Campese:Schmidt is wrong man for Aussies
DAVID Campese delivered a blunt message regarding Joe Schmidt‘s position as Australia’s head coach, claiming the Kiwi isn’t right for the role because he doesn’t understand the Wallabies’ culture and history.
Speaking on The Rugby Paper podcast, the Wallabies legend, who was player of the tournament in Australia’s 1991 World Cup triumph, said: “I don’t believe we should have a Kiwi coach, Joe Schmidt has got no idea about our culture or history.
“What has he actually won? He hasn’t won anything. We always seem to get a coach that has never won anything. I think it’s very sad that we have to go through this again with another Kiwi coach. We always seem to get the second best Kiwi coach, never the first.”
Schmidt took charge of the Wallabies in March following a disastrous World Cup that saw Australia get knocked out in the group stages to spell the end of Eddie Jones’ brief tenure.
Schmidt, who won consecutive Heineken Cups with Leinster before becoming Ireland coach and winning three Six Nations in five years, is the third New Zealander to coach Australia after Robbie Deans and Dave Rennie.
Despite his previous success, Campese believes his coaching style is straying away from Australia’s DNA. He said: “Schmidt’s not interested to learn our way, he just wants to play his way. We’re mauling the ball from 22 metres out, we don’t do that, that’s not Australian rugby. Foreign coaches don’t want to learn who we are and how we won two World Cups, they just do what they want to do and that’s why they fail. There’s not one foreign coach who’s won a Rugby World Cup.”
■ AUSTRALIA star Jordan Petaia looks set to follow in Louis Rees-Zammit‘s footsteps by attending the NFL‘s International Player Pathway development camp in Florida in January.
The 27-cap 24-year-old, who can play centre, wing or full-back played in three games at last year’s World Cup but missed this year’s Rugby Championship after injuring his shoulder in April.
If he does make the switch it would be another huge blow for Joe Schmidt’s Australia who have also recently lost star winger Mark Nawaqanitawase to Rugby League.
At the beginning of his reign, Schmidt led Australia to two home wins over Wales and a narrow victory over Georgia in July. However, the Wallabies finished last in The Rugby Championship, with just one win whilst also being subjected to a record breaking defeat to Argentina, conceding 67 points – the most ever by an Australian side.
Campese admits Australian rugby is in an incredibly fragile state at the moment and if weren’t for two upcoming major events, the landscape would look very different.
“If we didn’t have the Lions next year or the 2027 World Cup here, there would be no rugby in Australia in three years,” he said. “The problem in Australia is that there’s no knowledge being passed down at all. The World Cup last year was a total debacle, we went over budget by about four million dollars and there hasn’t been a report handed out to anybody.”
Campese says some of the Wallabies are not up to standard, adding: “I don’t think we’ve got the skills to play at a high level. Nobody can pass, all they want to do is run over people. James Slipper is a great player, but he’s never really done much. We’ve also got a prop (Taniela Tupou) who’s worth a million dollars that plays 30 minutes of rugby. Marika Koroibete is a good winger but he was lazy as anything, he doesn’t work off the ball.”
Campese has high praise for the Springboks after they won the Rugby Championship for the first time since 2019.
“A lot of credit has to go to Rassie Erasmus,” he said. “If you look at how many players they’ve got in every position, they can field five different teams. They could’ve won the Test against Australia in Brisbane by about 60 points. For them it’s passion and history and you can see it in the way they play.”
