From Poms mouthing off ahead of the Wallabies’ win at Twickenham, to Rob Penney’s exasperated c-bomb under intense questioning, plenty of hot air was expelled in rugby circles in 2024.
Joe Schmidt replaced Eddie Jones as Wallabies coach and immediately cast himself as “boring and pragmatic” but did deliver the odd zinger when sparring with rival coaches.
Eddie features, of course, after being blamed for a World Cup budget blowout, and being accused of running dictatorship with England.
Steve Hansen was brutally honest about the Wallabies but ended the year sooking over the World Cup 12 months earlier.
Here’s a selection of the best quotes of 2024 (starting with some sweary ones).
“He’s a disgrace that c–t. Who’s he?” – Under-fire Crusaders coach Rob Penney in reference to a series of prickly questions from TVNZ reporter Thomas Mead.
“… After (referee) Wayne Barnes blows the final whistle, (Rieko Ioane) says, ‘Don’t miss your flight home tomorrow. Enjoy your retirement, you c–t.’ So much for the All Blacks’ famous ‘no dickheads’ policy. So much for their humility. I walk after Ioane and call him a fake-humble f–ker. I don’t look great, me having a go at one of them just after we’ve lost. But I can’t be expected to ignore that.” – Ireland’s Johnny Sexton in his autobiography about his World Cup run in with Rieko Ioane.
“I know there’s been some shit times for sure and some low points. You lose confidence and you question things but I’m just lucky. I thought for a while there, what would I do after this? Do I want to stay in this sort of role? It’s all I’ve ever done. You just get used to living for that. It’s like a junkie. You’ve got to live for that weekend. It doesn’t matter the level for me. I’ll stay coaching because I just love it so much. There’s a bit of embarrassment. There’s a bit of pain with it. But I need to get back on the horse now.” – Darren Coleman after being sacked by the Waratahs.
(Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
“I’m 39. This is my first time here, and in my whole life too, in New Zealand. For that, it’s so important for me, and for the whole team. We work a lot. It’s tough sometimes. And now, this game for us is f–king amazing.” – Pumas veteran Agustin Creevy after beating the All Blacks in NZ.
“We used to say to each other, ‘Just remember, boys, everything’s a test’, as if we were characters in a dystopian novel. We’d get given a form to fill out and we’d have to say to any new boys, ‘Don’t put anything on there that he could use against you. If the form asked how you feel, you’d say you felt fine, even if your leg was falling off. Because if you didn’t, you’d be worried about Eddie calling you into his office and asking if you wanted to go home. Did Eddie rule by fear? Of course he did, everyone was bloody terrified of him. Remember what it felt like when someone was being bullied at school and you were just glad it wasn’t you? That was the vibe.” – Former England player Danny Care on Eddie Jones’s tenure as England’s head coach.
“I’ll tell you mate, I’ve got a new book deal coming out. I signed it today. It’s called ‘Caring About Care’. I’ve got pre-order forms, you can come up and leave your pre-order forms. I tried to do a deal with The Daily Mail but I haven’t come to an agreement yet. But if you want to read about it, there you go. I’m very serious mate. If you want to read about it in my book. That’s how you get headlines. I’ve got a whole chapter about caring about Care.” – Eddie Jones responds.
“In 1984, we were so proud. I’m not saying the current Wallabies aren’t but it’s a different mindset, mate. It’s about money. They’re paid. It’s a job. That’s part of life – that’s good. But when you get paid and you play for a big country I think you should have more respect and understanding of why you’re there. They’re playing for a team that won a grand slam and two World Cups – and they have no idea why they’re playing! When I started, aged 19, I had no idea what the hell I was doing, but I soon learnt about the history and the culture of the Wallabies. If you mentioned Greg Cornelsen to these guys, no one would know him. He’s the only Wallaby to have scored four tries against New Zealand at Eden Park, in 1978. No one’s got any idea! It’s about money. They’re getting 60k or whatever to play for the Wallabies – we got £20 a day. We played 18 games on the ’84 tour!” – David Campese, on the problem with the youth of today.
