Australian Rugby / RA

[LeCheese]

View attachment 20886
Some good target in there

I thought Phil would've subscribed to SMART goals, personally

 

[oztimmay]

I'm told they've dumbed it down a bit to get more people into Level 2. Interesting to see where that goes

Personally, not a fan. Considering how much I had to grind for my Level 2. Oh well...

 

[Pfitzy]

Cosnidering how much I had to grind for my Level 2

Did you miss the spelling module?

 

[Steve_Grey]

Also a better comp with QFs and not the lucky loser set up they currently have.

Just seen a Tweet, but no reference to the actual news story that World Rugby have cancelled both the U20s World Championship AND Trophy for 2025.

I know this is perhaps not the correct thread for this news if someone can redirect me to the correct thread?

 

[Dan54]

A 70% win rate... have we ever managed that?

Not sure, but one thing I will say as rugby loving kiwi, this is best thing I have read coming from Aus in a long time, and I applaud all involved. Don't aim for where they have got to before, but aim for the top!

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Just seen a Tweet, but no reference to the actual news story that World Rugby have cancelled both the U20s World Championship AND Trophy for 2025.

I know this is perhaps not the correct thread for this news if someone can redirect me to the correct thread?

I know they were planning on scrapping the Trophy and expanding the Cup to 16 from 2026 onwards. Not seen anything about not playing thr Cup next year. Care to share the link.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Just seen a Tweet, but no reference to the actual news story that World Rugby have cancelled both the U20s World Championship AND Trophy for 2025.

I know this is perhaps not the correct thread for this news if someone can redirect me to the correct thread?

Reading the tea leaves, it appears the trophy will be scrapped, regional qualifiers introduced, and expanding the U20WC is what will probably be happening

Spain and Georgia were bidding to host but they fell through which probably explains the delay in announcing anything

 

[Steve_Grey]

I know they were planning on scrapping the Trophy and expanding the Cup to 16 from 2026 onwards. Not seen anything about not playing thr Cup next year. Care to share the link.

"Following World Rugby's announcement that there will be no World Rugby U20 Championship or Trophy tournaments played in 2025"

Was sent from the Tier 2 Tweeter - but I can't find the actual Tweet on X. Could be Lions related - pure guesswork?

 

[Wilson]

"Following World Rugby's announcement that there will be no World Rugby U20 Championship or Trophy tournaments played in 2025"

Was sent from the Tier 2 Tweeter - but I can't find the actual Tweet on X. Could be Lions related - pure guesswork?

The only way the Lions would effect it is if they decided to send out an Under 20s Lions team. which would be kind of cool but not at the expense of the under 20s world cup. Could be a good alternative if the cup is cancelled next year, if those countries are up for it and everyone can move quick enough. It's much more beneficial for us though, so there might not be much interest from the Lions nations.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

"Following World Rugby's announcement that there will be no World Rugby U20 Championship or Trophy tournaments played in 2025"

Was sent from the Tier 2 Tweeter - but I can't find the actual Tweet on X. Could be Lions related - pure guesswork?

Nothing on WR (World Rugby)'s site & no Google search results so I don't think it's something anyone should be putting too much faith in ATM.

 

[stoff]

Phil Waugh's commentary on the new strategic plan from the Australian https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sp...1/news-story/5f2f4b6017246dbae9307c5ec96de208

But without a new broadcast deal, and carrying a debt of $80 million after taking out a loan to save the game, Waugh acknowledged the challenge ahead.

“We’re certainly well under where we need to be to fund the game with our aspirations,” Waugh said.

“The resourcing and the financial discipline across the ecosystem is the most important point. So without the funding, we can’t actually execute everything we want to do.

“So right now, we don’t have the revenue lines that we require to do everything we’d like to do. Therefore, you have to prioritise different programs depending on the revenues and then making sure you’ve got the cost discipline across the organisation.”

“We, as 11 national unions of high-performance nations, went to Dublin in between the two Bledisloe Cups this year for 36 hours to talk about financial sustainability at national unions, every national union is under financial pressure, and that’s largely due to player (wage) inflation,” Waugh said.

“So there’s certainly work being done globally through the leadership of (World Rugby chief executive) Brett Robinson and World Rugby to ensure that we’ve got a model, not just in Australia, but worldwide for sustainability. So I think there’s going to be a level of correction, and a little bit of unity.”

