Honest Joe Schmidt puts in the driving hours while Eddie Jones sticks his head in the sand in revealing World Cup doco; The ‘White Shark’ New Zealand rugby needs to fear; Warriors pre-season trial numbers
already turning heat up on Super Rugby Pacific.

If you want a contrast in the attitudes of two coaches and compelling evidence that Rugby Australia is far better off under somebody like Joe Schmidt, I offer the following anecdote.

Schmidt doesn’t start his Wallabies head coaching role until March 1, but noted that all five captains of Australia’s Super Rugby Pacific franchises were going to be in Auckland last week for a season launch.

The former All Blacks assistant and Ireland head coach could have organised a Zoom to catch up with the group but decided against that. He was up at 3am to make the almost four-hour drive north from his Taupō base for a 7am meeting with the skippers.

He passed on attending the Super launch but the skippers described the catch-up as “invaluable” and a reflection of Schmidt’s commitment to the job despite his plan to keep living in New Zealand but travelling frequently to Australia.

Brumbies captain and test Wallaby prop Allan Alaalatoa inadvertently summed up the difference between Schmidt and his predecessor Eddie Jones in two separate interviews last week.

“It was great to meet him,” Alaalatoa said of the Schmidt meeting. “I think Joe’s appointment for the game is going to be awesome.

“It was about sharing ideas and asking questions about the programme and our Super teams. He wanted to get an understanding from the players on a few things and see where he can add his input. He wants to make those connections stronger. It’s positive vibes so far.”

It’s another illustration of how Schmidt taking over the Wallabies and Tony Brown taking on the Springboks attacking coaching role under the evil genius of international rugby, Rassie Erasmus, brings an intriguing element to the All Blacks’ Rugby Championship campaign under incumbent Scott Robertson.

If Erasmus is an evil genius, Jones is rugby’s perpetually angry goblin – a sad demise for a man who mostly drew grudging admiration from All Blacks fans in his coaching heyday, overseeing two World Cup semifinal exits against us (Australia in 2003 and with England in 2019).

And Alaatatoa himself was less charitable in his characterisation of Jones versus Schmidt at a promotional event in Sydney for a rather intriguing Channel Nine documentary series airing across the Ditch this week.

He confirmed some players still feel “anger” towards Jones over last year’s chaotic World Cup campaign.

The three-episode doco, called The Wallabies– Inside Rugby World Cup 2023, screened on Nine’s pay TV network Stan (and possibly on Sky here) and captures the full Wallabies meltdown when they failed to advance from their group at the tournament.

With “hundreds of hours of fly-on-the-wall” footage captured during the campaign, it’s inevitable some is damning of Jones. The series captures the abrasive manner of the coach in his interactions with players, including a training-ground encounter with forward James Slipper where Jones laments the lack of “hardness” among the Wallabies.

In another, Jones plots a plan with coaching staff to cover up a serious injury to No 8 Will Skelton.

Alaalatoa confirmed many players had mixed views of Jones.

“There are some guys who are frustrated with how it all played out and how he went about things,” Alaalatoa said.

“There is probably a bit of anger there as well. There are also boys who are grateful. He took a punt on a lot of young lads, who at the beginning of the year thought they were no chance of playing in the Wallabies. There is definitely a mixed range of emotions.”

Doco producers say they consulted Jones through the making of the series but the veteran coach, now with Japan, had no veto power over editing.

Will Jones be watching the series?

He told the UK’s Daily Telegraph Rugby Podcast he had no plans to.

“I don’t really care mate,” he said. “That’s all history now. I’ve moved on. If you keep looking back over your shoulder and keep wanting to go back or escape from what it was, it doesn’t treat you at all well in what you’re doing. I don’t want to look back now.”

Why we should fear rugby’s ‘White Shark’

He was nicknamed “The White Shark” of Scottish rugby but former top international flanker John Jeffrey is now scaring rugby circles for a different reason.

Jeffrey, who retired from test rugby in 1991 and is mostly remembered by All Blacks fans as a gritty white-topped flanker and persistent nuisance, became World Rugby’s vice-chairman when disgraced French rugby boss Bernard Laporte was found guilty last year of corruption charges.

Now he’s being tipped to succeed Englishman Sir Bill Beaumont, who has chaired World Rugby since 2016. French newspaper L’Equipe reported last October the 64-year-old Scotsman had written a letter of intent to stand for Beaumont’s role.

Since then, no other candidates appear to have surfaced, including former Argentina captain Augustin Pichot, whom New Zealand Rugby (NZR) backed in an ill-fated plan to roll Beaumont four years ago.

Unless Pichot mounts a late rally, Jeffrey is a shoo-in to take over in November this year when Beaumont is widely tipped to stand aside, given he’s had two terms at the helm.

The problem with Jeffrey is that he is even more conservative than Beaumont, under whom NZR and the small Pacific Island nations have made little progress on international issues.

And Scotland is one of the national unions with the most to lose under any overdue realignment and rationalisation of World Rugby power.

If ever there was a time and place for a Saudi takeover of international rugby, it’s fast approaching.

NZ Rugby shifts deckchairs on Titanic

Suppose there had been an independent review of a major government department or a major corporation where damning findings had been released to the public at the end of last August. Would there be an outcry if six months later absolutely nothing had happened?

