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Japan's mens team just qualified, beating Hong Kong in the qualifier final. South Korea and Sri Lanka will join Hong Kong in the repechage. The women's qualification is being done over 2 legs. Japan beat Kazakhstan 22-0 in the final of the first leg so look certainties to qualify as well.

If you did that then if it was say Romania vs USA the match could be an 80 minute loop of scrum, penalty, goal, scrum, penalty, goal etc. The NRC rules have worked. If teams are cynical they get yellow cards, if they're not cynical they don't get yellow cards. It's the simplest and easiest way...

The solution has been seen in the NRC - use the yellow card immediately for clear professional fouls or cynical infringements. It's actually a bigger disincentive than the penalty goal. With the rules as they are now you know you can give away a couple of silly penalties, and a couple of goals...

The rationale is the same as the NRC. Reduce the prevalence and incentive to kick penalty goals. But I think the reason it's 2 and 6 rather than 1 and 3 is probably to keep scorelines more comparable to what they are now.

Well what counts as a blow out is relative to the points system. But if they're going to go 6 for a try and 2 for any type of goal they may as well make it 3 and 1.

Good, I hope SANZAR get the jump on it and use all these changes in Super Rugby next year. Along with a couple of the other NRC variations (like the quick tap not having to taken from a specific blade of grass). Sounds like it'd just be if someone knocks on over the line in the process of...

I think 2 teams in the Bay area will be good. It'll create a local rivalry in an area of the country where rugby is fairly strong. It'll be interesting to see who is investing in each team. I wonder if any of the English clubs are doing so.

That's like saying Twenty20 cricket isn't a different format, that it's just 1 day cricket played over a shorter period of play. I think it's a pretty substantial difference to be honest. Sevens requires a high level of fitness but it's really all about speed and skill. I think making it...

I hope the Super 7's doesn't happen. Rugby doesn't need another new format.

10k seating. Would have thought they'd want a bigger home ground than that.

Depends what the goal is and how you measure the health of the game. If the goal is to grow the sport then you could argue that powerful clubs or franchises do that better. I think the key is really to sort the global season out. There needs to be a separation of club windows and...

Well South Africa aren't going to die wondering! It'll be interesting to see how many of those 15s guys actually make it through the cuts. NZ will be strengthened by the inclusions of Sonny Bill, Liam Messam and Ardie Savea, possibly some others. Have any of our Wallabies or Super Rugby...

Not saying it does, but it's not impossible to have both. And what's better - having a strong national team or having rugby be hugely popular in the country with tribal support of a couple of dozen clubs for more than half the year every year? The EPL is not necessarily the reason the English...

Maybe it is. But I bet they have strong generations come through again. What's for sure is that rugby in France is more popular and richer than it's ever been.

They've set up a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/prorugby "Stay tuned for our formal announcement, coming soon." Hopefully this is within a week kind of soon and not SANZAR's 'our broadcast deal will be announced soon' kind of soon.

'Razzle dazzle' and 'butterflies' were other examples of what I mean. They could be substituted for any sport. The sports rugby competes with all have skill or action or intensity or 'modern day warriors' or nervousness or something on the line etc. Not saying you shouldn't include action, but...

In marketing the game the ARU should focus on rugby's points of difference. What's different about rugby? Values/culture (particularly things like respect for officials), game for all shapes and sizes, international competition in our main domestic tournament, Olympics, women's team on the...

I think the women's sevens team is a huge potential booster for Australian rugby. They're a great side with a huge chance of winning gold. There's also some good personalities/characters in the team, judging by the little I've seen of them on Fox Sports - they come across really well. If a...

Just looked it up - in 2011 the Final attracted the largest television audience for the calendar year in France with an average of 13.4 million viewers, a peak of 18.1 million and an audience share of 82 per cent. I doubt this one will be that high. I think if 120 million is legit then it...

Well the 2011 final was played (I think) at 8am in the UK, 9am in France. So not really that bad. It doesn't account for a 90 million difference, especially as this final clashed with heaps of European soccer. And France being in that final would have given it a huge boost given France is...