Greg Martin Rugby Greg Martin Rugby
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Are the refs changing their interpretations because it’s a World Cup year?

Well, yes, and because they’re getting analysed every week. Every week the referees have a guy in the stand with a clipboard analysing their performance, ticking the boxes. Did he apply all the rules? Did he apply the advantage? And if the refs go off the script ‒ if they think, “Yeah, I’m enjoying this game so I might overlook the odd inconsequential rule,”  they get nailed. They’re always refereeing for markers so they can get a run at the World Cup. And so we get rugby’s biggest problem: the over-policing of our game. Mate, it’s amazing the influence the bloody referees have on this game. Because the laws of rugby are so qualitative it’s just their opinion in so many respects.

What laws would you like changed?

Listen, there are two flaws with rugby. The first is the scrum. Now, I know the difference between league and union is the constant contest for the ball in rugby, that’s fine. But these days the scrum is just too pedantic. I mean, the pause might be great for kids, but for professional front-rowers holding back a tonne up your clacker is near-on impossible. And what would the refs know? You ask the props and half the time even they don’t know why a scrum went down. It might be the slightest angle in contact

that’s out and the next thing you know you’re down three points. How can international props walk away from a collapsed scrum with a confused look on their faces, then sit there and watch some blonde-haired, skinny-legged bloke kick three points? It’s not worth three points. It has to change.

The second flaw is the scoring system. It’s easy for the IRB to sit in their offices in Dublin and go, “Why should we change? We’re getting 80,000 people to every Six Nations game.” They don’t have a sport like rugby league or AFL to compete with. They’ve only got soccer, where one goal gets scored and everyone goes home happy. Mate, we need our tries to be worth ten points. If you’re going to keep penalties and drop goals at three points, then tries have to be worth ten. Imagine that! You’d have a crack then, wouldn’t you?And if I could have a third rule change it would be you’re not allowed to kick out on the full anywhere on the field.

 The Brumbies look to be a club in crisis at the moment. Spiro Zavos has argued that the dumping of coach Andy Friend shows player power is out of control in Canberra. What’s your take?

Well, every club’s got player power. The Reds got rid of Phil Mooney with player power, the Tahs got rid of Ewen McKenzie with player power. (Or Phil Waugh power ... ) It happens everywhere. Thing is, if you’re going to have player power, you want to be fucking good players! The Brumbies players aren’t as good as they thought they were and that’s being shown up now. They haven’t got the finishers and, at the moment, they haven’t got the brains, either.

I remember when David Nucifora went down there in 2002 one of his briefs was to strip away the player power because it had gotten out of control. It was a great ideawhen Rod Macqueen started it – when the players bought into decisions like the jersey, the team song; when the players helped build the club culture – but then it just ran amok. And when David started clawing some of that player power back the players all blew up and said, “We’re fucking out of here!” and so David got arseholed after winning the comp. Then the players all said, “Well, he had nothing to do with it ‒ we coached ourselves.”

You know, rugby is a player’s game. But at the professional level you’ve got to have someone who’s responsible for their actions and at the moment the Brumbies’ players aren’t taking that responsibility. They’re not good enough to run the club ‒ they need someone to make the hard decisions. I reckon it was cruel what happened to Andy Friend.

On current evidence, who should be the Wallabies’ five-eighth?

Phew, yeah, it’s a nice problem to have. You think about it, we’ve got five really good five-eighths: Barnes, Cooper, Beale, O’Connor and Giteau. But Cooper’s connection with Genia will probably mean he’ll be the five-eighth. You know, even Berrick playing outside Will – they don’t have that same ESP about them. But we’re certainly lucky that all those five-eighths I mentioned are fast blokes who can go and play other positions. And I think the Wallabies’ backs have got the mix right, as shown by the French game last year. But I’d like to see Adam Ashley-Cooper playing a bit better. We’re just going to need one big bloke at outside centre to knock Sonny Bill down, because that bloke needs to be double tackled. With his ability to slip the ball, one defender can’t handle him.

 And who should take the shots at goal for the Wallabies? It was a problem for them last year, and it’s been a real problem for the Waratahs this season ...

Well, James O’Connor and Kurt Beale look like the deal to me. Give Beale the long ones and O’Connor the short ones. They both seem to be the most natural kickers; they both seem to have the most reliable techniques. To me, Berrick Barnes looks like a manufactured kicker, while I think it’s good to take the pressure off Quade if you can. Let Quade run the game and let the other two do the kicking.

 And who’s your pick for the World Cup?

Mate, my tip would be the All Blacks and us in the final with the All Blacks to win it. After all the shit that’s gone down in New Zealand recently, that’d be a nice way to cheer them up.

– Aaron Scott