Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan's long-term vision involves centralization and better player recruitment. Photo: Hugo Ribes
It was while dining with his wife and relatives at a restaurant in Lyon that Hamish McLennan, chairman of Rugby Australia, came face to face with the daunting personal consequences of the Wallabies' failed World Cup campaign.
< p>“ The incident occurred on the night after Australia's exit from the pool was effectively confirmed by a 40-6 defeat to Wales, ending any remaining hopes of Eddie Jones' side reaching the quarter-finals in France.
McLennan, whose successful business in media, advertising and marketing has seen him answer to demanding bosses such as Rupert Murdoch and Sir Martin Sorrell, is no stranger to facing storms.
But he says that the outpouring of anger directed at him for investing in the Joneses' project – which has so far produced just one win in eight Test matches this year and led to elimination from the pools for the first time in Wallabies history – has gone beyond the scope of professional criticism.
Sitting at a restaurant table in Lyon with his wife Lucinda, her brother and his wife, the Australian fan circled his table for several minutes before pulling up a chair and placing a glass of milk in front of him.
“He ordered it for me.” drink,” he recalled. “I took a sip. He told me that after Wales' defeat, he and his family only drank milk.
“He sat there for 10 minutes. He was particularly upset, and I understand, but I think he crossed the line. It got to the point where I thought he was going to hit me or try to break the glass.
“It was ugly and I felt embarrassed in front of my family and everyone was shocked. I still haven't told anyone except my friends. I think it's just a sign of the times.”
A trip to Annecy, an Alpine town in southeastern France, brought little respite this week. “We fled to Annecy to get away from it all and when we got there we met some Wallabies supporters wearing Hawaiian shirts and Wallabies caps. They pretended to take pictures of the landscape, but I knew they were taking pictures of me instead. It was quite funny. Then I heard them say: “I knew it, I knew it, I knew it was him!”
McLennan is not looking for sympathy. The decision to sack Dave Rennie and replace him with Jones, who had himself just been sacked by England, in January was not without risk. He knew it. But he also knew that, in his opinion, the worst thing he could do back in December was nothing.
“I was really worried we were going to get knocked out in the pool stage, so we replaced Dave (Rennie) with Eddie,” McLennan told Telegraph Sport. “So we wanted to give ourselves as many chances as possible to go deeper. This is the greatest irony of the situation.
“Eddie is a fantastic coach. People may not like the way he acts in the media, but he worked his butt off and he's a smart guy. He has a great winning percentage and a great World Cup record against a coach (Rennie) who has never been to a World Cup and just lost to Italy.”
McLennan says Eddie Jones (right) was brought in to give Australia the “best possible chance to go deep”; in France Photo: Getty Images/Matt King
Whether Jones stays or returns to take a job in Japan after the World Cup remains a moot point. But McLennan remains committed to Jones leading the long-term recovery process, reassuring Lions fans the Wallabies will be competitive again in time for the 2025 tour and promising the “greatest comeback in history” by the time Australia hosts the World Cup 2027.
What drives McLennan is the feeling that those who attack him or Jones are missing the point. Since taking over as chairman at the height of the Covid pandemic in 2020, he has donated his Rugby Australia salary to women's and local rugby and has been willing to roll up his sleeves in a tough domestic market where both the NRL and AFL can. make quick decisions to increase interest and revenue and demonstrate the visible leadership that his Twickenham counterpart lacked.
He's not afraid to pull the punches, but he passionately believes the team's performance in France should not be a wake-up call for a major overhaul of the way the game is organized in Australia, especially from a high-scoring perspective. where “state” rugby unions currently hold power.
'Time to seize the moment'
Rugby Australia will carry out an independent review after the campaign, which could include David Nucifora, the former Wallabies hooker who oversaw Ireland's rise to the top spot in the world rankings as its high-performance manager. In 2012, Nucifora made a presentation to Rugby Australia based on a centralized high performance system, but it was rejected. McLennan believes now is the time to “seize the moment” and implement such a structure.
“The ramp-up is already there, but we need to think long term,” he adds. “We need to think about centralization, better player recruitment, better player retention so they don't go overseas, fix our media rights and continue to attract sponsorship for both men and women and promote the game. And all this while there is not much money in the bank. I actually think the board has done a great job, despite the results of this World Cup, from where we've been.
“I think society and business are a really funny place where the dots views are so amplified, and social media in particular is very personal and offensive. But you need to somehow get that noise out of your head and make decisions that are good for the game and for the long term. Rugby in Australia suffers from short-termism and I have said from the beginning that we need to think long-term and 2027 will be our moment.”
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