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For all my (not necessarily unjustified) snide remarks and how much of it was his impact directly, Cheika recruited 6 established players that made the 2014 Championship lineup (Hooper, Phipps, Beale, Hoiles, Chapman, Potgieter) that made more than token appearances, brought through Latu...

I'm not here to dispute whatever the super 12 looked like and if it had been better for SH rugby. But it always felt like the two conference models were never actually developed in a way that makes sense for a non-seppo audience. For all it's foibles and failures, and chaos, both URC models...

If selection is opened up to include overseas there's no reason that whatever competition comes next has to be restricted. While the remuneration might not be great, no reason that NZ or PI players (or the hordes of UK backpackers etc.) play here "increasing standards".

I dunno, that's RA's and the surviving franchises problem. There's clearly some intention of giving PONIs some degree of flexibility in where they will end up playing when they won't be in "direct" competition with with other PONIs.

Canham needs to be balanced: he needs the time in camp where he's training with and against the more "senior" bodies rather than just 1 senior partner (LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) or Phillip) and peers, and he needs as many first class fixtures as possible. Presuming an announcement comes soon for his Reds move, I...

I don't know watch enough Rugby League (see, any) to know what the talent is like, but my understanding is that League clubs have a WTS equivalent is up to 8 players on Salaries of $80k, the same as minimum salary for a full squad member in Super? If the NRL were the LNR, I think there'd be...

It's a group of moves which make sense based on the other rumours that were floating about. Not sure Reds is where I'd send Lancaster but all the teams seem... ok for wingers. I also don't imagine the permission to re-sign Ravi will be forthcoming, so I envisage you seeking to add one of...

As always the answer is depends. I would presume Team 19 is destined for NZ if it ever gets up. Team 20 could work in West Melbourne but would require ludicrous buy in so much further than what our West Melbourne group were planning for us (supposedly). Not impossible, but it's 10 years...

That's a sentiment incompatible with your earlier post. "It's somewhat disappointing to lose him, but CG had deficiencies in his game that meant he was somewhere between not substantially ahead of other Stand off options and near unselectable in the Test arena, I'm ultimately not too sad about...

Good morale raising posts rarely come across as bitter.

I don't see the need for an additional 7 in the primary squad when you already have McReight and Wright in the mix, I think Schmidt is better served by bringing in more 6/8/lock hybrid options to see who gels best/stands up most with the rest of his anticipated tight 5 group.

They've got sponsorship shit they'll still be needing to fulfil, that's all it's there for.

He's relocated at 19 to another city, made things work with his Queensland based girlfriend, gotten to play with his brother, got a clear undisputed run at his preferred position for 2 very very good seasons, after the COVID seasons where for the Rebels absolutely nothing was anything resembling...

I think he was super underdone for the Quarter as well, but particularly with Strachany out we just couldn't make it work any other way,

Not suggesting the final outcome was not the correct one, but the death of the Mens Professional side always left a lot of these things hanging that better preparations could have been made (or deliberately NOT made as the case may be) some time ago.

No but much like "wtf is happening to Rebels Womens, Rebels U17-U20, and Rebels Shield in 2025 and any end of season Junior carnival" these are things for which plans could have been developed and explored over the past 4 months, even if that answer was literally nothing.

Seems like a lovely bloke, but I'm not certain he's cut out for super let alone the test arena.

So long as NZRU and WR (World Rugby) are bankrolling them, and there are tracked, material gains for Samoa and Tonga, I'm genuinely unbothered about how much money they may or may not be losing.

If Wallabies competitiveness is the aim of the game, 0 Bledisloes since 2002, 0 World Cups since 2003, The last Tri Nations/Rugby Championship outside of World Cup years was in 2001... Is doing what NZ does but more shit for another 30 years the only way forward?