All Blacks greats back fuming Wallabies legend after attack on ‘blinkered’ New Zealand Rugby
Wallabies taking on All Blacks in the Bledisloe Cup and former New Zealand international Jeff Wilson.
Former All Blacks duo Jeff Wilson and Justin Marshall believe that Tim Horan is right and that New Zealand Rugby (NZR) are missing out on a huge opportunity.
A few days ago it was revealed that Rugby Australia’s proposal for an Anzac Day Test had been rejected by their trans-Tasman neighbours.
That did not go down well in Australia with Wallabies legend Horan accusing NZR of “poor form” and urging the governing body to “take their blinkers off”.
On The Breakdown, Wilson and Marshall both gave their thoughts on the matter and, interestingly, they supported the Australian viewpoint.
‘A huge opportunity’
“Them (NZR) saying it doesn’t really stack up, hopefully it’s not the end of the conversation. I look at this as a huge opportunity,” Wilson said. “Yes, I understand it would be in the middle of Super Rugby but I think there’s a solution around that.
“For me, I don’t think we should be afraid of the fact that we only have a week to prepare for a Test match because it’s the same for both sides.
“All the Super Rugby teams can take the weekend off. I know Super Round had been mooted at the same time but give everyone else the week off, play a Test match and then the following week give the Test players the week off.
“Everyone knows it’s all the same for everybody, it’s only one round they will be missing, but in terms of an event, in terms of the Bledisloe Cup… I would have the Bledisloe Cup on the line every game.
“And how about motivating the players for the first 10 weeks of Super Rugby – to go out there to perform and play well, and get selected.
“I don’t think we should be afraid of something like this, I think we should be prepared to attack this and go, ‘what’s the opportunity here?’”
Justin Marshall’s view
Marshall agreed with his fellow former All Black and believes that NZR should be doing everything they can to make it work.
“There are things that are really clear to me… a 50/50 split, that’s revenue, a no-brainer. There are big stadiums in Australia, which is massive revenue for New Zealand Rugby,” he said.
“We’re always crying out to get more revenue, so that’s the first one.
“I also like the fact that the Bledisloe Cup goes back to three Test matches because if you introduce that Anzac component then it’s more of a contest. At the moment, it’s heavily favoured towards the holder.
“For me, don’t put it in the ‘too hard’ basket. Why think, ‘we can’t do it’? Think, ‘how can we do it?’ You’re going to have those issues but how can we make it work? Where can we make it work? Let’s keep the discussions open instead of just going, ‘no, it doesn’t work for us right now’.”
👀 READ MORE: New Zealand Rugby shoots down lucrative All Blacks v Wallabies Test as Rugby Australia’s radical idea shelved