As part of their strategic plan, that takes in the 2025 British & Irish Lions series, 2027 men’s and 2029 women’s home World Cups, RA also addresses “right-sizing” their business, which could involve more redundancies.

“I’m talking about structuring the business appropriately to ensure that we’ve got a sustainable model, so naturally that looks at a number of FTE (full-time employees) and your cost base,” Waugh said.

“Equally we’ve got a good opportunity through this next period to maximise our revenue.”

“It’s really important, as you know, we’ve got a fairly large debt facility, we’ve got a really good opportunity to pay down that debt facility in 2025 with the Lions,” Waugh said.

“Then we go into the broadcast cycle in 2026 through 2030, and we need to be in a sustainable model through that period. I think an area that we’ve got into historically, with an idea of finances rather than looking at cyclical financial performance, because touring teams dictates how you travel financially.

“So we’ll be working through and have started a long way down that journey, working through the affordability of the game from 2026 through 2030.

“As everyone knows, we’re in a negotiating period with Channel 9 that expires at the end of this month. We’re having constructive conversations with the executive.”

Herbert added: “Spending more doesn’t necessarily guarantee a better result, as we’ve seen in the past. So that’s where we use the word alignment, we need to get more out of what we’ve got right now.

“And that alignment has started this year, and we’ve now got two of the Super Rugby clubs under RA, and we’re working very closely with the other two as well.

“It doesn’t matter how much money we throw at something, sometimes you’re not going to get the result. But we feel we’ve got very strong alignment across all of those Super Rugby clubs from a high performance perspective.”

“It will take a number of years before I think we get to that No.1 position, but I do think we’ve got the players and the people involved across the game broadly, across the member unions and Super Rugby clubs, to enable us to get there,” Herbert said.

“But it does require us to do things a little differently to what we’ve done in the past.

“We’ve started out on that journey, but we’re not there yet.”

Waugh added: “We’ve got a long way to go to be number one and it’s not beyond reality to envisage being number one throughout this five-year cycle. We’ve got a long way to go, there’s no doubt.

“If you look at where Ireland were a decade ago, if you look at where South Africa were a decade ago and you look at where they are now and the journey that they’ve been on to get to the best one or two sides of the world, it’s achievable. We just need to ensure that we deliver and execute.”

The general message seems to be cost cutting will be the future as opposed to increasing revenues.

 

[LeCheese]

Phil Waugh's commentary on the new strategic plan from the Australian https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sp...1/news-story/5f2f4b6017246dbae9307c5ec96de208



The general message seems to be cost cutting will be the future as opposed to increasing revenues.

In many respects it's disappointing, but also probably a realistic outlook - which is somewhat refreshing compared to the recent years of bullish talk that has always fallen well short.

 

[Froggy]

These guys are certainly talking the talk, and I fully support everything they are saying. The tough bit, of course, is walking the walk, that will be the real test. I have no idea whether they can do it, but I am behind them all the way, and if they can do it Australian Rugby will owe a big debt to messrs Waugh and Herbert.

 

[dru]

These guys are certainly talking the talk, and I fully support everything they are saying. The tough bit, of course, is walking the walk, that will be the real test. I have no idea whether they can do it, but I am behind them all the way, and if they can do it Australian Rugby will owe a big debt to messrs Waugh and Herbert.

Over the recent decades we have heard an awful lot of talk. Waffle probably more accurate. Forgive me for cynicism but I'll wait for the walk. A major clue to watch this walk is how (if) they resolve differences between SRA and Super/RA/Subbies. Rugby at best is shackling itself if there is outright antagonism between the largest cradle of new talent and the rest of the game.

 

[Rhino_rugby]

These guys are certainly talking the talk, and I fully support everything they are saying. The tough bit, of course, is walking the walk, that will be the real test. I have no idea whether they can do it, but I am behind them all the way, and if they can do it Australian Rugby will owe a big debt to messrs Waugh and Herbert.

Well said........... Talking the talk is one thing, but walking the walk will be the ultimate test.
If Waugh and Herbert can pull it off, it could be a game-changer for Australian Rugby. Fingers crossed they deliver!