Search results

And herein lies the number 1 problem we have. All our eggs are in 1 basket. And that 1 basket only plays 6 times a year in Australia and once or twice in each major city. And they will always have periods of poor performance, especially as rugby becomes bigger around the world. The key to...

What difference does it make? The reality is that most players that play in a domestic comp don't play at international level. And the ones that do can adapt to small differences in rules. And maybe we should be aiming for whatever competition we are part of, super rugby or a trans tasman...

In basketball, a bigger international sport than rugby, the rules in the NBA are slightly different to international rules. Same in ice hockey (where the size of an NHL arena is smaller than an international one). The players adapt okay. The NRL trials new rules all the time. Sometimes these...

Super Rugby in its current form is reaching its end point I think. The momentum is getting stronger against it now. It's time for change. My solution: 12-14 team Trans Tasman comp (possibly 1 or 2 from Asia), small law variations to decrease time wasted on scrums and penalties and to encourage...

I don't know if you guys ever listen to sports talk back radio, but rugby league fans are just as negative about absolutely everything. Poor crowds, refereeing, their commentators, tactics (especially 'wrestling' and whatever new style of bone breaking tackle they've invented). The whole sport...

I think the reason Australian derby matches are less entertaining is because of the mindset of our teams. They all go out to spoil the ball as much as possible. Slow, tactical penalty fests result. Our teams are less willing to counter attack from deep or play with adventure when playing against...

Maybe...but the NRC is a 3rd tier competition. General sports fans will see it as a super rugby 2nd division. I hope it will be well supported by the hard core rugby base but I'm not sure it will be a big driver of interest for fringe or new fans. The top domestic tier is where we really need...

Yep, and that's the case because of the status quo. Rugby gets swamped by the other codes and doesn't produce enough domestic content. I'm all for staying aligned with South Africa. We should definitely keep playing them in the rugby championship, and I'd be all for a champions league/heineken...

Yeah, it's the biggest sporting event in the world, is played every 4 years and goes for a month. Every match is crucial. Not exactly comparing like with like. If anything it highlights the argument for only playing South African teams in a much shorter competition. If the Waratahs or the...

Come on, they've been threatening to leave from the start! I wouldn't shed any tears. In reality it would make our test matches against the boks, and any champions league style matches against South African sides a whole lot more special. They'd become unique again. If we did everything for...

It's increasingly obvious that the current Super Rugby competition doesn't work for Australian rugby. Perhaps it works in terms of preparing the Wallabies, but in every other way it doesn't work. The finances are proof. 3 or 4 games in our time zone each weekend isn't enough, we're getting...

I thought Shota Horie was excellent. Good work rate, does the basics well and has a few extra elements to his game. You can't say there are many hookers capable of beating guys with footwork, but he can!

To answer each question: I don't think so. Why would it? Look at the A League for example. Cattle could come from around the world - would suit Western/Greater Sydney to have a multicultural team. ARU definitely don't have the money so would have to open it to private investment. I think if...

I really think what the Waratahs need is a cross town rival. Sydney is too big a place for one team. Having a 2nd Sydney team in Super Rugby would create more stories, more games and more reasons for people to talk about rugby. It would galvanise the Waratah faithful as well as the rugby people...

Of course it would. At the moment there are 3 or 4 games per week in the right time zone. These are the only games that provide value to Foxtel (or any potential broadcaster) in Australia. Hardly anyone watches the games in South Africa in the middle of the night. Now the alternative would...

Your follow up post with the table is still there Battalion - 2nd post on page 2. Bairdy, do you really think so? There's always yelling out when a throw is crooked and most refs will blow it up, which is fair enough under the current laws. But when the defensive team doesn't compete I don't...

Another suggestion for a small rule tweak. If a lineout throw isn't straight, but the defensive team is not disadvantaged (either because they choose not to compete in the lineout or if the throw is towards their side) then play on.

This is a very simplistic view. Most people don't fit into such neat boxes. Many people drift in and out of sports and there are always a lot more casual fans than die-hards. If you really believe your last sentence we'll just have to agree to disagree. Perceived quality of the...

But you're a rugby tragic. You're not the person that the game has to convert. It's the fringe supporters. Surely you have mates that would fit into this category? All my mates that are fringe supporters of rugby complain about the amount of penalty goals. You hear it all the time on talk back...

Well a 55m goal is somewhat spectacular so I don't disagree. I think in general though people like to see ball in play more than they like to see a minute or two taken up by one guy taking a shot at goal. You know what's better than a 55m penalty goal...a 55m drop goal! Same spectacle but...