Australian rugby icon David Campese says sevens metro Waisale Serevi had unbelievable skills and always wanted to try things.
Campese said this after Welsh author Luke Upton new’s book: Rugby’s Greatest Mavericks, in which he claims that rugby in its current form lacks the ‘joie de vivre’ it once had and worries that the crowds will ‘drift away’ from the sport.
Campese believes that modern rugby has lost its sense of fun and that there are less and less mavericks plying their trade in the professional game.
“I played a lot of sevens against Waisale Serevi and he had unbelievable skills, and always wanted to try things. Today I like the small guys: the South African Cheslin Kolbe particularly, and Finn Russell for Scotland, and I enjoy watching France with Romain Ntamack and Antoine Dupont,” Campese said, rugbypass.com reports.
He added that “the modern game is too dominated by coaches” and that flair is being trained out of young players in particular.
Campese was capped by the Wallabies 101 times and played 85 Tests at wing and 16 at fullback.
He retired in 1996 and was awarded the Order of Australia in 2002 for his contribution to Australian rugby.
