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Also, re the likes of Australia's shadow squad playing Romania or Georgia - I'd like to see this too, but I'm not sure if there's much appetite for it from the tier 2 countries. As they're not test matches they don't count for ranking points, and they tend not to be able to get top players...

I guess the intrigue is in the knockout phases, which today we only get in the world cup. And I think it'd take time to be more competitive but this is happening slowly but surely and the more opportunity tier 2 and 3 teams have of competing with better teams the quicker they'll improve...

I've never liked the Southern and Northern Hemisphere split for inter-continental tournament ideas like this. I think time zones are the most relevant factor, thus longitude is more important than latitude. To me a 3 way split would work better - Africa plus Europe, Americas, Asia-Pacific. As...

Great result for Germany and good to see Spain so competitive with Tonga. Results like these support an increase in the world cup to 24 teams from 2023 (even if most of the new teams will probably have to come from Europe). It's good to see Tier 2 and 3 teams getting more games.

Definitely, but the advantage of it being done at an ARU or central level is scale, and that most of the proceeds (or the regular distributions from a future fund) could be used to help fund the community game and develop pathways etc. It'd benefit the sport itself and not just a professional team.

Yeah I don't think it could be totally symbolic. It would need to provide some kind of collective influence in how the game is run, and some prestige beyond priority access to tickets. Certain decisions would have to go to a vote of owners. Anyway, just a thought. Worth seeing how it goes for...

Yeah essentially an ownership stake in the ARU. By extension that covers the Wallabies, as well as everything else. I don't see how that'd change anything. It's not like the power base of Australian rugby isn't already dominated by private school old boys from the Eastern Suburbs and North...

Not sure if anyone else has said this as I haven't read the entire thread, but if the Force are successful in raising $5 million with their fan ownership drive, what could the ARU raise by giving supporters the opportunity to own Australian rugby? $100 million? more? Is there any reason this...

Possibly, but my feeling is there must be at least say 100 people who are big enough supporters and wealthy enough that they would put in 10k+ each without breaking a sweat, then more who might be in for 5k and so on. You may only need 1000-1500 people to get to $5 million. That said you'd...

Will people be allowed to buy more than one share? If so that may already be enough.

Great news, hopefully it catches on. A China vs Japan rivalry in rugby would be pretty cool. Also, if a long term plan for Australian rugby and SANZAAR is to grow through Asia then it's probably also about time the ARU followed the lead of the NZRU and made a greater attempt to popularise the...

I think our future should also be tied to Japan/Asia but generally agree Barbarian. Super rugby needs to evolve into closed conferences based on time zones, with international playoffs. The problem, as you allude to, is that the NZRU want to maintain regular season competition against South...

half, how many truly popular domestic sporting competitions do you think can sustainably exist in Australia? and do you think it's more likely that a long season NRC (in replacement of Super Rugby) would more closely rival the success of the A League or the NBL? My biggest problem with the...

So having beaten them last year Fiji Warriors just lost by a point to Argentina's A team in Argentina, with the Argie's scoring in the 84th minute to get the win. That Argentina team included a number of guys in the Jaguares squad plus their best up and comers. I think we can be reasonably...

There aren't many Fijians in Canberra though, and Fiji were seen as easy beats. There's a lot more Fijians in Sydney and Brisbane and they'll likely be a reasonably competitive team at NRC level. The Fiji Warriors (locally based players) beat Argentina XV (the Argentinian A team) in Argentina...

Pretty sure any of the core group would be taking a significant pay cut to play in the women's AFL. They're offering salary's of 5-25k last I heard (25k for marquees). The women's sevens squad makes an average 55k and this is set to rise. I guess the women's AFL is a pretty short comp so...

While the current conference model doesn't work well I do think the Jaguares are better off with South Africa until they can build up their own South American or Americas conference. The time zones work out better for them there (games played in Australia and NZ are on in the middle of the night...

So you'd leave Super Rugby and have an expanded NRC for 22 rounds plus finals? I actually used to think this was a decent idea, but I've changed my mind. I like the fact that top international level club/franchise rugby, featuring the best players in the world, is played in Australia. With a...

Maybe it's better to just have 2 divisions (or 3 if you get out to 30+ teams) that each do a regular season in whichever way suits them with as many teams as suits them. Then the best teams from each qualify for some kind of international cup tournament. I actually prefer the idea of having...

I agree with you. I think the current structure of Super Rugby was always going to be a bridge towards future expansion, but 3 conferences of 6 would be better. I think it'd be great if Pro12 and Super Rugby combined but it seems like a long shot. Structure is only one problem though. The...