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Wallabies derailed by ARU: Gregan
By Bret Harris
August 26, 2008 FORMER Australia captain George Gregan has accused the ARU front office of not fully supporting the Australian team in the 2003 World Cup year.
In his biography Halfback, Half Forward Gregan said some people at the ARU tried to "railroad" the Wallabies' World Cup campaign.
Gregan said the Wallabies were distracted by media leaks from unnamed "high-ranking ARU officials", who said disparaging things about the team, including an alleged ARU campaign to drive the Wallabies skipper out of the game.
The Wallabies leadership group sat down with ARU chief executive John O'Neill just before the World Cup to address the issue.
"It was ridiculous that we had to ask for private Team Wallaby stuff to be kept confidential, but we did - and to O'Neill's credit the damaging leaks stopped occurring," Gregan wrote.
"The worst thing that can happen to the Wallabies is for the fans to stop backing the team, and that never happened in my experience. I don't think it has ever happened.
"The next worst thing that can happen is for the front office to stop supporting the team. That happened to a degree in 2003."
Gregan revealed that his support for the Rugby Union Players Association's court action against the ARU in 2003 over the World Cup participation agreement strained his personal relationship with O'Neill.
"When RUPA advised its members not to sign the PA as it was originally drafted, and sought changes through the ARU, John O'Neill reacted angrily, as if we were trying to sabotage the entire tournament," Gregan wrote.
"Eventually, we were told we had to sign the PA as it stood by a certain date - and if we didn't, they'd start the World Cup without us.
"In response, the RUPA launched Supreme Court legal action against the ARU seeking orders preventing the ARU from approaching its players to sign the PA.
"When I put my signature to an affidavit that was part of the RUPA's court submission, in which I stated that O'Neill had placed undue pressure on the team to sign the PA, our relationship was weakened."
Gregan had mixed feelings about O'Neill as an administrator.
"O'Neill does have some very good qualities," he wrote.
"Overall, I would argue he did a very good job. But I could never understand why he seemed so happy to promote confrontation."
Gregan was honoured to be appointed Wallabies captain in 2001 after John Eales retired, but it was a position he never aspired to.
"There are certain parts of the job that didn't appeal to me, such as the fact that I'd be giving up a fair bit of myself," Gregan wrote.
"I knew I'd have to be careful about what I said, knowing there were reporters out there praying for me to say the right thing in the wrong way so they could twist it to suit themselves."
Gregan wrote that losing the Wallabies captaincy for the 2007 World Cup was a blessing in disguise.
"Losing the captaincy was a funny thing. I think people presumed I'd be bitter but for me it was more of a blessing in that I was now free of a number of off-field commitments," Gregan wrote.
"I knew I wouldn't be captain forever and to have led the Wallabies in more than 50 Tests was a privilege so it would have been very silly to feel hard done by."
Gregan wrote that his long-running battle with sections of the Australian rugby media only strengthened his resolve.
"As the media campaign to get rid of me was at its height, it was natural for me to think, is it all worth it? And the answer, absolutely, was yes."
Gregan played his last game for the Wallabies in the 12-11 loss to England in the 2007 World Cup quarter-final in Marseille.
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...-23217,00.html
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Originally Posted by Geogre Gregan
Was the wait worth it - Ya betta baby 
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