THE HERALD REVEALS
NEIL DRYSDALE March 17 2009
DaVid Campese has launched a withering attack on the International Rugby Board for introducing a series of experimental law variations (ELVs) and said that the sport was in danger of ruination unless the authorities ditched the controversial new regulations.

Speaking yesterday to The Herald, the former World Cup-winning winger, who gained 101 caps for Australia and scored a record haul of 64 tries, claimed that the IRB were more concerned with "irrelevant" matters, such as the question of whether Sevens should become part of the Olympic Games schedule, rather than tackling the real issues.

"Rugby is like the film Groundhog Day: it is predictable, you watch a match, knowing what is going to happen in advance, and these new ELVs are a disaster, which could destroy the game if they are given the green light by the authorities," said Campese in Sydney, where he has returned after spending three years in South Africa with the Natal Sharks.



"Sport has to be about entertaining the public, but instead we have two teams kicking the ball into the air, endlessly, repeatedly, because they are too scared to try anything adventurous, and are just waiting for the other side to make a mistake. I never thought I would say this, but Will Carling was right all those years ago when he talked about the old farts' who were damaging the sport and nothing has changed in the intervening period.

"At the moment, the IRB seems determined to focus on things which aren't important, such as this obsession with getting rugby into the Olympics, at the expense of addressing things which have to be looked at urgently, such as player burn-out, the drawing up of a realistic world fixture list, and how best we can prevent the 15-a-side game from turning into a carbon copy of rugby league.

"Of course, it is a professional sport now, where teams rely on results and coaches are judged on them, but look at the situation you have in the Northern Hemisphere, where even the French seem to have forgotten about the qualities which made them great. I've had a quick glance at some of the matches in this year's Six Nations Championship, but it's not my idea of rugby. You'll hear the coaching staff in some countries using the phrase: We won ugly today'. That, to me, is basically shorthand for: We got away with it today'."

As somebody who has assisted the South Africans in their development, Campese believes the reigning world champions will be too strong for the British and Irish Lions when the latter embark on their three-Test series in the Republic this summer. Nor does he derive much comfort from recent performances by Scotland, who have slipped down the global rankings since the days when Campese was perfecting his goose-step.

"There are good players in Britain and Ireland and I know that Ian McGeechan will get them working well as a unit, but I can't see the South Africans being beaten on their own patch, at altitude, in front of their own supporters, and particularly considering that they will come into these matches fresh, whereas the majority of the British guys will have played up to 40 games in the previous nine months," said Campese.

"I expect most of the Lions squad to come from Ireland and Wales, given their form in the Six Nations, but it's disappointing that there are so few Scots who have put their names in the frame.

"But that's what happens when you aren't winning. I read that the Scotland coach Frank Hadden had praised his team for playing well for 40 minutes in one match, but that argument doesn't cut any ice with me and I wouldn't imagine it does with the likes of Andy Irvine or Gavin Hastings.

"It would be like a group of ballet dancers performing Swan Lake', getting through the first half without any mistakes, and then saying to each other: Right, we did that okay, so let's go home.' At international level, you have to be committed for the whole 80 minutes, and anyone who can't grasp that should not be involved in Test rugby in the first place."

This article was originally posted on 17-Mar-2009, 08:03 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 17-Mar-2009, 08:08.