Wallabies legend David Campese asked rugby-loving kids one question – and the fact they couldn’t answer it shows the sport is at an all-time low in Australia
- Aussie Great holds coaching clinics across the country
- Says there is a decline at the grassroots of the sport
- He also hit out at Rugby Australia boss Eddie Jones
Australian rugby chief David Campese has revealed that the rugby-playing kids he meets on coaching trips around the country cannot answer a simple question about the national team.
The legendary winger has responded to the Wallabies’ shock World Cup campaign by blasting coach Eddie Jones, Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan and other influential figures in the sport, saying his warnings about how bad the sport is going down. have been blown to the wind.
“For the past five years I have been traveling around Australia coaching kids and trying to make a difference as I have seen the decline in grassroots skills and coaching,” Campese wrote for the Sydney Morning Herald.
‘I ask the children after training to name their favorite Wallaby. Most of them can’t name a single player.
Campese (pictured playing for the Wallabies at the 1995 World Cup) has hit out at the state of his beloved sport in Australia
The Wallabies need a miracle to avoid their first ever World Cup group stage exit after their horror defeat to Wales (pictured)
“We want to hear less about McLennan and more about the players.”
Campese believes the rot of the code in Australia started ‘around the time of the Israeli Folau saga, when Australian rugby lost many supporters’.
Former NRL star Folau was sacked by Rugby Australia in May 2019 over homophobic social media posts in which he warned ‘drunks’ and ‘homosexuals’ that ‘hell awaits them’.
The Wallabies greats also criticized Jones for his reported job interview with Japanese rugby just days before the World Cup started.
“After the match against Wales, Jones threatened to walk out of a press conference if reporters continued to ask questions about his interview with the Japan Rugby Federation, which from all reports is true,” Campese wrote.
Australia’s leading try scorer in Test football has slammed Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan as he lashed out at the governing body
Wallabies coach Eddie Jones (pictured during Wallabies training during the World Cup) was also in Campese’s sights
‘Can we, the rugby public, be mistaken for idiots?
‘The RA board is not accountable and it feels like McLennan is untouchable.’
It is far from the first time Campese has destroyed the state of Australian rugby.
Last year, Australia’s record Test try scorer branded the sport a ‘joke’ in an exclusive chat with Daily Mail Australia.
“It’s a farce,” he said.
‘The referees consider themselves the most important person on the field. They think it’s about them, but it’s not. It’s about the game. It’s about the players and the supporters.
‘People don’t pay their money to see a referee blowing his whistle. They are going to watch a football match. They want to see tries, not penalties. It is pathetic. The way things are going now, it’s a joke.’