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The NC was back on the table no matter who won. I think the biggest difference was that Pichot was looking to give more nations a vote on the council, which would have eroded a lot of the power that the 6 Nations unions have over World Rugby. It's a bad sign that SANZAAR wasn't able to keep...

I think if you go with this option of 2 or 3 elite teams plus a separate semi-pro national competition that the latter needs to be bigger than 7 teams. I think it should be more like 12 teams and go through the full length of the season (21 rounds plus finals). Something along the lines of 5 NSW...

I found this quote from the Crusaders CEO interesting: "From my understanding of Twiggy’s vision, he wants to take the game to a bigger audience particularly in Asia so I think there could be room for several tiers in that competition. You don’t want teams winning games by 50-60 points, you want...

It's not essentially the NRC when it's the Waratahs, Reds, Brumbies and Rebels instead of the associated NRC teams. And when it's the main event, not a secondary development competition after the main season is over. Agreed, but I don't think there's any reason to think salary's would get...

I think it's pretty likely that wages will have to fall a bit in the short term if we move to a domestic competition (maybe not so much if NZ come to the party on a Trans-Tasman competition which I think is reasonably likely). But a few points: - You'd probably only need 5 or 6 Australian...

On the other hand, the code has now sunk so low, and the pandemic been so devastating that there's a pretty low bar for success. Whoever takes on the job should also find it easier to make transformative changes as the status quo is surely no longer viable. There's also a Lions tour coming up...

Another factor that has hurt Super Rugby is just the huge loss of talent. In the peak years of Super 12/14 all the top players were involved. Test level players (and those around the fringes of test level) didn't go overseas until the end of their careers. I think that compensated for some of...

I don't think this is necessarily true. The Wallabies generate enough revenue that RA would always at least be able to fund 2 or 3 professional domestic sides that could compete with wages overseas. Even if those 2 or 3 sides continue to play in a further condensed Super Rugby competition with...

That's a better team than I thought, though half the backline are based overseas so wouldn't be available. And a lot of those guys have also lived and played in either NSW or QLD as well so could still be eligible for a 2 team SOO. And I don't think it would be too much of a problem to come up...

I agree with this, I only included the Samoa/Pacific team because Kagifa Samoa are already in GRR, so maybe Twiggy or someone else is already willing to prop this team up. They could primarily be based in Australia or NZ and just take 1 or 2 home games to the islands.

The best of the rest would get destroyed and probably not gain a whole lot of support. The vast majority of players that are good enough would be eligible for NSW or QLD through some criteria, and for those few that aren't there could be a system where the other states are aligned with either...

I'd be all for including the Fijian and Samoan GRR teams. But I'd be less enthused about the South African / Malaysian team, Hong Kong and the China Lions/Bay of Plenty. Maybe keep Hong Kong as at least they have a real union and rugby community, but I don't think they'd be much of a draw. My...

It's not exactly the same, but there was a similar call for bids before the NRC started and that was not a huge success (remember the Sydney Stars!). I don't think you want too many new entities. We have 5 professional rugby franchises/brands in this country, I think it would be silly not to...

I think the one positive of a further reduced Super Rugby is that it would provide a bit more air for a national club comp to develop beneath the high performance level. I'm personally pretty skeptical of club rugby ever being the primary vehicle for elite rugby in this country (outside of the...

I think RA have 3 options: 1) Move to a national club competition (no foreign teams) as our primary tier of professional rugby beneath the Wallabies, with some limited provincial rugby (or state of origin) on top of it. Sydney and Brisbane clubs that are able to meet certain criteria would...

Given all the national unions are going to be smashed by this, I wonder if they'd look at doing something like a mini world cup either this November or next year to give everyone's finances a boost. A 12 team event (6 Nations plus RC plus Japan and Fiji) played over 5 weeks in Europe using the...

I think it would only happen in the way the St Helens vs Sale match happened. 1 half of union (with de-powered scrums) and 1 half of league. The Wallabies would easily win the rugby half, and the Kangaroos would easily win the league half, it'd just come down to the margins. Wouldn't be the...

I'm in the same boat as you. Rugby as a sport, and as a professional sport will continue no matter what happens. My intuition is different to yours and Wamberal's on this. I think if the government starts trying to put millions into professional sporting organisations while more and more...

Agree that spending is needed, but this isn't an ordinary recession it's a health emergency and professional sport is so far down the list in terms of importance it should be extremely obvious to everyone. Sporting bodies themselves should realise this and not waste time - part of the effort in...

I think the idea that a government should be using its limited resources to prop up a professional sport during a serious pandemic is very unsavoury, and I hope Rugby Australia don't start making the same kinds of noises.