David Campese: Legendary Wallabies wing says rugby losing entertainment value

The lack of entertainment value is one of the many problems Dave Campese thinks the modern game has.

After their shock defeat in Italy, the legendary wing feels a chastened Australia may surprise Ireland on Saturday.

Campese said that the game is getting to the stage where it is not really entertaining.

The amount of box kicking is insane.

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The 1991 World Cup winner's concerns about the way his sport is going were raised earlier this year when it took 51 minutes to complete the first half of the Australia and New Zealand match.

There are so many stops. New Zealand had the ball for a long time. For six. The ball is in play for thirteen minutes.

Is it worth it? There are many issues.

'Referees have too much control'

Rugby union's regression is due to the fact that referees and coaches are hamstrung by ridiculous new laws.

Laws have changed the game. The referees are in charge.

Some of the players I still like are Finn Russell, Willie le Roux, the Barrett brothers from New Zealand, and Danny Cipriani.

We need those men. The coaches are the ones who put the game in a certain way so they can make a living. They would like to win. They don't pay much attention to how they win.

The statistics show that the more kicks you make, the more you win. That is not a sport.

Campese insists that he would love to take on a role with the national team, but he doesn't believe that constant tinkering with the game's laws is good for rugby.

Rugby league rules are in our game. The goal line drops out. That is crazy. The 50-22 rule is crazy.

We have to go to a different sport to get our sport. We are not the same as everyone else. All sizes can play our game, but we have people trying to change it.

Rugby's diminishing exposure Down Under

Despite having an Italian father and an Irish mother, Campese insists he would never have considered playing for any other national team in Australia.

Rugby League and Aussie Rules are free to watch. Kids don't watch rugby because they don't know who the players are I don't think that is a good thing. They're familiar with the other sports.

We're getting smaller because we're not entertaining and we're up against it in Australia.

Campese has fond memories of his first time in Ireland in 1984 when he was a part of the famous grand slam of victories.

Campese was laughing this week as he recalled crossing the Irish border on the team bus as it headed north.

A police car was blocking the bus. This is going to be interesting to me.

The guy got on the bus with a gun and a rugby ball and asked if Mark was there. I want you to sign my ball.

I enjoy coming here. I believe I played my best rugby in Europe.

In the 2003 World Cup, Campese played in a dramatic quarter-final against Ireland at Lansdowne Road, where Gordon Hamilton's try put the hosts in front, before Michael Lynagh's last-ditch touchdown gave the Australians the win.

I didn't lose to Ireland. Campese says that the current guys aren't like that.

It's the things that you remember off the field that are great.

The World Cup was really good. We were in Dublin for two weeks and we had a great time.