Australian apathy tarnishing Bledisloe
If there aren’t already enough things keeping Raelene Castle awake at night, the reminders just keep coming as Sydney’s Bledisloe Cup opener and the prospect of an Australian sporting public turning the cold shoulder inches closer.
Castle, the Kiwi now running Australian rugby, has a helluva job. Her day literally begins with a verbal bashing from former Wallaby coach turned populist radio host Alan Jones (a man who is the only potential rival to Donald Trump as the most knowledgable person in the world on any given subject).
Jones is relentless – but so also are the genuine problems confronting Australian rugby at almost every level.
The TV ratings across the ditch for the Wallabies are now diabolical.
League’s first ever stand-alone women’s State of Origin match, played at North Sydney Oval, drew more than 1 million viewers. That’s a great achievement. But the fact it was more eyeballs than watched the deciding third test between Six Nations champions Ireland and the Wallabies is exactly the sort of thing that should keep Castle restless.
The Bledisloe Cup used to be watched by lots of Australians in the same way we tune into a football World Cup. Casual interest. And the hope my team will go OK.
But now it’s even worse, plenty don’t tune in at all.
Undoubtedly, the run of series losses (15 years is moving towards a generation) has been the key factor. Australians are proud.
They see themselves, like us Kiwis, as consistently capable of punching above their weight. In rugby, they are throwing tiny rabbit punches at our knees.
That hurts – and so now they’ve turned off. The TV. Buying a ticket. Watching Super Rugby. The lot.
Currently we see former Wallaby Nick Cummins, now better known as the Honey Badger, flogging undies for some company and standing there in his Y-fronts holding a Bledisloe Cup replica under his arm. He ignores the cup until right at the end where he simply looked at it and quipped: ‘‘Haven’t seen this puppy in a while.’’
It was a nice line but Castle probably didn’t appreciate it.
As Kiwis we still appreciate the Bledisloe Cup. Winning helps, but we will always watch it even if it remains one-sided.
But even that is under a bit of pressure.
Perhaps this year the most exciting challenge this year lies against Ireland and England.
Maybe it’s because Eddie Jones (so easily cast as a villain) is now guiding England, and we’ve got a Kiwi in Joe Schmidt driving Ireland to never before scaled heights that has attracted our attention.
But the northern narrative has become more compelling in recent years.
Short of a Springbok revival under Rassie Erasmus, there is less to be excited over in this upcoming Rugby Championship than there is over the northern tour where we have a chance to demoralise Jones and England a year out from the World Cup and dent Ireland’s confidence.
And that’s just a little bit sad.