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A bloke over on PlanetRugby who mentioned Taiwan was saying that it is linked to a Super Rugby franchise. A NZ Super Rugby franchise.

A couple of tweets have emerged of a 'prominent' MLR team will be leaving the competition but not folding. Meaning unless they are going back down to amateur status as the costs of running teams is much higher than it once was or there's potentially another league in the wings.

The original tweet mentioned partnering with China. Which suggests that they'll be feeding the soon to be announced Asian based team. Regarding Singapore. Apparently the relationship between the Union and the management of the AP Dragons soured to the point they pulled the plug. Hopefully they...

Is Manuma an evolution of the Kagifa team from early this year or a entirely different venture altogether?

Well, the schedule in the Americas has essentially be synced up with the SH. The Americas Rugby Championship will run during the same window as the RC. So this may be more workable than many suspect.

I actually would support that. In fact I believe we could achieve much more if we evolved the RC to something akin to the NC by introducing a biennial playoff for a spot and bringing both the Americas and a combined Asia-Pacific under its umbrella. Use the current structures to form the basis of...

No. I suspected we'd see something come back around. Been having a discussion about it over on the T2 forum. Will be interesting to see what comes of it. I'd hate for it to be a closed shop. Instead I like what was suggested by a Brazilian poster. Which would be to take a leaf from the...

According to a BBC article the USA is set to host the 2031 RWC with us being the front runners for 2027.

It suggests it could be biennial.

Probably a bit of misreporting. They mention 12 teams of which 10 met in Japan. I'd have expected them to have been part of those meetings.

Unfortunately it would be a closed shop and would featured the 6Ns and RC teams plus Japan and Fiji. Essentially the proposed 1st Div. of the Nations Championship concept. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-7653113/Top-rugby-nations-talks-new-World-Championship-competition.html

The other two games were worse. The Fiji/Samoa game was particularly poor.

If it had to be a set game I'd actually prefer it to be the last game in the series.

Not necessarily shrinking. More operating in the realms of reality. Not that I'm actually advocating to cut the Rebels. But I think we would be more successful if we had stayed at just the 3 while building the necessary pieces below before we pushed for a 4th and then 5th franchise. In...

I think it's a far better structure. Alongside one winner takes all Bledisloe game. Each and every game is do or die. Adds a lot more to the theatre of it.

If we were to go down the path of cutting a team I would hope that they'd be headed for GRR as an alternative. Even so. I still think partnering with GRR would be a solid move. Give opportunities to a wider array of players to play professionally across a broader base. Such as our U20s.

I seriously doubt we'll be going down that path. Though letting one fail might be on the books. The key in either scenario is the fortification of the pathway via the NRC. If say the Rebels were to leave Super Rugby having regular interaction with the pathway via the NRC would be an imperative.

A national footprint can work in more ways than one. We could have looked to fund development and academies in both Melbourne and Perth and pushing their entry into either one of the premier club comps or an NRC like competition while pushing for the S12 structure to move to a double round robin...

If RA wants to experiment with the NRC they should first look to do so with things like marketing and promotion. Move it back a little. Push it to the public and actually see if we can get something going here.

Cost would be one I'd imagine. The Rebels have been a pretty expensive enterprise for RA. I came to the conclusion a while back that we probably pushed for the wrong kind of expansion post S12. We should have pressed for an expansion of the schedule to a double round robin first with the...