Rugby was better in Campo’s day. (Photo: Russell Cheyne/Allsport)
“Joe Schmidt. He has no idea about Australian rugby. He’s a New Zealander. He’s not interested in finding out who we are. We used to counter-attack or, at least, attack from the opposition 22. Now, we maul from the 22. That’s not Australian rugby. We used to attack! I’m not saying he’s a bad coach, but why do we have to have a New Zealand coach? No one has ever coached a foreign team to a Rugby World Cup victory.” – Campo’s initial thoughts on Joe Schmidt being named Wallabies coach.
“Robbie Deans was appointed as the Wallaby coach about ten years ago then Dave Rennie only about five years ago and was sacked for Eddie Jones. So, we’ve had two Kiwis, and both times it’s ended in tears and we’re about to go down the same track. We needed Stephen Larkham, we needed a bloke who has won a World Cup who is an Australian. We’re going to overlook another Australian … for another Kiwi to coach Australia, bad move in my mind! We’ll get beaten by the Kiwis in July and August and everyone will go, ‘Oh well, that was a dud!,’ we’ll sack him (Joe Schmidt) and we’ll be back in the same position again.” – Former Wallaby Greg Martin on the decision to hire Schmidt.
“Well, then they need to try find a woman because he’s not changing it. I don’t see him changing it around. Name one player in the Australian team that becomes a part of the conversation for a world team? They need to put up a fight and I think that’s what you don’t see from this Australian team. I struggle to see how they’re going to fix it.” – ex-Springbok Jean de Villiers when it was suggested Schmidt might be the man to turn around the Wallabies’ fortunes.
“I admit it; part of my analysis on the Wallabies is purely designed to spur them on, to understand the Aussie way and to maintain the legacy of the great Australian sides of the 1980s, ’90s and beyond. I make no apologies for that – rugby is my life, the Wallabies were my life and part of my DNA is intertwined with Australian rugby that makes it hard for me to view some of these things that have gone on without emotion or without attachment. But yesterday I saw the green shoots of recovery, a corner turned, but best of all, a return to the way that Australia play rugby – high speed, fearless and with brilliant attacking ambition.” – Campo, after the win over England, suggesting he was faking outrage to help the Wallabies be better.
“You see some of the great rugby league converts like a Sonny Bill Williams and his ability to get the ball away and offload, or an Israel Folau. It’s a really great skill from rugby league game to rugby union.” – Michael Hooper reacts to Joseph Suaalii’s debut.
“That’s what sheer star power does to a team. Playing with Israel Folau was like getting a try a game free. This is what we’ve heard so much about Suaalii can bring to this Wallabies team. Just that sheer talent. The ability to score a try out of absolutely nothing.” – Hoops on Suaalii again.
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii passes the ball to set up a try for teammate Tom Wright on debut. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
“I think he’s going to be a better player than [Israel] Folau. I think he’s got more in him, he’s higher, he’s got a bigger leap. I think we’re in for the next superstar of Australian rugby and it couldn’t come at a better time.” – Former Wallaby Stephen Hoiles on the arrival of Joseph Suaalii.
“It’s a funny story – back in 2003, Samoa and England played, and my old man took me down [to Twickenham]. I was only a couple of months old, and my dad loves rugby that much. Honestly, to play against England today at Twickenham, it’s just amazing.” – Suaalii on his debut against England.
“For your first game of union, it’s a Test match at Twickenham, and you’re able to offload lovely soft touches and he’ll take a lot of confidence out of that and I just really know they’ve got a world-class footballer already.” Scotland coach Gregor Townsend reacts to Suaalii’s debut.
“I feel like I’m doing my own path and dreaming how I want to dream. Everyone else can have their opinion. I’m just living the life I want to live.” – Suaalii addresses claims his selection for the Wallabies against England cheapened the jersey.
