Australian Rugby / RA

[Wilson]

Yep so in that case, a touring Aussie squad would need to take at least 50-60 players away, because you'd be playing both a test side and an A side as their own squads in different parts of the world. I'm not sure Australian rugby has the depth or funds at the moment to be taking away that many players.

There are a lot of different cases being put forward so it's good to see this driving conversation.

It sounds like most people would be keen for some type of A team to be brought back into the fold.

Yeah, economically simultaneous Australia A tours are probably a ways off right now. If they're going to happen it'll be on some sort of appearance fee basis - teams like the USA paying to get Australia A over to give their guys more game time or possibly world rugby sponsoring tier 1 A team tours to get more games in tier 2 nations. Neither of those things seem super likely at the moment though.

The one version of mid-week games that could probably happen now is playing against major European clubs. There's still probably need to be some sort of appearance fee, but I could definitely see a major French or English club seeing it as a money spinner. That would have to be a mid week side playing as the Wallabies though, it would live and die on it's marketability as much as anything else.

Home based Australia A games are much more likely at this stage, ideally played during the July test series and maybe in the home rounds of the Rugby Championship, but they have to be careful with scheduling. If an NRC equivalent does get up the worst thing they could do is pull players out of it for Australia A.

 

[Joe King]

Hopefully we'll see it return. Even if it's essentially Super Rugby Au plus the Drua and minus our Wallabies. Would be better than nothing.

It's probably the path of least resistance, and everything needed for it is already set up. But it's also expandable in the future. I liked your idea on how to expand it on another platform.

 

[Joe King]

This is a beaut little video on the importance of having a system that produces cohesion if you want to have successful professional teams:

The rise and decline of Australian Rugby Union - EXPLAINED

A short summary analysis of how Australian rugby union and the national team known as The Wallabies rose to success in the 1980s and then dropped in internat...

t.co

It's not a call to cut a Super Rugby team, but I think it does explain the key reason why the Wallabies have fallen from their lofty position since the early 2000's.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

This is a beaut little video on the importance of having a system that produces cohesion if you want to have successful professional teams:

The rise and decline of Australian Rugby Union - EXPLAINED

A short summary analysis of how Australian rugby union and the national team known as The Wallabies rose to success in the 1980s and then dropped in internat...

t.co

It's not a call to cut a Super Rugby team, but I think it does explain the key reason why the Wallabies have fallen from their lofty position since the early 2000's.

I think it has been exacerbated by their being a heavy reliance on both NSW and Qld for talent. If you look at the likes of Ireland only Connaught doesn't produce the majority of their squad locally. Relying on bringing in either Irish qualified foreign players or project players to bolster their squad.

 

[Jimmy_Crouch]

This is a beaut little video on the importance of having a system that produces cohesion if you want to have successful professional teams:

The rise and decline of Australian Rugby Union - EXPLAINED

A short summary analysis of how Australian rugby union and the national team known as The Wallabies rose to success in the 1980s and then dropped in internat...

t.co

It's not a call to cut a Super Rugby team, but I think it does explain the key reason why the Wallabies have fallen from their lofty position since the early 2000's.

Disagree. I'm supportive of what Durrant is trying to do however he certainly looks at things that happened in the 1990s/early 2000s (a small blip on the success radar) with rose tinted glasses. Some of the points remind me of Alan Jones. This is how we did it back then and it was successful so if we did it now it would work which is rubbish as it is a completely different game.

This video claims that the 2019 RWC Springboks are more cohesive due to consistency of selection than the Wallabies but misses the fact they came from 11 different pro clubs where as the Wallabies came from 6. Says France are successful due to consistency of selection but missed the fact they have 30 professional teams.

Teams of high cohesion have high cohesion because they have good players that play well that they continue to select. Gainline always talk about the Melbourne Storm and QRL team but fail to talk about the fact those teams included some of the greatest players ever to play the game. Should the Wallabies continue to pick guys who play sh*t just so their TWI is higher? Chekia picked every lock in the country trying to get someone to standup and show something. It wasn;'t his fault none of them owned the position. Sure it is easier to play well you are comfortable with the player next to you but that doesn't cause your skill to drop.

None of this either takes into consideration growing the game, having more professional players and that the demographics of Wales, Scotland and Ireland are substantially different to those of Australia.

 

[Braveheart81]

This whole thing can be largely summed up by saying that correlation doesn't equal causation.

Teams of high cohesion have high cohesion because they have good players that play well that they continue to select. Gainline always talk about the Melbourne Storm and QRL team but fail to talk about the fact those teams included some of the greatest players ever to play the game. Should the Wallabies continue to pick guys who play sh*t just so their TWI is higher?

