and recently defeated the British and Irish Lions.
However, other former Wallabies, including Stirling Mortlock and Ben Darwin, have warned RA against dropping the Giteau Law as they believe doing so would set the national side, which is ranked seventh in the world and hasn’t won the Bledisloe Cup since 2002, back further than it already is.
Speaking on the Aotearoa Rugby Pod, Hall voiced his support for Williams’ proposal to cut funding to top-earning players on RA’s payroll and reinvest that money into the lower echelons of the game.
Hall, a three-time Super Rugby and two-time Super Rugby Aotearoa champion with the Crusaders, said ditching the Giteau Law could work in the short-term.
More significantly, the Maori All Blacks halfback noted RA and the Wallabies would benefit greatly by reinvesting funds saved by allowing Australia’s top player to go overseas back into schoolboy rugby and the revival of the now-defunct NRC.
Australia is without a semi-professional feeder competition between Super Rugby and club rugby after the NRC, which ran from 2014 to 2019, was scrapped last year as a result of the financial implications brought on by Covid-19.
The Wallabies can already select two overseas players regardless of their test experience… So what exactly are RA looking to change? #Wallabieshttps://t.co/p4Ki9r44Iu
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 17, 2021
Hall said it was important RA re-established that competition to help bring Australia’s lower-level players up to speed with their counterparts in New Zealand, which has the NPC below Super Rugby, and South Africa, which has the Currie Cup below the United Rugby Championship.
“I think possibly short-term, being able to get the players to come over, but I think the reason why we’re so successful is that we keep our players here, more so at the lower level,” Hall said as he compared the state of New Zealand rugby to that of Australia.
“Sonny Bill actually made a pretty good point when he was talking on Stan Sport about sorting the younger levels out with the school systems, being able to get the development up.
“Putting it all into the international [level] can be the short-term [plan] and they can bring players in from overseas, because there are some great Wallabies playing overseas that can’t play, but I think it’s probably a bigger level around the structures in behind.
“Especially with the younger school-grade system and then even trying to sort the NRC, the equivalent of the NPC.
“Those are the two things I think they need to sort out because I think it’s probably a little bit of an issue where we have such a great strength, and even the South Africans with the Currie Cup and their school-grade system as well.”
According to last year’s Annual Report, RA spent $11.7 million on player payments and Rugby Union Players’ Association costs in 2020, down by almost $9 million from 2019 due to wage cuts forced on by Covid-19.
The Wallabies currently have three overseas-based players in their Rugby Championship squad – Quade Cooper of the Hanazono Kintetsu Liners, Samu Kerevi of Tokyo Sungoliath and Duncan Paia’aua of Toulon.
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Comments on RugbyPass
Not sure exactly what went wrong for him at Glasgow but it’s pretty clear he ain’t Franco’s cup of tea. Suspect he would have been better served heading out of Scotland around the same time as Finn, Hoggy and Jonny!
1 Go to commentsBulls disrespected the Northampton supporters and the competition. Decide quickly, fully in or out.
24 Go to commentsI wonder if Parling was ever on England’s radar as a coach? Obviously Borthwick is a great lineout coach, but I do worry he might be taking on too much as both head coach and forwards coach.
1 Go to commentsJason Jenkins has one cap. When Etzebeth was his age he had over 80 caps. Experience matters. He will never amount to what Etzebeth has because he hasn’t been developed as an international player.
2 Go to commentsSays much about the player picking this gig over the easier and bigger rewards offered to him in Japan. Also says a lot about the state sanctioned tax benefits the Irish Revenue offers pro rugby players, with their ten highest earning years subject to an additional 40% tax relief and paid as a lump sum, in cash, at retirement. Certainly helps Leinster line up the financial ducks in a row to fund marquee signings like this!!! No other union anywhere in world rugby benefits from this kind of lucrative financial sponsorship from their government…
5 Go to commentsTrue Jordie could earn a lot more in Japan. But by choosing Leinster he’ll be playing with 1 of the best clubs in the world and can win a champions cup and URC…..
6 Go to commentsThanks for that Marshy, noticed you didn't say who is gonna win it. We know who ain't gonna win it - your Crusaders outfit. They've gone from having arguably the best Super Rugby first five ever, to having a clutch of rookies. Hurricanes all the way!
1 Go to commentsGeez you really have to question the NRLs ability to produce players of quality. Its pathetic. Dont the 25mil in Aus produce enough quality womens players. Sad.
1 Go to commentsBulls fan here, and agree 100% with the conclusion (and little else) of this article. SA sides should absolutely f-off from the champs cup until we get fair scheduling, equal support for travel arrangements and home semis. You know, like all the european teams get.
24 Go to commentsI’m yet to see why Grace would be an ABs contender. He’s pedestrian and lacks the dominance required of a top flight 8.
11 Go to commentsGee my Highlanders were terrible. They have gone backwards since the start of the season. The trouble began when we left Millar behind to prep as the 10 against the Brumbies and he was disconnected from the team that came back from Aussie. We rested Patchell for that game and we blew an avalanche of ball in good attacking positions in the 1st half. Against the Rebels we seem to of gone into a pod system with forwards hanging off from the breakdown leaving Fakatava to secure our ball!
80 Go to commentsPot Kettle, the English and French teams have done it for years.
24 Go to commentsHas virtually played every minute of previous games. Back row of Li Lo Willie , Grace and Blackadder would be the 1. Crusaders issue is a very average 1st 5 who cannot run. Kicking in general play is also below par They need to put Yong Kemara in. He must have so.e talent for them to bring him down from Waikato. Hoehepa would struggle to play in so.e club sided
11 Go to commentsI hope this a good thing making all these changes!
3 Go to commentsThe Hurricanes are good, especially with a decent coach now. However, let’s be real, the Crusaders and Chiefs are clearly a good degree weaker without the players they’ve lost overseas now. The Canes lost one player. It’s also why the aussie teams ‘seem’ to be stronger.
9 Go to commentsOr you could develop your own players instead of constantly taking from the SH competition and weakening it in the process? With all the player and financial resources these unions have compared to SH countries you’d think they could manage that, or is weakening the SH comps and their national sides an added bonus? Probably.
3 Go to commentsNot so fast Aaron, we might need you in black yet lol. God knows he’d be a lot less nerve-racking than hot and (very) cold players like Perofeta. It’s really a shame Reuben Love isn’t playing 10, we’ve got enough 15 options.
4 Go to commentsAnd those from the NH still seem to be puzzled (and delighted) why NZ’s depth isn’t what it once was. Over 600 NZ players overseas, that’s insane. This sort of deal is why Super Rugby coaches have admitted they struggle now to find enough quality to fill out their squads.
6 Go to commentsArticle intéressant ! La question devrait régulièrement se poser pour les jeunes français originaires de Nouvelle-Calédonie, Wallis-et-Futuna et de Polynésie entre la Nouvelle-Zélande et la Métropole… Difficile pour la fédération française de rugby de se positionner : soit le choix est fait de dénicher les jeunes talents et de les faire venir très tôt en Métropole, au risque de les déraciner, soit on prend le risque de se les faire “piller” par les All Blacks qui, telle une araignée, essaye de récupérer tous les talents des îles du Pacifique… À la France de se défendre en développant l’aura du XV de France et des clubs français dans ses collectivités d’Outre-mer !
5 Go to commentsWrong bay. He needs to come to the REAL BAY which is Bay Of Plenty and have a crack at making the Chiefs.
5 Go to comments