Wallaby players vote against taking a knee for BLM movement and explain why

Following a unanimous vote by the players, the Wallabies have ruled out taking a knee during the national anthem in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in next Saturday’s Bledisloe Cup Test in Sydney.

Wallabies head coach Dave Rennie said the idea was discussed in their camp and the team voted against becoming the first Australian team to do so.

This comes after a reporter asked veteran Wallaby fullback Dane Haylett-Petty whether he would take a knee before the match. The fullback said his belief was that it would “be a great thing for us to do” and that the player group would discuss it with Wallabies legend Nick Farr-Jones responding by describing it as a “divisive move”.

Dave Rennie addressed the subject on Friday saying “We won’t, the key thing is that this is about honouring our Indigenous people and we want the focus to be on that."

“Everyone’s got their own opinions around the other situation, but we want the focus to be on reflecting on our history and our past.

“All I’ve said is that our focus is around the First Nations People and the Indigenous jersey. We’re not looking to make a political statement.”

The Wallaby boss said he and his coaching team spoke with the team leaders, who then met with the rest of the team and it was a “unanimous decision”.