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I think France have shown you don't necessarily need to wait your turn. South Africa 2027 and Europe 2031 would mean 3 world cups in a row in that time zone. If the 2019 world cup is a success and the IPRC helps boost the game in Asia then having the 2027 tournament in the Asia-Pacific timezone...

I mean what'd you guys expect, a CEO not from Mosman?

Amazon just won the live and on-demand rights for the ATP (tennis) tour in the UK and Ireland from 2019-2023. The shift is happening.

I'd have loved it to be in Ireland but I think NZ in 2011 may be the last time a small country hosts it outright. They just can't compete economically. Ireland may have a better chance in future with a combined Celtic bid. I think Australia should now bid for 2027. France 2023 means 3 in a row...

WCR - will it be a simple home and away season? And do you know what the salary cap will be (i.e. will this be a fully professional competition or semi-pro)?

Good news. Brazil have certainly progressed a lot in the last 5 years or so. Verging on being genuine tier 2 now and look on track to threaten Uruguay as the 2nd best South American team pretty soon.

This competition really does have the potential to work out extremely well for not just the ARU, but SANZAAR as a whole. It's very difficult for each union to hold onto guys around the fringes of national selection, either on a small top up or none as the money in Europe for those guys is...

Okay but without other fixtures for the Force you give up having professional players actually based in Perth year round, which has some benefits. If they could scrape together at least 7 or 8 matches in Perth (outside of the Indo-Pacific league) then you could still keep the base of a team in...

If it's going to go the way of an NRC with Asian teams then I really think it'd be better to have our super rugby teams playing in it as the base of the competition (obviously minus Wallabies players). The super rugby provinces are established brands with established fan bases, while the NRC...

Yes because obviously arguing against putting all eggs in the one Wallabies basket is the same as saying the Wallabies are unimportant. Nice job taking down that straw man. Here's some further points: 1. The Wallabies centric strategy of Australian rugby has only worked really well, relative...

But there'd be no difference to the number of Australian players playing Super Rugby. Either you cut a bunch of players by cutting an entire team or you replace them with imports. It wouldn't be that hard to limit the number of imports by position (so that, for instance all teams didn't have a...

Presumably the same players for the Force in the Indo-Pacific tournament can play for the Spirit (or some other team) in the NRC as well. And anyone playing in the NRC would be eligible for selection, right?

What you're saying is only true under the assumption that Australian super rugby teams must be filled almost entirely by Australian players. Given rugby has an international player pool there's no reason why this must be true. If player depth was the primary concern, and there is only say 120...

It could easily be fully professional if teams have other fixtures or competitions in their seasons. And that may not even really be necessary (consider that Super 12 was professional and there were only 11 regular season matches for each team - though Super Rugby has always been subsidised by...

My guess for the 6 would be, in order of confidence: Force Asia-Pacific Dragons (Singapore) Fiji Hong Kong Panasonic Wild Knights Chinese team Doubt that'll be exactly right. I think that a 2nd Australian based team would be desirable, but whatever the case I just hope they stick to a 3 or 4...

It's really very demoralising that the ARU would rather piss off tens of thousands of its own public than the NZRU and SARU. I find it very hard to believe SANZAAR has not been working on contingencies in the event the ARU can't cut a team. It's been a possibility for months. If the ARU went...

Good non-Kiwi imports have been signed in Super Rugby before (Mafi and Cubelli are 2 recent examples). There's plenty of good players in the world, and a limited number of high paying squad positions in Europe.

In my view a trans tasman comp would only be optimal if you have some form of talent equalisation throughout the entire competition. NZ have the greater depth of talent, Australia has the bigger population centres to support teams. Pretty easy to figure out how that should marry up if your...

I think it'll be more like what he has offered with Own the Force. He'll be willing to supercharge what the community, or at least what many others put in. I think he'll have other wealthy people ready to help if the vision is powerful enough. If you added up the net worth of all the rugby fans...

As I said, I'm fine with ending or reducing central contracts for these players. But many or most of those top players will head overseas, many already do. And I'd rather they be picked for the Wallabies (if their ability and form merits it) than not. If we're going to have financially...