1. Wallaroos are fighting with their arms tied behind their backs.
Australia’s women could win a Rugby World Cup. The talent is there, and the drive is there. They are far likelier to do it sooner than the men. But they are no chance in New Zealand, and no chance in England in 2025 because Rugby Australia has been too slow to fund them properly.
The first 20 minutes of the loss to the Black Ferns at Eden Park showed what they are capable of, but the performance also came after RA chief executive Andy Marinos said he would “like for us as a game to be in a position where we have a contracted base” by 2025.
That’s at least one Rugby World Cup cycle behind the likes of England and France. Even NZ Rugby – hardly anyone’s idea of rugby suffragettes – is ahead of its Australian counterparts. RA has shovelled countless millions into the men’s game for little high-performance rewards – they are the No.9-ranked Test team in the world and are perpetual Super Rugby cellar dwellers – and need to get a move on where the women are concerned.
2. An Australian story or a Japanese story?
Tom Banks looked sharp against Japan as Australia A wrapped up the series in what was always going to be the toughest game of their three-game tour. Fast and dynamic, it’s easy to forget that he has had to bounce back from some nasty injuries during the past few years. He’s going to be an asset on the Wallabies’ tough end-of-season tour. However, the past two weeks might have also said something about the strength of the Japanese Test team.
They have not kicked on since the 2019 Rugby World Cup, and any side that has ambitions of joining the Rugby Championship should be beating Australia A. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Sanzaar – coming off a pretty successful Rugby Championship – is leaning towards sticking with the status quo when it comes to the Rugby Championship and possible expansion. Japan aren’t there yet.
3. Why Tim Horan’s grenade warning was right
The tedium of the slow-moving Super Rugby talks is such that the alternative to a deal – Australia and New Zealand going their own way – is growing increasingly attractive, just to see what happens. But the likelihood is that an agreement will still occur. Lots of people want it, and have wanted it all along. However, there is also a new sense that the New Zealanders’ elasticity limits have been reached. There’s no money tree across the ditch, especially when you consider that NZ Rugby has committed $40 million a year to its provincial unions over the next three years – minimum.
So, there will be a point at which the undercapitalised Kiwi Super Rugby teams see a future without Australia as not optimal, but certainly tolerable if the Super Rugby deal is bad. This is the hand grenade Wallabies great Tim Horan warned about when he cautioned Australia shouldn’t go in too hard. It’s a different negotiating landscape to a year ago.
4. Surely not? The Moana Pasifika name to look for in the All Blacks XV
The whisper in New Zealand is that Moana Pasifika centre Levi Aumua is going to be named in the All Blacks XV squad on Monday. Let’s give NZ Rugby the benefit of the doubt until it happens, but if it does, it will show why so many view it with such cynicism.
Aumua, who qualifies for both Fiji and Manu Samoa, has been conspicuous by his absence from any Pacific Islands Test squad this year, and if the All Blacks XV pick him, it will undercut part of Moana Pasifika’s purpose. “By Pasifika, for Pasifika” has been the mantra used repeatedly. Let’s not hope it really means “By Pasifika, for Pasifika until the All Blacks are interested”.
5. Why the URC should worry Australia and New Zealand
Here’s the gloomy longer-term view of the United Rugby Championship. It’s been a monumental strategic mistake by the Celts and the Italians. Their sides risk being dominated by the four South African franchises, meaning that the value for Welsh, Scottish and Irish broadcasters is negligible: who wants to watch three South African sides and Leinster in the semi-finals every year?
But here’s the short-term view: the outstanding Leinster v Sharks game in Dublin this weekend should make everyone in Australia and New Zealand sit up and take notice, because it was laced with quality – and the Sharks were missing many of their Springboks. There is a ton of good rugby being played in this competition, and it may lift the Celts to a new level.