Particularly if the findings included a call for the entire board to stand down and for a complete overhaul of governance?

Ask the Fletchers board.

So why do we still continue to see a state of inertia over NZR’s independent governance review?

The simple answer is that shameless self-interest continues to prevail among NZR board members and provincial unions.

This further unpicking of the Silver Lake underwrite debacle from Gregor Paul in the Herald only underlines the mess.

The scrutiny NZR is coming under may also explain a subtle change it has made in seeking a replacement for Charlotte McLauchlan, who was communications and brand officer until finishing up late last year.

Now NZR appears to be splitting the role from a portfolio of the brand to simply a head of communications. It seems to be an acknowledgment the former role is too big for one person.

It’ll be a tough gig for whoever gets it.

My advice is to speak to seasoned pros who have previously done the head of comms role well. I include Peter Parussini, now a top exec with ANZ Bank, and consultant Brian Finn, the last two people to understand what the role really requires.

We also await developments over who ends up with the “brand” part of McLauchlan’s responsibilities.

What Sports Insider will be watching

Before Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs, there was previously another NFL juggernaut.

Legendary coach Bill Belichick and superstar quarterback Tom Brady are no longer at the New England Patriots but their personalities loom large over Apple TV’s new 10-part doco series, The Dynasty.

The series is being lauded as the best sports doco series since Michael Jordan’s The Last Dance. Lofty praise. The series has just dropped on Apple so I’ll view and report back.

Here’s the trailer on a team who won six Super Bowl titles before the Chiefs dethroned them as the NFL’s ultimate force.

What Sports Insider is reading

Nigel Owens has always struck most of us as a sensible voice in a sea of mired officialdom. The retired Welsh referee reinforced that this week with a piece in the Guardian after the Scotland-France Six Nations TMO debacle.

A brief excerpt:

“Technology has made people expect that decisions are black and white, but refereeing is about interpreting the massive grey areas in rugby,” Owens says.

“Technology has created this environment where we have controversies every week. It’s used too much and I’d say it’s made refereeing worse. It’s like walking a tightrope between two high buildings. If you took away the safety net you’d be damned sure that anyone who steps on that rope would know what they’re doing. With a safety net there’s a licence to get things wrong.

“Technology was also supposed to lessen the abuse directed at referees but it’s only highlighted their mistakes. It puts them under a spotlight and anyone with social media can pile on. There’s never been more hate for referees.”

Team of the Week

Reece Walsh

The league wunderkind discovered by the Warriors is set to become the highest-paid player in the history of the glamour Brisbane Broncos club. Walsh, who becomes a free agent next year, is poised to reap a mammoth 150 per cent pay rise since returning to the Queensland club last season. Brisbane are prepared to pay him a club-record A$1.1 million ($1.16m) a year to keep rivals at bay.

“He won’t be going anywhere,” Broncos coach Kevin Walters said of Walsh. “I’ve just mortgaged the house to keep him here.”

Walsh is currently on a bargain basement three-year deal worth A$400,000 a season after the Warriors released him to the Broncos early on compassionate grounds so he could be nearer his infant daughter from a previous relationship.

Former Broncos captain Corey Parker urged Brisbane to pay whatever it needed to stump with to keep Walsh, who was phenomenal for the NRL club last season.

“Name me a club out there that wouldn’t pay $1 million, or more, for him?” Parker said. “I have never seen anyone with his following. There were girls running in front of the bus and screaming for his autograph.”

Warriors and pre-season crowds

As Super Rugby’s latest incarnation rolls out in Hamilton on Friday night, here’s something for rugby to ponder as the weekend unfolds…

An entirely second-string side, plus Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, drew a crowd of 13,760 to Christchurch last Sunday when the Warriors narrowly lost a pre-season trial against last year’s NRL wooden spooners, the Wests Tigers.

A Warriors line-up more accurately reflecting their best 2024 line-up will tackle the Dolphins at Mt Smart Stadium on Saturday in the final trial of the year.

If the crowd eclipses matches such as the Blues’ opening Super Rugby Pacific encounter against the Fijian Drua in Whangārei on the same day, what does that say about rugby as a spectacle right now and where fan interest may be swinging?

Israel Adesanya

The Nigerian-born Kiwi UFC mega-star backed Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs to win the Super Bowl, planting US$20,000 ($32,000) down to win US$44,000 with an American sports wagering company.

And Israel Adesanya’s recently produced documentary Stylebender has dropped on New Zealand screens on Neon. It’s a good watch on a unique Kiwi sports star.

Lewis Clareburt and Erika Fairweather

Two world champions at the same time! In an Olympic event! In two signature swim events (440m freestyle for Fairweather and 440m individual medley for Clareburt). Dare we believe Kiwi swimming’s greatest Olympic campaign yet may be in the wings?

Auckland’s A-League side chasing A-rated talent

A reliable source tells Sports Insider the Auckland A-League team is days away from announcing the signing of a top-draw, seasoned international A-League player. The contenders thought to have impressed Bill Foley’s crew are Aussie aces: Jamie Maclaren and Jake Brimmer of Melbourne City, Sydney FC’s Luke Brattan and Bruno Fornaroli of the Melbourne Victory.