Rugby maverick David Campese has delivered a fresh withering blast at the modern game and says he wishes for more players like Welsh greats who lit up the sport.
The Australian legend fears for rugby's very future unless 'overcoached' players start doing things off the cuff again and bring back the entertainment value.
He says if the game remains boring, youngsters won't want to start playing rugby.
SIGN UP: Get the latest Welsh rugby news sent straight to your inbox for free
"And if they don’t get into the game, soon there won’t be a game," warns Campese.
The World Cup winning Wallaby, who lit up rugby as one of the great entertainers during the 1980s and '90s, spells out his concerns in a new book titled ' Rugby's Greatest Mavericks'.
In a foreword to the book, Campese slams coaches for having too much input into rugby and says: "I worry that if the crowd aren’t entertained, those crowds will drift away."
He cites South Africa wing sensation Cheslin Kolbe and mercurial Scotland and Lions fly-half Finn Russell as two men he does enjoy watching today, as well as the France half-back duo of Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack.
But Campo stresses: "There aren’t enough players like this and there’s not nearly enough flair on the pitch. Why? Because the modern game is too dominated by coaches.
"Players have no idea how to think about the game themselves. If it’s not working, they don’t know how to change tactics. They are overcoached.
"We need to stop the coaches running onto the field and telling players what to do. They are meant to be the best in the country: it should be left to them to control the game, and not their coach up in the stand with his microphone.
"This is part of the influence that rugby league has over union – it’s not just coaching staff, but this approach to the game and emphasis on the defence – and I think it’s deeply negative."
Campese continues: "The worst invention in world rugby is the academy. They’re run by people who were never that good at playing rugby, and they just churn out boring players who can’t think for themselves, taking them out of club and school rugby, where they’d be better off.
"There are too many people at the top of rugby, throughout the world, who don’t know what they are doing.
"I don’t think modern rugby players are that happy. If I was playing today, I’d still be pretty good, but I wouldn’t be able to just stand on the wing waiting for the ball. I’d go looking for the ball, and a lot of coaches don’t like that."
Saying the game has taken a turn for the worse since turning professional, Campese says: "I wouldn’t want to play today. Society has changed, the pressure has increased, and the sport is the worse for it. Quite simply, it’s less fun.
"There are a lot of great players out there, but I worry that if the crowd aren’t entertained, those crowds will drift away."
Expressing a wish for more mavericks like himself, Russell and Kolbe, Campese says he took inspiration from the Ellas - Mark, Gary and Glen - who played in Australia during the 1980s.
"Remarkable with the ball, they thought the same and played with instinct," he says.
"The Ellas followed on from the Seventies Wales players like Phil Bennett, Gerald Davies, Gareth Edwards and JPR Williams: those were real mavericks and their style set the world alight.
"Shane Williams would be a worthy successor to them.
"We need more of these kind of players to keep rugby exciting. Remember, it’s just a game, and games are meant to be fun!
"A maverick is not just someone who goes against the grain but is a player who genuinely wants to do something different."
Among the Welsh mavericks having chapters devoted to them in the book is Pontypool legend David Bishop, who scandalously for a man of his enormous matchwinning talent was given just one cap by the Wales selectors.
Rugby’s Greatest Mavericks, price £12.99, will be launched on Saturday, October 22 at Cover to Cover bookshop in the Mumbles, Swansea 11am. Copies are available from www.ylolfa.com
READ MORE:
-
Six Nations set for major Netflix documentary as Wales and England agree to open doors
-
Wales full-back plan branded 'a real concern' as no outright successor on the horizon
-
Scarlets make emergency signing from English Premiership as team named for Connacht trip
-
Sam Warburton shows everyone how you're actually meant to clear out a jackaller in brilliant video
