Why cant Aussie's play rugby as well as the All Blacks? The Pommies are better than us too!?

Question

Why cant Aussie's play rugby as well as the All Blacks? The Pommies are better than us too!?

Answer 1

Yes at the moment I suppose Australian rugby is a bit down but still very good. OK New Zealands record is better but I agree that cricket is bigger down under and who is better then Australia in cricket ? No country. Also do not talk to soon, watch the Aussies in the coming tri-nations tournament, I think they are going to be the team to beat. When Australia gets their act together they are as good as anybody and fantastic to watch. Yeah, and this coming from a Springbok supporter. 2 RWC to Australia and 1 to New Zealand. It´s the big cup that matters. The Poms are NOT better then Australia, they got lucky. Go Wallabies.

Answer 2

Who says we don't? I can guarantee you that not a lot of All Blacks supporters would share your view. The Wallabies are always competitive in the Bledisloe Cup. OK, admittedly the AB's have a much better win record than us, but that doesn't mean we "can't play rugby as well as the All Blacks" - most games are very tight with only a few points separating the winner from the loser.

Ask any Kiwi who they think their most worthy opponents are - I bet most would say either Australia or Sth Africa, and rightly so.

Things you need to consider:

1) Rugby is NZ's national sport. EVERYONE lives and breathes rugby over there.

2) Schoolboy rugby in Australia is mostly confined to the private schools (GPS, TAS, CCC) systems. Before I get shouted down, I'm generalising here. I've played rugby all my life but went to a public school, so I know there are a lot of exceptions to this one.

3) A large proportion of Australia's top male athletes are AFL players.

4) We also have the NRL - arguably the strongest rugby league competition in the world.

5) Australia excels at a large number of sports, i.e, we don't have all our eggs in one basket, so to speak.

(Nice post, W W!! Bradley, on the other hand, hasn't got  a clue!!)

Answer 3

because austarlia has a very small pool of players considering cricket and rugby league are both more popular games there.

england has a huge pool to pick from 12 first class priemership teams compared to aussies 4 super 14 clubs. new zealand lives breeds and sleeps rugby