“Records are going to happen, I mean Argentina put a record score of 38 up against the All Blacks in New Zealand. I’d be disappointed after four halves here in Argentina, three of them that were at a level that were really competitive, and one of them that did fall off a cliff, so I’m not going to bury the squad on the basis of that half that is well beyond what our expectations are.“ – Joe Schmidt after losing 67-27, a record defeat, against Argentina.
“Australia were 20 points to three up at the weekend and then got hosed 67-27. Can we campaign for the Lions to flip the tour and go to South Africa, please? It can’t happen but if you’re the Lions now at the end of the season and you’re picking anyone to play it’s South Africa.” – former England player Andy Goode after the Wallabies’ loss in South America.
“It sucks, we’re grieving. It’s tough.” – Fraser McReight after the Wallabies lost to the All Blacks in Sydney.
“Ireland are class, England are better than we think still, Scotland is phenomenal at the minute, Wales average and Australia are shite. I know there are loads going on but all I’m saying is it’s a Lions year next year, how are Australia even doing anything against the Lions, I don’t know. Maybe they will use this line and me calling them out but there ain’t a chance.” – former Scotland international Jim Hamilton.
“Australia, don’t waste my time. Joe Schmidt, he will have a couple of clever plays, it wouldn’t surprise me if Australia score a couple of nice tries, but other than that… I don’t want to say it.” – former England star Ben Youngs on the Wallabies’ prospects against the Poms.
“If it does come along, the concept is awesome. A bit of an old school tour, you’ve got a group of 60-odd, mid-week and Tests. That’s a genuine tour, two biggest rivals. It’s a throwback in time and it’s what you need right now in world rugby.” – Scott Robertson on news that the Springboks and New Zealand are going back to extend tours every second year, ending The Rugby Championship in its current form.
“I compared his behaviour to the villainous aspects of Baron Harkonnen and Jabba the Hutt. I didn’t compare his weight to those two characters and that assertion is completely out of line from all of those who believe that Rassie Erasmus is the most untouchable man in rugby.” – NZ broadcaster Scott Stevenson after being accussed of fat-shaming Rassie Erasmus.
“We’ve shared a few beers and a few stories after the games over the years. We’ve just had a good little rapport. You watch players that go into coaching after they’ve played and you look at his journey and how he’s got to where he’s got, it’s a pretty remarkable story isn’t it? How he won a couple of World Cups and he’s got lights up in the box and he’s got seven forwards on the bench. He’s one of the benchmarks, that’s for sure. You have all that success, you’ve got to respect that.” – Scott Robertson ahead of his first meeting with Rassie Erasmus as All Blacks coach.
(Photo By Sam Barnes/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
“I can’t talk for Joe, but certainly he’s busy building something. We’re not 100% sure, and we as players and as coaches and as a management team, we were saying, listen, let’s try and find out exactly which way they’re going. And they had us guessing. We know Joe Schmidt very well. And he will turn this team around, like he turned Ireland around.” – Rassie Erasmus on Joe Schmidt.
“There was a bit of controversy with James Lowe’s try being disallowed. It’s not the first time for South Africa, they tend to get a bit of luck from that perspective.” Schmidt sends a message to the officials ahead of his first meeting with the Springboks.
“I know Joe very well, he’s a real old school coach. He’s disciplined. He’s going to put pressure on the new players, on the old players, and on the referees. I think it’s not going to work with Luke Pearce. He’s an experienced referee, and he won’t fall for something like that, and we all know that it’s definitely not true that we get a rub of the green. I mean, Ireland won 17 games in a row. I think they got some green rub too!” – Rassie responds.
“Having four clubs, we’ve had traditionally 27 foreigners within our system. We want to invest in Australians, effectively. Potentially there’ll always be a need to have foreign talents to pick up where we have some gaps but the idea is over time, those franchises become more and more Australian-eligible.“ – Rugby Australia’s high performance director on how chopping the Melbourne Rebels will benefit Australia.
“I do think it’s a mental thing. There’s a lot being asked of the 10s at the moment and I do think that they’ll have the opportunity to improve when they can be clearer. It’s a little bit cluttered for them at the moment because they drive the team around, they’re trying to make decisions on the fly and then also execute their skill.” – Schmidt on the struggle to nail down his No.10.
