NSW Waratahs captain Dave Dennis doesn't believe he needs to sound out David Pocock, when Australia's World Cup hopefuls enter camp on Sunday, to ensure there's no statewide division in the Wallabies' ranks following the Brumbies star's moral crusading.
Dennis doubts Pocock's on-field railing against homophobia - which led to Waratahs forward Jacques Potgieter being fined $20,000 for a slur in Sunday's heated Super Rugby derby - will cause any lingering tensions between Wallabies teammates from the two rival franchises.
"I have a lot of respect for Dave as a player and as a person, so I'm sure we'll get along just fine," Dennis said on Friday.
"I might have a chat to 'Moorey' (Brumbies captain Stephen Moore) and 'Poey' if I feel that it's necessary.
"But I've got a good relationship with those guys so I'd like to think what the club's done and what Jacques has done this week has gone some way towards apologising to those guys and the Brumbies."
Potgieter on Thursday night visited the Sydney Convicts, Australia's first gay rugby club and winners of the Bingham Cup, to apologise for his homophobic remarks.
Dennis said Potgieter's gesture, for which the Convicts applauded the South African in a glowing tweet, turned a negative situation into a positive and hopefully showed that everyone - including the Wallabies - had moved on.
"That rivalry's always going to be there between NSW and ACT," Dennis said.
"In terms of getting along, the whole idea of all these camps that Cheik (Wallabies coach Michael Cheika) has been organising is breaking down that level of friction that maybe in the past has affected the team.
"(It's about) understanding that when we're playing Super Rugby, (we are) going hard at each other but, away from that, we're a tight group of Australian players."
Former Wallabies fullback turned commentator and analyst Greg Martin this week said Pocock would never captain Australia again because the ARU couldn't trust he wouldn't use sport as a platform to voice his strong political and moral views.
Cheika flatly dismissed Martin's claim, saying Pocock was a character who teams needed and, on Friday, All Blacks great Sir John Kirwan also commended the champion flanker for his brave stance.
Kirwan, whose winless Blues take on Cheika's champion Waratahs in Sydney on Saturday night, said Pocock should be applauded for speaking up at a time when rugby was trying to clean up its act and "get with modern society".
"If someone's going to speak out and protect homosexuality, he should never be punished for it," Kirwan said.
"Why would that stop someone being a leader? In fact, he's being a leader by speaking out.
"So I can't see any issues with it at all."
Kirwan says times have changed and that homosexuality is now "mainstream" and anyone who doesn't accept it is "out of touch".
Likewise, he believes "sledging when it's humorous is good fun but, when it gets personal, it's not acceptable".
"Anyone who uses a slur - racism, minority-like sledging around homosexuality or whatever - is a dinosaur."
Share