I think this is the key thing. Cohesion is a recurring theme in successful teams but it's very much chicken and egg. They're ending up with the cohesion because they are good players who stay together and succeed together.

Unquestionably there has been a lack of talent for a fair while and it wasn't until the Under 20 RWC in 2019 where we finally had a very talented group of players that it feels like we have the cattle to really start competing again at test level now that they're a few years older.

 

[fatprop]

 

[fatprop]

It does suggest the spreading the wealth to all clubs maybe counter productive

 

[Adam84]

ahh the old correlation must be causation argument. We didn’t have Nextflix back in the 90s or 00s, thus Netflix must be related to the decline of the wallabies.

I appreciate the effort they’ve put in, reality is it’s a simplistic take on a complex issue with a wide array of variables they haven’t considered

 

[Ignoto]

Does cohesion only work at an international level? The video compares the 2019 Springboks vs the Wallabies and only focuses on, the % of players who've played together for more than 2 years at the Sprinbgok.

But, the video also talks about the Wallabies having spread their talent across multiple Super Rugby teams and diluting the cohesion.

The 2019 Springbok squad had a total of 33 players who played across 12 separate club teams. The Wallabies had 31 players who played across 5 teams (at the time of RWC, Nic White played for the Chiefs).

England in 2019, had 32 players across 9 clubs as well.

I do think cohesion and time playing with one-another is important, but the messaging of these types of videos and articles is too simplistic.

 

[Marce]

Cheika the new Pumas coach, thoughts?

It'll be a tough battle against the Argies with a coach who knows everything about Aussie Rugby

PS: I dont know where to put this info, sorry

 

[Wilson]

PS: I dont know where to put this info, sorry

There's an Argentina thread here:

Argentina

The Argentine national anthem is famous in rugby circles due to the significant passion put into performing it by Los Pumas´ players during the pre-match ritual. The English translation of the shortened version of the Argentina national anthem that is peformed for rugby matches is as follows...

www.greenandgoldrugby.com

 

[Dctarget]

Cheika the new Pumas coach, thoughts?
View attachment 13137

It'll be a tough battle against the Argies with a coach who knows everything about Aussie Rugby

PS: I dont know where to put this info, sorry

Good on him. Hopefully he's improved and revised a bit of strategy, his last work with the Pumas wasn't too impressive.

 

[Ignoto]

Cheika the new Pumas coach, thoughts?

It'll be a tough battle against the Argies with a coach who knows everything about Aussie Rugby

PS: I dont know where to put this info, sorry

Unless Chieka has changed his game plan, his teams are pretty easy to beat; Pin them in their own 22 and wait for the team to make a mistake while they try and run it, get a turn over, kick a penalty or go for a try.

Rinse repeat, next thing you know, you're down by 24 points with 50 minutes still left to play.

 

[Adam84]

Cheika the new Pumas coach, thoughts?
View attachment 13137

It'll be a tough battle against the Argies with a coach who knows everything about Aussie Rugby

PS: I dont know where to put this info, sorry

his ‘knowledge’ of Australian rugby may be his undoing agains the Wallabies, he always came across as a person who put emotion before technical analysis, even in commentating. this style works to a degree.

I’m not sure he could approach a Wallabies match with an objective and unemotional view that allows him to properly capitalise on this knowledge. Maybe it suits the argies though.

 

[PhilClinton]

Unless Chieka has changed his game plan, his teams are pretty easy to beat; Pin them in their own 22 and wait for the team to make a mistake while they try and run it, get a turn over, kick a penalty or go for a try.

More of a Northern Hemisphere bias amongst the Argentinian players though. If Cheika wants to play to their strengths, he will need to adapt the gameplan.

 

[zer0]

I just want to hear him hablar algo de español with that accent of hees.

 

[zer0]

Leaked script for señor Cheika's personal in-depth philosophy on the tactical conduct of the game of rugby union:

"Muy bien coños. Escuchen. El plan de juego es simple. Finjan que están jugando contra Inglaterra. ¿Qué es eso? ¿Eso no es suficiente para ustedes? *Sigh Spanishly* Bien. Son ingleses y tú estás jugando para las Malvinas. ¿Funciona eso? Genial. ¡Ahora métete en los bastardos!"

 

[Marce]

I just want to hear him hablar algo de español with that accent of hees.

According reports, Simmons and Phipps are on the plane to play for Argentina

 

[Rob42]

Has Mario Ledesma been sacked? Or just moving on? Seemed like he and Cheika had a good thing going as it was.