community rugby - Australian Sports Commission

HIGH PERFORMANCE UNIT
HIGH PERFORMANCE UNIT
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Highlights of the season included an impressive semi final placing
at the Los Angeles tournament in February under the coaching of
Bill Millard. Bill has been central to taking very inexperience sevens
players primarily from club Rugby and developing many into genuine
prospects for the 2006 Commonwealth Games team in March 2006.
Also, Nick Reily finished fourth on the top try scorer list with 27 tries
and sixth in the overall top point scorer standings with 141 points.
James Morgan finished seventh in the top point scorer standings with
135 points.
The major 2005 season highlight was the tremendous semi final
placing at the 2005 iRB Sevens RWC in Hong Kong. The team finished
just four points behind the favoured New Zealand team in the semi
final – just one try away from an historic final berth at the biggest
Sevens tournament on the calendar.
The team finished in sixth position on the overall iRB Sevens Series
standings, an improvement on the 2003/04 eighth place finish.
However, the development aspect of the program has resulted in
five players from the 2004/2005 season being offered professional
Super 14 contracts for the 2006 season – a credit to the coaching
and management staff and the application of the players to use
the Sevens program as a stepping stone to higher opportunities.
Importantly the opportunity to develop many young players in the
international sevens environment will prove very beneficial come the
2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne – a highlight and major
goal on next year’s Sevens program calendar.
The Sevens program was very well serviced by the coaching, medical
and management staff used through the 2004/2005 season.
Departing Head Coach Bill Millard has been able to identify and
develop many club Rugby players for the Sevens team and importantly
put them in line for Commonwealth Games selection. Glen Ella
has returned as Head Coach of the Australia Sevens team and had
an immediate impact with a semi final pacing in the Sevens RWC.
Glen will now prepare for the major event of 2006 – the Melbourne
Commonwealth Games. Thank you also to physiotherapist Alan
Davies, team doctor Angus Bathgate and team manager Gary Pearse
for their tireless work throughout the season.
Australian Referees
In 2005, George Ayoub, Andrew Cole, Stuart Dickinson, Scott Young
and Matt Goddard were all appointed by the iRB Selectors to referee
a total of 16 Test matches between, including Matt Goddard’s Test
match refereeing debut between Canada and Wales in Canada.
Andrew Cole refereed a Super 12 Semi Final and at the annual Tooheys
New Super 12 Awards was recognised as the Tooheys New Super 12
Referee of the Series. He announced his retirement in December, after
refereeing Ireland v Romania the previous month. This was Andrew’s
31st Test match and he will be missed by Australian Rugby.
Brett Bowden, Greg Hinton and Julian Pritchard were selected for
various iRB Sevens tournaments around the globe and performed
with distinction. Greg announced his retirement this year from
international Rugby after many years on the National Panel and will
take up a coaching role with the Australian Referees’ Academy.
At the iRB Under 21 and Under 19 World Championships, Paul Marks
and James Leckie both performed well respectively, with James being
rewarded with the Under 19s Final between South Africa and New
Zealand.
Referee reviewers Ian Scotney, Sandy MacNeill, Brian Kinsey and
Mick Keogh all received iRB appointments during the year.
Mick Keogh also continued as Coach of the National Referees Squad,
with all referees benefiting from his coaching and Elite Coaching
Methodology document.
The National Referees Academy is into its second
year and the coaches are working hard with the
best up-and-coming referees in Australia. Terry
O’Connor managed the Academy and provided all
the referees with personalised coaching and skill
sessions.
The year also saw the introduction of the Women’s
Referee Development Group, with three of the best
female referees in Australia receiving individual
coaching.
2005 Australian Referees Panel
George Ayoub, Brett Bowden, Andrew Cole, Stuart
Dickinson, Matt Goddard, Paul Marks, Scott Young.
Australian Referees Academy
Geoff Acton, James Leckie, Andrew Lindsay, Alastair Mould, Julian
Pritchard, James Scholtens, Bradley Wahl.
Player Relations
The year 2005 again demonstrated the importance of having an inhouse
resource signing and re-signing Australian Rugby’s professional
players and managing various associated activities.
As the ARU’s Professional Player Liaison Manager, Shaun Barry spent
the early part of the year implementing the new Collective Bargaining
Agreement that was signed at the end of 2004.
Essentially an industrial relations agreement between the ARU,
Member Unions and the players, the new CBA covers the years 2005
to 2008 and features innovative player welfare reforms, the creation
of special rookie contracts and the introduction of a compulsory
accreditation scheme for player managers.
Of greatest note however, is that the new four-year agreement
is regarded as international Rugby’s best, which is consistent
with Australian Rugby’s policy of adopting world’s best practice
standards.
The implementation of the new CBA began almost immediately
after it was signed and involved a structured schedule of visits to
Member Unions to advise them and players of the implications of the
agreement.
The four Australian Super 14 Unions were particularly pleased with
the new Rookie Contract, which enables them to sign less experienced
players, thereby providing ongoing development opportunities for
Super 12/14 players of the future.
Also seen as a welcome addition was the inclusion of an Occupational
Health & Safety Committee, whose main focus is addressing player
welfare issues including injury rates (in conjunction with a UNSW
study that found injury rates are falling substantially), heat guidelines,
minimum playing surface standards and the 30-game limit. Thanks
must go to the Committee’s inaugural Chairman, Mr Bruce Hodgkinson
QC, for his hard work, which he undertakes voluntarily.
A third feature of the CBA implemented this year was the RUPA Player
Agent Accreditation Scheme. Funded and administered by RUPA, the
scheme requires all player managers dealing with Australian Rugby
on behalf of professional players to be registered, pass an exam and
comply with a code of conduct to ensure they act professionally,
ethically and in the best interests of the players and the game. The
scheme was implemented in September and is a major milestone in
professional Rugby, with Australia being the first country to put this
type of program in place. At the end of this year, 44 player agents
were accredited, most of them applying for accreditation almost
immediately after the scheme was launched.
Another major project for 2005 was the contracting of an additional
full squad of professional players (33) as Australia’s newest Super
14 team, the Western Force readied themselves to enter the
competition. This process brought the total number of professional
players contracted or re-contracted in 2005 to 88. Throughout these
negotiations there were varying degrees of media speculation about
the effectiveness of the contracting process, however negotiations
went smoothly and were conducted within the expected timeframe.
On all of these projects, the ARU has continued to work closely with the
Rugby Union Players Association (RUPA) and we take this opportunity
to thank them for their support and work on the CBA, the Player Agent
Accreditation scheme and day-to-day player welfare issues. We also
thank outgoing Career Training Scheme Manager Glen Warry for his
tireless work setting up the Career Training Scheme and over the
years, and welcome Yvonne Soper, Glen’s replacement.
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Australian Rugby Union 2005 Annual Report