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To admit their decision was based on incorrect assumptions would be far too honest a thing to do. I also find it funny that Clyne has said 90% of the people he hears from are in favour of cutting a team, even now, when almost 50% of people on this forum are for withdrawing from Super Rugby...

Georgia are an improving team but I think at least another world cup away from having a chance against us. Depending on the schedule I'm guessing they'll rest some of their better players against us to target Fiji and Wales. Fiji is the kind of team they can beat though and Fiji will be a...

World Rugby will want to give Japan every chance of going through. And what luck they got just about the best possible pool they could have hoped for! In the last world cup, after their win over the Springboks Japan had a 4 day turnaround before playing Scotland, who were fresh. I wouldn't be...

I don't think they'd necessarily have to change to Sydney and Brisbane. It doesn't really make any difference in my mind. There could still be other teams within each state or each city either way.

Well I saw it sold out the SFS and had way better TV ratings than any Super Rugby game will have until the next time the Reds or Waratahs make a Super Rugby final. And that's despite the A League being probably outside the 50 highest quality soccer leagues in the world. Tribalism matters. On...

Being a regular Wallaby is not realistic for many players. And if you want to keep top Wallabies in Australia you really also need to keep those guys on the fringes of selection and just under that level. But this is very difficult to do when Super Rugby is almost like a half season compared to...

Why the Spirit, Rising and Vikings and not the Force, Rebels and Brumbies, as well as the Reds and Waratahs? The Waratahs just have to have a cross town rival or two. They would be the perfect villain team in Sydney as they just can't shake their elitist image. And with a Sydney rivalry they...

I just struggle to see a scenario where rugby doesn't end up like soccer in Australia - where most of our best players are playing overseas, and we build our own A League type competition. But in recent months I've been thinking maybe that's not so bad. While we'd lose the very best players...

If someone offered you 2 times the money you're on now to do the same job in England or France would you say no? Some might, what about 3 times the money, or 4? And yeah you'll play a few more games but you won't be on the road so much. After most games you'll be home for dinner. Keeping...

Nah, it'd be based around the 5 fully professional franchises we already have. The rest of the teams could be existing clubs with the backing to go to the next level, new teams, or maybe even teams from Asia or the Pacific.

Well I would say the Top 14 followed by the English Premiership. But I'm guessing the SRU aren't referring to professional competitions?

Yeah that's the kind of ambition needed but I don't think it can be the best club comp in the world unless it's national. It's too bad the SRU didn't have this ambition 25 years ago.

I see this as the all eggs in one basket strategy that hasn't worked for the past 15 years. International rugby is only going to become more competitive, not less in the future so why would pinning the hopes of the sport almost entirely on the Wallabies be a good idea? The other international...

Also, what's with no teams from California? I thought it was the state with the most rugby participants? And it's a shame that Ohio Aviators team from Pro can't be reborn in this competition. It seemed to be making some headway and got some reasonable crowds given the circumstances. The team...

Sounds like the sort of model, just on a smaller scale (in terms of money), that I'd like to see implemented here when Super Rugby falls over.

Fingers crossed it works out a lot better than PRO! Seems like the structure is better anyway, not relying on a single person.

No, I think it definitely has something to do with the rulebook. But it's not the biggest factor especially at the moment, and I don't think Australian tastes are completely unique. The rugby played at the 2007 world cup for example wasn't liked by the majority of rugby fans all over the world...

Will it be fully professional or semi-pro to begin with? And how long will it go for?

If the laws of the game were as big an impediment here as you think then rugby would never have had such a successful 2003 world cup, it wouldn't hold the Fox Sports TV ratings record, the Wallabies wouldn't have been so popular when they were at the top of the world, and the Brumbies, Waratahs...

Depends how you look at it. Expectations are so low and things are already so bad there's potentially a lot of upside. Do a good job turning things around for rugby and it'll stand out. If it continues to decline or stay at the same level, then no one's going to think it was your fault, the...