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Yes, it's the young teenage group where we really struggle to compete with league - they can afford to throw a bit of money at a lot of teenagers, and keep them in their systems for years. Rugby can't afford to try to pick winners at that stage, especially for props.

Who's made the announcement for the presser - RA or Eddie? if it's RA, I reckon he's staying. Coogee Oval sounds like a bit of a sentimental location though, maybe for a farewell.

Gilmore has a lot of potential as a coach, but let's not follow the traditional route of throwing a young coach into a head coaching role, grinding them down over a couple of years, and then deciding they're hopeless.

Let's not fixate on one head coach, it's clear the best national programs have more than one good brain. I agree Bernie needs more experience, but if he was supported by an experienced person either as a senior assistant or DoR, he'd be fine. He's been a national assistant, head coach in...

That highlights part of the problem with centralisation for the Brumbies: two of the Ten Commandments for Brumbies are - hate NSW, and and hate Nucifora. NSW is fully on board with centralisation, and you can't talk centralisation without mentioning Nuci. Ergo, centralisation must be resisted.

Yeah, hopefully the Fijians can put some points on early, force the English to play some rugby.

It’s the beauty of our federated system. NSW Rugby and Q Rugby are actually responsible for the vast majority of junior rugby, community rugby, and development, but when the Wallabies’ performance fails, it’s RA that cops all the blame.

I'm happy to say Donaldson changed my mind. In Super, I thought he didn't offer much of an attacking threat, and he rarely seemed to win a kicking duel. His kicking in general play was way better on the weekend, I'd love to see some stats on his kicking length last weekend versus Super.

That is, the developer at Millner may allow them to continue there for 2024, correct? Nothing's happened yet at the site at Castle Hill, so they'd be lucky if that was ready for the start of the 2025 season.

Reg, haven't they been talking about centralisation for 15 years or more? Has there actually been more detailed planning going on for 2 years?

It's light on detail because RA can't mandate this, they need to bring the states along with them. So Phil, or his representative, is going to have to sit through endless meetings where each of the states comes up with a different vision, and they all go round in circles for a few months...

Well, I can only read the first three lines before the paywall, but "fighting to keep the Brumbies in Canberra"? That is indeed quite a different spin on things. I suppose it's inflammatory than saying "we don't want to have to align our S&C approach with RA".

The timing is a little unusual. There's nothing in the usual media sources about this, except the internal RA organ rugby.com.au. Most rugby journos are probably either taking some leave pre-RWC, or heading to France now. Given the usual way news releases work from RA, with selected journos...

As Dan Herbert pointed out on the Rugby Wrap podcast interview, it's critical that Super Rugby coaches and administrations have the support necessary to make strategic recruitment decisions. An Super Rugby coach has to be confident that he won't lose his job if he chooses the young, untested local 10, instead of...

Looks good, I particularly like the line that states that Super Rugby clubs will deliver the Super Rugby and SRW programs aligned with the National High-Performance Plan. But I'll reserve actual excitement for seeing how it plays out.

I mean, Dane Coles is just about my least favourite rugby player, but I love the passion.

Nigel Owens published his review of Farrell's tackle, and this was a point he made - Farrell's action was "always illegal", he was never going to make a legal tackle - he wasn't dipping, he was leading with a cocked shoulder. Owens' point was that mitigation (red down to yellow or penalty, on...

Unfortunately, it doesn't feel like we're in the last chance saloon. The Lions tour and home RWC are helping us retain some good talent. If the last 20 years have taught us anything, we will continue to think we "just missed" winning the Bledisloe back each year, even if the reality is quite...

Thanks for the recommendation Reg, it was really good. It's both very pleasing to see someone on the RA board who is so clear and candid about the problems and potential solutions, and simultaneously depressing that even when the board is aware of these things from within, nothing much can change.

All true. Optus Sport might be the biggest winner from the WWC, they have a pretty good advert pointing out that if you want to watch the Matildas after the WWC, it's the WSL in England you'll want to watch.