Amazing Piece of Character Assassination on Michael Foley by Spiro Zavos

[andrewg]

Wow, only now am I starting to understand what Michael Foley was up against in NSW.
Haters just love to hate.
Cheika gets the "benefit of the doubt" while Foley gets slagged like this!!


Keep Michael Foley away from the Wallabies
SMH/Rugby Heaven
February 20, 2015
Spiro Zavos

There are three issues that need resolution before the Wallabies begin their 2015 Rugby World Cup campaign. Can Michael Cheika cope with the two full-time jobs, coaching the Waratahs and the Wallabies? Should the Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham be brought into the Wallabies coaching team as a back expert? And should the Western Force coach Michael Foley join Larkham as an expert on forward play?

First, the Cheika matter. The vapid, disjointed and clueless play of the Waratahs (why was Israel Folau kicking and not running?) in their defeat at Sydney by the Force suggests that right now Cheika is struggling in his dual roles. The precedent for what he is trying to do was set by Robbie Deans in 2008 when he coached the Crusaders to their last Super Rugby victory and then coached the Wallabies to a first-up victory over the All Blacks. Cheika, though, is taking the Wallabies to a RWC tournament, the ultimate coaching challenge.

Against the Force, the Waratahs were beaten in the contact area. They looked nothing like last season's side. They conceded 18 turnovers, second to the Lions (19). They allowed themselves, too, to be suckered into the go-slow tactics of the Force. Before an important scrum in the second half, for instance, Nick Phipps, who is unfortunately starting to believe his own publicity, knocked the ball out of the opposing halfback's hand. Result: more time-wasting, which was what the Force wanted.

Cheika deserves the benefit of the doubt, in my opinion, about his capacity to handle the Waratahs and Wallabies jobs. We need to remember that last year the Waratahs lost four of their first nine matches. But it is worrying that he admits he got the team's preparation wrong.

Larkham's Brumbies, in his first outing as head coach, were superb in defeating the Reds 47-3. Elements of the old Jakeball game, the driving maul and lineout excellence (96 per cent), have been kept. But Larkham has grafted on to these elements the traditional Brumbies game of confrontation at the breakdown, slick backline attacks and intelligent, hard-shouldered defence. The Brumbies missed eight tackles, the best result of any team.

Larkham was one of the greatest backs in the history of rugby. This history and the play of the Brumbies backs under his coaching make him an ideal backs coach for the Wallabies in their bid to win the Webb Ellis trophy.
The best that can be said about the Force is that they defeated the Waratahs. But the tactics the Force used to achieve this result were deplorable. They were determined not to play any rugby. Players went down after most plays. They dragged themselves, reluctantly, to the lineouts and scrums. Why referee Steve Walsh tolerated this go-slow inaction is something SANZAR needs to look at. There was niggling play off the ball. The crowd started to leave in disgust, at both teams, before the end of the match. The way the Force played reminded me of the "win-ugly" style adopted by the Waratahs when Foley was involved in their coaching. This style (or, rather, the lack of an attractive style) resulted in crowds staying away in their thousands, and in a title drought for the Waratahs.

Call me an idealist but the Foley "play-no-rugby-to-win" attitude is unacceptable for the Wallabies (and the Force, in the long run, but that is another argument). I don't care if he knows everything about forward play. He knows nothing about the spirit of the Wallabies which Peter Fenton, bless him, summed up so memorably: "It's the camaraderie/That's born of valour not of fame/ It's the sheer exhilaration/When you play the running game."
So keep Foley as far as possible away from the Wallabies.

The Brumbies were the only side in the first round to win at home. This is unprecedented so early in a Super Rugby season. How do we explain this? SANZAR says it is aiming to drive "a high-octane, high-energy game, that is great for players and fans alike". Aside from the Force, the winning sides played to this model. Method trumped venue and long may it continue.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/wa...20-13jywp.html

[jargan83]

The crowd started to leave in disgust, at both teams, before the end of the match.

Revionist history.

The crowd statred leaving in droves when the Force scored their 4th try to put the gap out 15 with about 10ish mins to go.

Tahs fans = ultimate bandwagon supporters.

[valzc]

I doubt whether Spiro like most of the other journos and Fox nobs, has ever even seen a Force game - he's another hasbeen so called 'sports journo'. His articles are always mostly trumped up trash and garbage which he makes up if he can't find anything and his stats and facts are always littered with errors, because he never knows players names and gets games mixed up. Total twat in the same league as Grubby Growden. They give credible sports journos a bad name.

[beige]

Tahs fans = ultimate bandwagon supporters.

Must be a small bandwagon!

[Jeansyjive]

Spiro is a poor excuse for a rugby journalist. Most of his articles read like there written by a Waratah fanboy salivating about the Tahs. He offers very little intelligent rugby analysis. His goal seems to be around clicks rather then good rugby journalism. You only have to read his articles on the roar to see this.

[G_Beard]

This zavos character sounds of weak mind.
Whinging about and contradicting his own points, is he all there?

[shasta]

Most of his articles read like there written by a Waratah fanboy salivating about the Tahs.

Actually he's ripped into the Tahs plenty over the years. He's a Kiwi. Obviously Michael Foley has pissed him off at some point. Just as clearly Zavos has not gotten past that.

[brokendown gunfighter]

he actually opened the batting for Wellington on a couple of occasions---his batting average was about as good as mine-abysmal