(Photo by James Worsfold/Getty Images)
“I thought Joe had retired. He’s had about three retirements. He seems to come out of retirement every couple of years. He went back to New Zealand to retire, then came back with the Blues and then the All Blacks. Hopefully they’re paying him lots of money.” – Wales coach Warren Gatland stirs the pot ahead of his meeting with Joe Schmidt. The Wallabies won all three Tests against Gatland’s team in 2024.
“I’ve known Gats for a long time. We’ve played against each other. I even played a couple of games with him. So I know that Gats will spark the emotional cues.” – Schmidt responds.
“I know Joe scours through every single article and everything that has been said. The Irish analysts would send me a text when we played them, saying please don’t say anything to upset Joe as he reads it and it’ll make our life a misery for the rest of the week. I’d purposely say something that would upset Joe, not that I meant it.” – Gatland doubles down on Schmidt.
“It is something I have committed to making a decision on post-Spring Tour, and before we get too far into December. I would have to say I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the players and the staff, and the challenge that it’s been.” – Schmidt is non-committal when quizzed about his future post the Lions tour.
“I’d say we were keen to invest in the guys who are investing in the future here. An investment in them has a longer term payoff. They’re taking a path, and it’s their chosen path. And we’ve decided to take a path. But that’s not at the exclusion of people. It’s at the inclusion of those guys in this immediate future who are invested in Australian rugby. And we’re very keen to invest in them.” – Schmidt draws a line and shuts down further Wallabies caps for NRL code hoppers Mark Nawaqanitawase and Carter Gordon.
“It’s pretty raw to be honest. We spoke about it during the week a lot. We’ve spoken about it all year. We spoke about putting a performance in that we could make the whole state proud of. I think we did that. We came out tonight throwing punches. Yeah, it’s a pretty tight group but as you could expect, there’s a fair few boys hurting at the moment.” -Lachie Anderson after the Melbourne Rebels’ final Super Rugby game.
“Every dollar that we spend in court is a dollar that doesn’t get invested into the game of rugby around Australia. It’s disappointing that if that is the path it goes down, then those individuals that have had the best interests of rugby at mind choose to damage the game going down that path.” – RA CEO Phil Waugh reacts to his organisation being sued by Melbourne Rebels directors.
“The only thing I’d say about travel this week is that we had a number of guys stay on the plane.” – Western Force coach Simon Cron’s brutal one-liner after a 59-13 loss to the Reds in Brisbane.
“I love the Waratahs and I’ve loved my time to date here in Australian rugby. I’m not saying that that’s changed at all, but as a player, you’re always looking for opportunities. I’d spoken with the French club and those opportunities don’t come around all the time. It’s an exciting [offer] , but at the same time, it’s an exciting opportunity here over the next 12 months as well. What they said to me is basically, I need to honour my contract here. That’s sort of, I guess, the right thing to do.” – Jake Gordon on being told he couldn’t pursue an opportunity in France.
“The over-investment that was unapproved was $2.6 million, which covered three main elements, being team costs, staff travel and then player benefits.” – RA CEO Phil Waugh puts the spotlight on World Cup spending.
“Any organisation sets a limit of what to approve, and I can tell you everything we did was approved. If someone is actually suggesting we are going and spending $2m without approval – I mean it just doesn’t happen without approval, I can tell you everything was approved. I wasn’t actually involved in who approves it – but ultimately everything is approved by the CEO.” – Eddie Jones responds.
“I just laughed … it’s just a bit of comedy relief isn’t it? You know Matty Johns does it for rugby league and then we do this in public in rugby.” – Jones when asked about RA’s review into the World Cup failure.
“That’s the problem’, mate. We’ve got no hardness about us. You know, game hardness is different to any sort of hardness. Just stick in the f–king game and do it. There’s none of that in Australian rugby now and that’s where the big gap is… We’re not, not tough but we’re not trained to be tough now. We’re not used to playing tough. It stands out like dog’s balls mate, because they are good players. And they care a lot, the players, but they’re just not hardened to play Test match rugby consistently – they’re set up for failure mate.” – Eddie Jones’ conversation with James Slipper during training at the World Cup is revealed in Stan’s documentary about the tournament.
