Over the weekend, the 2024 version of Super Rugby Pacific kicked off. It has the same twelve teams as the first two versions, but it seems certain it will be the last time out for the Melbourne Rebels.
I have supported the Rebels since their inception. After all, I love rugby and I live a short tram ride from the ground. It all seemed so perfect at the start. The Rebels developed slowly, as expected, but there was a real buzz at the ground.
Our first captain, Sterling Mortlock, was impressed by how supportive the fans were, even noting that he had received his first-ever standing ovation as a losing captain or player.
As the years passed, the Rebels had many false starts. Overhyped off-season recruitment raids failed to produce any discernible turnaround in the club’s on-field fortunes.
They always seemed to be treading water. Now it seems inevitable they will drown. It will be disappointing to lose the Rebels, but if we have to remove the cancer to save the patient, then so be it. But will the patient survive?
Many of you will be aware of the Eddie Jones fiasco. Less than a year out from the 2023 Rugby World Cup, Rugby Australia decided to ditch Wallabies coach, Dave Rennie. Dave always came across as a fundamentally decent human being. The views of those close to him confirmed that view. A Kiwi, he put his heart and soul into improving the flagging fortunes of our national team. His efforts were reaping rewards prior to his unceremonious ousting.
However, when RA saw the Second Coming of Eddie, they sang Hallelujah to a man. The putative messiah had been given the heave-ho by his previous employer, the RFU, and it seemed manifest destiny he would come down from above, walk on water, and provide the bounty of fishes and loaves the game in Australia had been unable to proffer.
Humiliating defeat after humiliating defeat ensued for the Wallabies. The RWC campaign is still too painful to talk about. Curiously, the broadcaster meant to be promoting the sport is doing all it can to remind us of the Hindenburg-like efforts on the fields of France last October. That obscene joke is emblematic of the dilemma.
Eddie has gone. His replacement, Joe Schmidt, is an amiable Kiwi with an impressive coaching record, much like the bloke before Eddie. Is that history repeating? Or rhyming? I always get those metaphors confused.
Time will tell how the Wallabies go under Schmidt. We have two Tests against Wales and one against Georgia in the July window. You get the sense RA is taking every opportunity to give fans a glimmer of hope before the inevitable pantsing by the All Blacks and Springboks in The Rugby Championship. Hell, even the Pumas are a chance to hand us our derryaires.
Meanwhile, our first glimpse of the state of Australian rugby was on display over the weekend. The Brumbies looked good in patches against a clearly demoralised Rebels. Both the Reds and Waratahs rolled out new game styles that show promise, but seem vulnerable to more aggressive sides like they have in NZ.
The only team to play a NZ team looked out of sorts. There was a bit of hype around the Force, but they were made to look pedestrian against the Hurricanes. This weekend in Melbourne, there will only be one derby and three of our teams will face trans-Tasman opponents. It doesn’t portend well.
For me, it’s academic when it comes to the actual results we will see this year in SRP. It’s the general malaise of the game that is far more urgent. Leading up to the opening round, the talk was mostly about the survival of the Rebels. Then, to cap it off, as the Brumbies were taking the field on Friday night, the rumour mill fired up about them being next to get the chop. Our most successful team, again, being touted as a sacrificial lamb. I mean, who is in charge of this shitshow?
A lot of the problems confronting rugby in this country have been around for some time, so the events I have talked about shouldn’t really come as a surprise. It’s the sense of helplessness that many of us in the rugby fraternity feel. It’s hard to see a circuit breaker.
Every team is in town this weekend for Super Round. There will be scintillating rugby, no doubt, and moments to celebrate this great game. Is it too much to hope that the people running the joint get their act together? I don’t think it is.
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Brian, the patient is in a critical condition indeed! Seemingly ramped and waiting for admission to the ICU. Get the Administrators on the same page before it becomes a case of life support – or are we there already?