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This is key. The pleasing fact is it seems the letter is going to deliver a positive outcome. As outlined in numerous publications today, RA is going to open it's books to the State and Super Chairs, and the former captains will be involved as well. It will hopefully yield a good outcome for...

For all I deride them, the captains have a unique voice and insight that they are currently wasting with this rubbish. Let's look at the club issue. Clubs are the heart of our game, and what in many ways makes it great. Clearly there is a growing disconnect between the club game and the...

John Eales clearly didn't sign because he was a part of the Board when many key decisions were made. He was in the tent. Unlike these Captains, who have been well and truly on the outside of the tent for some tim- wait sorry, except for George Gregan, who was on the ARU Board in 2012 and 2013...

And Argentina dropping out of the 2027 World Cup bidding process. Can't be underestimated how huge that is. I know there was a very real concern that Argentina would pinch the 2027 World Cup rights because of Pichot greasing the wheels with World Rugby delegates. Now they have dropped out...

I'd agree with that, certainly the Lions game was the best I have experienced in terms of atmosphere. But I missed attending the games of the golden era, so I can't compare to those.

For me it is the greatest game, but context plays a huge role in my deliberations. We'd just come off a World Cup win, playing in a packed Olympic stadium with a pretty amazing 30 players on the field (including all-time XV candidates in Eales, Gregan, Larkham, Lomu, Cullen). Australia in...

The thing that struck me about the 2000 Bledisloe was the pace of the game. Stoppages were really minimal, with scrums and lineouts setting within 30 seconds of the referee blowing his whistle. Would be interesting to see what happened if you introduced a 'scrum clock' or something to give...

Putting the video here for the sake of discussion. It's a pretty good try:

So this week on the podcast we went back and discussed the first game of the 2000 Bledisloe, aka 'The Greatest Game of All Time'. I thought we could all use a distraction from the world and this serves that purpose quite nicely. Alongside the podcast (which can be found here) I thought a...

Yes. I wonder how much schoolboy rugby will fetch in the new package? I remember watching on TV a young Kurtley Beale run around for Joeys in 2006. While I agree he hasn't quite lived up to the lofty predictions made at the time, I think the blame for that lies with the predictions rather than...

I'm honestly not sure that is the case. There is something to be said for normality and morale and the role that sport plays in our society. The players themselves are healthy and in isolation, and while it's not totally foolproof, I'm reluctant to condemn their actions too much at this...

I understand why the NRL and AFL are continuing. The players are fit and healthy and want to play, so why stop them? American examples are a bit different as the catalyst for those bans was a player testing positive. That hasn't happened here, and while it's only a matter of time before it...

Surprised people knocking Maddocks on here. Reckon he's been good, you can't fault the effort. Hasn't had much space to work with. Good clinical effort from the Brumbies, as expected. They'd be pleased with that second half defence, it was really accurate. Simone and Valetini were smashing blokes.

It's a fair point, but it is also worth saying you can't just manufacture a Test quality 10. If we could just have pointed at Jack Debreczeni and said 'you will be our next Wallaby 10' and taught him to be Steve Larkham then we would have. To an extent you can only play the hand you are dealt...

Kepu played number 8 for NZ Schools. It's not the stupidest idea I've heard.

I genuinely think Isi Naisirani will win the John Eales Medal this year. He's outstanding. And JB Claims, the really unlucky player in your squad is Allan AAA. Getting left out is one thing, but having his ineligible brother picked ahead of him would really be a kick in the guts!

Breaking: the three nominees for vacant Rugby Australia board positions are Peter Wiggs, Brett Godfrey and Daniel Herbert

Bottled it. Should have won. A man up with 1:30 to go, 10m out but couldn't score. A shame because I really liked how patient we were in attack this tournament. It just deserted us when we needed it most.

I thought it was a bit odd, but I can understand that if you want to beat the Crusaders in NZ then slowly accruing points might not be the best strategy. You have to bargain on them scoring at least 25 no matter what, so rolling the dice and trying to score 30+ is an understandable strategy.

Through to the final by the skin of our teeth. We've had some luck with the draw but it's nice to see some improvement.