Kafer was built for comfort, not speed ... but he was still bloody hard to stop Kafer was built for comfort, not speed ... but he was still bloody hard to stop

Next year we move into the extended Super 15 format. Do you think this is a good thing for the game?

Absolutely. One thing we’ve never managed to do in this game is fully break the nexus between amateur rugby and professional rugby. Professional players were always linked back to their clubs; they had to play and train with their clubs outside the Super 14 and Test matches. And that’s great – club rugby’s always been the core of the game. But rugby’s at a point now where it needs a full-time professional competition. You know, the NRL has a 26-week comp plus finals, but rugby had a 14-week comp. You need to have a longer period of time where you’re showing your product. So I think the expansion of that competition is great. An expanded 30-week season of Super 15, then Tests – I think that’ll have a massive impact on the way this sport is followed in Australia.

With five Australian sides to be filled, do you think we’ll be spreading our playing talent too thin?

Yeah, I really do. We simply don’t have the numbers to achieve that at the moment. But look at the evolution of the Super competition. In the first six years the South African teams were way off the pace. Only one team – the Sharks – reached the Super finals, in ’96 and ‘01. And in that period South African rugby went through the doldrums; they didn’t have the player numbers to cope with four and then, later, five teams. But since the middle years of the decade just gone, they’ve really improved. They’ve now built the depth to fill five teams – but it took them ten years to do it. And I suspect the same thing will be true for Australia – it’ll take us ten years to build the depth we need to compete on a consistent basis. It’s not a short-term thing.

Who’ll win this year’s Super 14?

I don’t think you can go past the Bulls. There’re only four teams who’ve ever won the Super competition – the Crusaders, Brumbies, Blues and Bulls – and three of those teams have got a really good chance to win it again this year. I’m not sure about the Blues, I don’t think they have the team they need. But the other three will be the teams most likely to win. And I think the Waratahs could be up there as well.

Were you glad to see the return of your old mate Justin Harrison to the Brumbies? 

I was really delighted he got another opportunity. Yes, he’s a bloke who’s done some stupid things, but he wants his opportunity for atonement. He’s put his hand up, said, ‘Yep, I’ve made mistakes – here’s a shopping list full of them – but I want an opportunity to prove I’m a good bloke.’ And he’s very genuine about that. It impresses me. He’s getting paid peanuts compared to what he could be earning in Europe – he just wants to play rugby at home and prove he’s got the capacity to do the right thing.

A few months back our readers voted Robbie Deans the worst Australian coach for 2009. What are your thoughts on his performance with the Wallabies?

There’s no question Robbie Deans is a fantastic coach. He’s come to Australia with high expectations, both his own and those of the Australian public. But the challenge was always going to be adjusting his coaching style to that of his new country. And that’s a unique challenge. It’s struck me that Robbie has coached the Wallabies in much the same way that he coached the Crusaders. I think he’s now recognised he needs to do more than that. Provincial rugby’s one thing, Test rugby’s something else altogether. They’re totally different games, played in totally different fashions. I think this year will be the defining year.  We’ll find out in the upcoming months whether he’s learnt that lesson or not.

Kafer head-coached Saracens in ‘03-04 . Kafer head-coached Saracens in ‘03-04 .

There seemed to be a real mental fragility to the Wallabies last year …

Funnily enough, I was chatting to Robbie at this time last year and I asked him where the Wallaby team needed to improve. He said there were two areas. Firstly, he said, the players’ physical capabilities needed to be lifted. And secondly, they weren’t tough enough mentally. The ironic thing was that, in saying that, he probably reinforced that point within the team. I wonder whether those comments had an impact, because last year they were particularly fragile. They simply couldn’t make that jump to being a winning team. But that sort of mental fragility is also something that has the capacity to change  very quickly. Win a few close ones …

Are you confident the Wallabies can succeed at next year’s World Cup?

There’s no question they can do well. They’ll be one of the top-three-ranked sides in the world and they’ll be in a position to win the tournament, no doubt about it. The threats will come from South Africa and New Zealand. Beyond that there’ll probably be one, maybe two, Northern Hemisphere teams in the mix. I can’t see England being a threat. France are traditionally a team who’ve done well in World Cups – they’ve been in the top four of every tournament. Maybe one of Ireland or Wales could threaten … But really, it’ll be the three Southern Hemisphere teams fighting it out.

Can we rely on another NZ capitulation?

No, I don’t think we can. I’d love to think we could … But there’ll be so much pressure on that team and I have a feeling that’s what they might need – they need to be at home and they need to be under pressure. I think they’ll respond well to it.

– Aaron Scott