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I'm not surprised by this at all.

Factor in that Woodward hates Beaumont.

They may have received assurances from Beaumont and Laporte that reform is on their agenda and that they will be looked after. None of us will ever know, but human nature tells us that they think they will get a better deal from those two than from Pichot. I'm not sure that Pichot was a great...

Super Rugby and NRC should be replaced by one domestic professional league, based in Australian and run by Australia. Some sort of champions league at the end is fine, but will likely clash with Wallaby games and/or Nations Cup.

We already have one tier too many in Australia.

I wouldn't use NSW, Qld or ACT in team names - Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra would work better. I wouldn't have Japan involved at this point. Travel is huge and adds to the expense. NZ have the strongest rugby infrastructure and player base, so I can't really see the logic in the putting...

Would they really have had "more say?" They'd be very much pawns and the big nations could steamroll them on anything they wanted to.

If we're talking self-interest, let's not forget Pichot is not exactly a saint. A few years ago he supported the Twiggy Forrest World Series Rugby concept, and hey presto suddenly became head of Forrest's South American mining operation on big $$$ despite not knowing anything about mining. At...

Well, SANZAR started in 1996 and one of its first acts was shafting the PI out of Super Rugby (as noted earlier the winner of the Pacific Nations was in Super 10). In the 24 years since, the original 3 Australian teams were increased to 5, the original 4 SA teams were increased to 6 and teams were...

Agree re Italy - maybe the Celts like a weekend in Rome or Milan during the season. Far more attractive that Tblisi or Bucharest. For us to be relegated we'd have to lose to Argentina, Japan and Fiji in the one season. Even if our downward spiral continues you'd like to think we could beat one...

SANZAAR are no different from 6N - they vote and make suggestions out of self-interest, nothing more or less. Let's not pretend that we in the south are some sort of angelic host, while the forces of satan reside in the north. At every expansion of Super Rugby, SANZAR had the chance to include a PI...

Well, SANZAAR just booted the Sunwolves from Super Rugby so it's not really a surprise. In relation to the Pacific Islands, a bit of historical context: The South Pacific Champioship ran from 1986 to 1991 and involved NSW, Qld, Fiji, Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury. Replaced by Super 6 in 1992...

Assuming that they'd be allowed back into the country without a 14 day taxpayer funded hotel stay. The government has been pretty consistent in ruling out overseas travel for the rest of 2020 with the exception of NZ. I'd say the chance of Ireland visiting Australia is as close to zero as...

Not as logistically simple as that I don't think. There simply aren't any Qantas flights at the moment going to the UK and back, so any charter would involve flying an empty plane from Australia to London and then flying it back with 35-40 people on it.

Well, I've lived my whole life in Sydney so naturally I have a greater perspective on what happens in Sydney and NSW. There's certainly a lot more to rugby in Australia than Sydney or NSW or Qld. But, I see what the RA and NSWRU attitude is to clubs (all clubs not just the SS ones) and I...

Or the South Pacific Championship. :)

That article summarises why NZ rugby is successful and Australian rugby isn't. NZ see clubs appreciate the vital role of clubs in the development of professional players. In Australia the administrators see clubs as an annoyance left over from the amateur days. I doubt for example, you'd ever...

Hmm, so the chairman said she was the victim of bullying, but the board of which he is chairman couldn't bring itself to stand in the trenches with her. It was their loss of confidence which she says precipitated the resignation, and I've seen nothing in her conduct anywhere which suggests that...

In theory they could come. Not sure how many international flights will be coming to Australia though. The talk from the PM is that unlikely to be any international travel to/from Australia in 2020. (NZ excepted) Might be an expensive exercise.

^^^Excellent analysis.