But, hold fire. This is not another article about the hopelessness of the current situation because that is not the case. The changes that Rugby Australia has already made since the Rugby World Cup are significant, in particular the appointment of Peter Horne as the director of high performance of rugby.
Horne is something of a mystery man to Australian rugby fans – he’s clearly not a big-noter – but those who know him are positive.
Hale T-Pole is the New Zealand based chief executive of Pacific Rugby Players, a players’ association that represents Pasifika players and has links with other player associations around the world. He was involved in the establishment of the Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika, which is his link to Horne in the latter’s previous high-powered role with World Rugby.
T-Pole, who doesn’t necessarily dish out praise easily, straight up told this masthead that Horne is a good operator and the reason that the Wallabies landed Joe Schmidt.
Significantly, part of Horne’s previous role as director of high performance at World Rugby was to make sure their investment in both the Drua and Moana Pasifika was getting a good return.
Horne was the crucial link between World Rugby and two start-up teams at the other end of the word. He is therefore the key ally for Schmidt, and the natural buffer between Schmidt and the Wallabies and Rugby Australia.
Schmidt has about a 50 per cent chance of success. Without Peter Horne, it would have been one-tenth of that.
In fact, as Waugh confirmed on Thursday, Schmidt won’t even report to the chief executive; he’ll report to Horne instead. It’s hard to overstate how valuable this will be to Schmidt, and one can only assume he took the job feeling suitably reassured that he would be left alone to do his work at the Wallabies without the interference of the board and/or executive.
This arrangement – a separation between church and state – will have far more tangible benefit for the Wallabies’ performances than the vast majority of overly vague recommendations laid out on Thursday.
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Schmidt has about a 50 per cent chance of succeeding, given the real obstacles that Australian rugby faces. But it would have been one-tenth of that had he taken the job without the appointment of someone he trusts in the high-performance role.
The Wallabies’ season review may have been a necessary form of catharsis for the players. That’s where its true value might lie. But as far as making the changes needed to help them play better rugby, some of those have already been made.
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