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I can't imagine those unions would have less money than the Samoan union. And those teams all play in the Junior World Trophy every year, so I imagine the costs would be pretty similar if a few more of them played in the JWC instead. I think the IRB must cover a lot of the costs. Maybe the JWC...

Then you get the problem that the 4th team in the strong pools would be better off in the weak pool. Do you put the top 8 seeds in the 2 strong pools? That'd be unfair to the teams seeded 7th and 8th. Do you put a couple of weaker teams in the strong pools? That's unfair to them. I think...

It would be good if this tournament could go to 16 teams so you could have 2 qualifiers from each pool followed by quarter finals. I guess it's a cost issue, but I think it would be worth it.

That'll be a good draw for Australia. Even if we lose to SA we'll have two teams to hopefully put big scores on. The other pools all have less of a gap between the top 3.

You're right that a Thursday night isn't as suitable to someone with kids. But at the same time a Thursday night might suit a uni student or younger adult even more than a Friday or Saturday night would. On the Friday and Saturday night they might have 3 parties or events to go to. Thursday...

If someone like Warren Livingstone wants to pay Jonny Wilkinson a huge sum of money to play a few games in the NRC then the ARU would be insane to put roadblocks in his way. I see no problems at all allowing teams to sign 1 or 2 foreign marquee players outside of the regular salary rules...

Inglis is signed with South Sydney until the end of 2017. I don't see him switching after that (and he wouldn't be worth the investment for the ARU at that point). If he does he'd more likely go and play in France or Japan for a couple of years before he retires. No doubt he'd have made a hell...

Wow, that's crazy! I would have thought the 30,000 included the pre-registered. If not, they might already be close to a sell out as I assume a lot of the rugby community would have pre-registered. If it does sell out I hope it doesn't just turn out to be a one off thing. The sooner there is...

Apparently they sold over 30,000 tickets for the USA vs All Blacks match on the first day of sale. The capacity of the stadium is 61,500 so seems like a high chance of a sell out given the match is 4 and a half months away. That's huge for American rugby, but given they were beaten reasonably...

It's not that big a risk though because it would undoubtedly rate better on TV than a match on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, which is I assume when most games will be played. The NRC wouldn't exist without Fox, so they'll play it when suits them and Thursday night has no competition. I...

I'm living in London at the moment and over here people go out all the time on week nights. It does help the sun doesn't set til nearly 10pm at this time of year, but there is definitely much more of an events culture during the week. I think the key would be to play matches near where...

Japan really are becoming quite a decent team. Even their scrum is pretty good now. If they can blunt Italy up front next week they should win. Would love to see the Wallabies play Japan on the way over to Europe like the All Blacks did last year.

Because Thursday night rates better. And for crowds I do think Thursday evening after work would be attractive to a lot of people. If a match finished at 8:30 most people would get home by like 9 to 9:30. Keep in mind the NRC will be a short competition played later in the year when the...

Namibia beat the young Western Province team 30-28, so very similar score. Indicates the battle for the African qualification spot will be close, at least between Kenya and Namibia. From what I've read Zimbabwe and especially Madagascar are likely to be a little weaker, but time will tell.

If you read the reactions of people who were watching the match on other forums it seems the red card was a ridiculous decision. A lot of people saying it was a penalty at most or not even a penalty.

I agree. But what might help win over the fans is having a game plan with a bit more risk. Even if we win this match the spectacle is more likely to lose fans than win any. It's a shocking match and no amount of interviews or extra access is going to compensate for it.

I read the new stadium has a permanent roof and some form of air conditioning system.

Ha, and it will be played over 2 days as well. Sounds like it will be a ghost town. Quite a disappointment! A poor turnout would surely put to bed the chances of super rugby in Singapore. For 2016 at least.

Sounds like a cool event. Good on the Brumbies for getting involved after also playing (and winning) the world 7's in London last year. Will be interesting to see what sort of crowds it attracts considering Singapore (through the Asia-Pacific Dragons) are apparently one of the options for the...

We don't share in the broadcast revenues they receive for the Currie Cup and ITM Cup. And the South African broadcaster paid overs for Currie Cup and unders for Super Rugby in the last deal to benefit the SARU. Nevertheless, the ARU's revenues are higher than the SARU's. We make a lot more...