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Doesn't seem ideal. Basically makes it in the Wales and Scotland's interest to lose any matches they play against England. Eg, if they're in the same pool, rest their top players against England, then come out fresh against England's main rival for topping the pool.

Pfitzy, this is the problem in a lot of peoples eyes. The strength of rugby in Australia shouldn't rely almost solely on how well the Wallabies are playing. At the moment it seems that everything in Australian rugby is geared towards building the player base or developing the players so that the...

The population of Sydney at the time was around 1 million. So adjusted for today's population gives you an average of about 9,000 people. The NRL's average crowd today is around 16,000.

I think that's likely but it would still be say 12 in a squad of around 35, and I'd guess there'd always be a majority of Japanese players in the 23. I think they'd struggle for support if it was any other way. The Japanese national team beat Italy this year. They beat Wales without their...

Ridiculous and no chance of happening. It will be a Japanese dominated team, not a SANZAR pension fund. Picking a side like the above would do nothing to develop Japanese rugby, which is the key reason they're investing in a team.

Relax guys. It's one loss after a very tough match last weekend, a difficult trip with added difficulty and an imposing home crowd in a match that meant a lot more to Argentina than it did to us. And Argentina are not a bad side. They're certainly much better than their ranking, which is low...

Like others I don't really like the structure, with them in a South African conference, but I'm excited about having a Japanese team in the competition. Hopefully it will be a great thing for Japanese rugby and help grow the game in Asia in the long term. If Super Rugby can really crack Asia...

Some fan had put together an NRC facebook page that had 6-7k likes a few weeks ago but it got taken down. Guessing the ARU didn't want an unofficial page masquerading as the competition page. But it was doing a good job with updates etc so it's a shame.

Their crowds have been similar or better than most other teams.

James Grant for one: http://www.theroar.com.au/2014/09/23/nsw-country-eagles-gm-james-grant-nrc-good-concept-support-needed/ And there's a difference IMO, between the minimum crowd needed to be financial viable and what is a good crowd. Don't get me wrong, financial viability is more...

Whose expectations? The only quote I've seen from a team administrator is James Grant from the Eagles. He said they've been disappointed with the crowds they've got so far, particularly in Lismore and Coogee. Before the season Pulver was hoping for crowds of around 3k. It's been less than that...

I said around 10k would have been a good crowd. What I also said was that I thought it should get 5k+. Before the game I said that, and was told that was unrealistic. For me, 5k was par for the Queensland derby in season 1. Achieving par, or slightly better than par (official figure still not...

Well overall I think the crowds have been slightly under par for the NRC so far, even considering it's a new competition and so on. It's going okay though, I'm not saying it's a disaster, I just don't think we should set the bar too low. I don't think the Queensland derby suffered from a lack...

I would say no better than par for such a match. It's basically being marketed at the already existing large Reds supporter base and only a small % of Reds supporters are turning up.

5,000 for the Queensland derby is okay. But the Reds really did quite a lot of promotion for it through social media etc and 5,000 is a pretty small portion of the number of their season ticket holders and regular fans. And those 25-30k people would have all known about it. Would be...

I think the All Blacks will be well enough prepared by their pool. While they're not in any serious danger of losing a match Argentina will clearly provide a decent test. Tonga at full strength (which is only really at world cups) are a good side too. And even Georgia will give their forwards a...

I think crowds have an effect on this too. It's much better to watch sport when there's a decent crowd in attendance - and specifically when the atmosphere comes through the screen. Even good quality games can feel a little flat sometimes when there's lots of empty seats.

There's always some people away and always a clash with something. I think it'll be pretty disappointing if City vs Country only gets 2-3k people. There's no QLD teams left in the NRL or AFL and it's basically Reds vs Reds and potential Reds vs potential Reds. And Reds assistant coach vs Reds...

Round 6 is going to be the week for some decent crowds provided there's okay weather. Brisbane City vs QLD Country and Rays vs Rams on Sunday afternoon should both do well. No reason both can't top 5k. And the Spirit should draw a decent number for their home game against the Stars.

I don't think the first country should have any say. Makes it potentially inconsistent.