(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
“Everyone in the circle knows what happened. Most of the fans, rugby fans, sporting fans knew what happened, so I’m not going to spell it out again. For us as a group, we’re moving forward. We want to do our talking on the field, so that’s what we’ll be doing. Was that diplomatic enough?” – Slipper when asked to respond.
“Carts went to it, sure. But is that the experience that you want to have? Is that really helpful? I’m not certain. It will be interesting to see how both those guys respond because it’s been very different journeys and I dare say Noah might be saying it was ‘a little blessing in disguise I didn’t go to the World Cup’.” – The Roar Rugby Podcast host and former Wallaby Matt To’omua, before Gordon reveled he was off to the NRL.
“I’m probably a little bit surprised that I’m here. I thought I’d retired when I went back to New Zealand but I’m very poor at doing that. I’m not great at selling dreams. Dreams are not tangible. I’m a pragmatic sort of individual probably characterised as boring, I don’t have probably the charisma that Eddie (Jones) has fired up.” – Joe Schmidt sets the tone in his first press conference.
“They went through my life and I was obviously burning the candle at both ends with Fiji, all the stresses of coming back and doing a job. I thought I was Superman. But you can’t live your life staying up until three o’clock, four o’clock, not eating well. It’s been a wake-up call and a reminder that I’ve got to rest, I’ve got to eat properly. I basically wouldn’t eat all day and then have a massive meal at three in the morning. And your life is not only about work. That’s what the stroke was telling me to settle down for a bit and calm myself and get your life in order.” – Waratahs general manager and ex-Fiji coach Simon Raiwalui reveals he suffered a stroke at work.
“There’s no shortage of talent out in Western Sydney and perhaps a lateral thought is to put a privatised franchise out in Western Sydney with private money brought in – and you could even make Joseph [Suaalii] the face of the club.” – former RA chair Hamish McLennan’s lightbulb moment for western Sydney.
“If the Wallabies get pumped by 50 points or something happens, then all of a sudden there’s an outcry for change and people come out of the woodwork with all their own ideas. And then all of a sudden that plan that might be two steps into, you start again with a whole bunch of new people and you lose so much momentum. My appeal is just for people to stay the distance because we’ve got a good enough team here that if they’re given time in the seat, they’ll get there. It’s just going to take time because the stopping and starting over, I would say now 15 years, different CEOs, different chairs, different coaches, it hasn’t served us well. We’ve actually got to just stick to it for a period of time.” – RA chair Daniel Herbert’s call for boardroom stability in the wake of calls for a clearout.
“Yeah, I have got wet. We surfed around Bronte yesterday. It was good, it was a great morning. You’re walking everywhere and everyone’s like, ‘Good luck, Razor, and all the best.’ A few Kiwis have done all right. They’ve come down to Double Bay and Bronte. Yesterday I had a surf with ‘Joey’ Johns, so it was entertaining. He enjoys his rugby. He knows his footy. He loves a stand-off, or a ten, and he knows the details of them. He’s still in love with Carlos Spencer. He knows all the pivots from, ‘When are you getting Richie [Mo’unga] back?’ It’s gone global. So it was entertaining, but yeah, it’s a special country, Aussie.” – Scott Robertson ahead of his first All Blacks Test as coach on Australian soil.
“If you went through and wrote down everything that you would expect a high-performance Test athlete to have, then I would suggest that maybe some of those things are missing. There were things that I saw that surprised me, and I’m not going to go into those things, but if you haven’t got your high performance right then players aren’t going to arrive at the Test arena with all the things they need ticked and understood. I think good rugby players come out of good high-performance environments. If you allow too many people into those environments without having to work too hard, then you get a soft underbelly.” – World Cup winning coach Steve Hansen on The Roar Rugby Podcast about his time in the Wallabies camp ahead of the World Cup.
“I’d never coach Australia because my job’s been done in that area. But I enjoyed my time in there because they’re a good group of men, who were trying to do the best they could for themselves and their country. One rugby team is not that much different to another one.” – Hansen again.
“This is a team that should have won the World Cup, they were robbed of the World Cup as far as I’m concerned with some poor decisions that were out of their control which cost them a World Cup.” – Hansen upsets South Africans by claiming the All Blacks were robbed in the World Cup final.
“I go back to it with a lot of pride with where the team got to and to get to that final on the big stage and get so close I was actually so proud with that but also incredibly disappointed that we didn’t cross the line. I like to focus more on things that we could control, things that maybe we could have done a little bit better and so I think you kid yourself that we were robbed you end up becoming a little bit cynical. You end up blaming other people for it so for me, we did what we had to do but we weren’t quite good enough to get the result.” – All Blacks RWC coach Ian Foster disagrees with his mate Hansen.
“The head injuries are a massive talking point. With Australia going to non-contested scrums and two props [off the field], are we now saying that if we see those guys playing in the next three to four weeks, that it was a plan, or how do we go about it? How do we say it was done on purpose or it actually happened in the game?” – Former Springbok Jean de Villiers all but accuses the Wallabies front rowers of faking injury.
“It’s probably one of the most bizarre games I’ve ever been involved in. In over 100 Test matches that I’ve been involved in, I’ve never had a situation like that before.” – Schmidt’s take on the game.
“Leon and I have been having some honest conversations with each other for a little while now. As coaches we have differing views and both agreed it wasn’t working. Leon and I both care deeply about the All Blacks and we believe we’ve made a decision that’s best for this team.” – Scott Robertson on the surprise move to part ways with assistant Leon MacDonald five Tests into his tenure.
“When I was at the Force, they got cut from Super Rugby so then I had to go to the Rebels, and then I go to the Rebels for two years then I got an awesome opportunity in London and then London Irish go into administration. I then have to scramble to find a job and now I’m in France, so kind of like two forced moves that I didn’t really have an option. I might be the curse.” – Former Wallaby Adam Coleman.
“I hope he’s injured next time we play them.” – Blues coach Vern Cotter reacts after Tim Ryan’s hat-trick against his team.
“Is there a culture that mistake-making and losing is acceptable? You saw Dylan Piestch run down the sideline, two or three guys are marked inside, [he] should have drawn and passed and Jake Gordon runs in to score. Izaia Perese would have been back after beating, what, five people to set that try up [and] wondering ‘what the hell’s going on?’ That should have been a try. Yet, they’re giving him high-fives and giving him bum-pats when he’s running back. He should have been led out to the car park and put in a car and sent home.” – Stephen Hoiles goes hard at Dylan Pietsch after a Waratahs loss.
“Where I’d start is if we’re not producing coaches of sufficient quality, that teams don’t think they can employ Australians as head coaches, then our system is failing, isn’t it? Irrespective of how good their coaching is, you would hope that our systems are about producing quality Australian coaches.You might get the occasional assistant coach for a particular expertise, but that’s how I would judge the success or failure of our coach development systems, are we coaching homegrown talent? And we’re not consistently doing it, are we?” – Laurie Fisher on the lack of a clear Australian option to replace Eddie Jones.
“Our Super teams have been bad, our Wallabies have been really bad, so there’s obviously a coaching issue there and people aren’t going to invest in them. We’ve got to improve those areas.” – former Wallabies coach John Connolly.
“Didn’t they know that the Rebels were in trouble? Of course they did. The media has been telling Rugby Australia that the Rebels are in trouble for a long time. What did they do about it? Nothing. Nothing. Zero. What did the Rugby Football Union do about those clubs that went broke up in England? Nothing. Professional rugby has got a lot to answer for. It has destroyed the soul of rugby. The soul of rugby still exists in the community. But it doesn’t exist in professional rugby. All they’re after is money, and the worst of that is World Rugby. And then followed closely by the national governing bodies.” – former NZR chief David Moffett.
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