Australian Rugby / RA

[rodha]

For a fleeting moment, let's imagine an alternate timeline where David Nuicifora is Australia's current Director of Rugby, Ewen McKenzie is head coach, and Quade Cooper has amassed more than 115 caps for the Wallabies.

These two men (with Eddie) are undoubtedly Australia's two best rugby minds since Rod Macqueen.

Cheika and Deans rejected Australia's most naturally gifted footballer since Larkam, however there's little doubt that Link & Nuicifora both with the most studious eye for talent would've appreciated and extracted the most out of Cooper's talents and would've made him an integral piece of the team's destiny across the last 10 years.

 

[swingpass]

Soooooooo, Nucifora isn’t interested in coming back and taking on a DoR role?

I guess that means we’ve seen the last of Rodha…

Apparently not

 

[qwerty51]

Cheika and Deans rejected Australia's most naturally gifted footballer since Larkam, however there's little doubt that Link & Nuicifora both with the most studious eye for talent would've appreciated and extracted the most out of Cooper's talents and would've made him an integral piece of the team's destiny across the last 10 years.

Deans rejected Quade Cooper? What?

 

[Dan54]

Actually Nucifora is/was keen on central contracting of players, and even what he got done in Ireland, which is central contracting of CEOs, Coaches and even head physios. A huge step.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

And these same guys attempted to oust Rod McQueen as well... therefore Nuicifora must've been an excellent coach.

Fortunately they didn't get their own way that time. MacQueen is in the pantheon of greatest every rugby coaches IMHO.

It's all a bit academic now. Nucifora isn't interested in coming back and there are those who wouldn't be welcoming him either.

 

[Dctarget]

Looks like Eddie Jones is lining up an 8 year deal to coach the USA Eagles, taking them through to their home world cup. That would be pretty cool. Seems like Eddie likes a challenge, a la Japan. Good luck to him & them. Do USA automatically qualify?

 

[Braveheart81]

Do USA automatically qualify?

Yes. Host team is an automatic qualifier.

 

[Wilson]

Looks like Eddie Jones is lining up an 8 year deal to coach the USA Eagles, taking them through to their home world cup. That would be pretty cool. Seems like Eddie likes a challenge, a la Japan. Good luck to him & them. Do USA automatically qualify?

Yeah, hosts are automatically qualified and placed in pool A.

Definitely seems like a fit for Eddie, long term project where he'll likely have complete control with the entirety of his focus on the world cup.

 

[Braveheart81]

Yeah, hosts are automatically qualified and placed in pool A.

Definitely seems like a fit for Eddie, long term project where he'll likely have complete control with the entirety of his focus on the world cup.

The host has always seemed to be in pool A (going back to at least 2011) but certainly for the 2023 RWC it wasn't certain.

RWC 2023 | Live Draw

Draw page for Rugby World Cup 2023

www.rugbyworldcup.com

France gets allocated to a pool first and stays in their band (band B for teams ranked 5-8) but there was an actual draw to see which pool they were in.

It's about 43 minutes into the video.

 

[Wilson]

The host has always seemed to be in pool A (going back to at least 2011) but certainly for the 2023 RWC it wasn't certain.

RWC 2023 | Live Draw

Draw page for Rugby World Cup 2023

www.rugbyworldcup.com

France gets allocated to a pool first and stays in their band (band B for teams ranked 5-8) but there was an actual draw to see which pool they were in.

It's about 43 minutes into the video.

Oh wild, I had always thought it was set as the hosts pool being A

 

[Ignoto]

Looks like Eddie Jones is lining up an 8 year deal to coach the USA Eagles, taking them through to their home world cup. That would be pretty cool. Seems like Eddie likes a challenge, a la Japan. Good luck to him & them. Do USA automatically qualify?

Considering Eddie will be in his 70's come the US RWC, if I was the US, I'd be making him the DoR with Jamie Joseph the head coach.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Could very well have a plan in place for something like that. I think it will work as well as it can with Eddie Jones and the US.

Issues seem to happen with Eddie when he pisses off other 'good' or established rugby brains where he is. Not saying they don't have any in the US but I don't think he is going to be challenged along the way. This is a good thing for a program that has missed the upcoming RWC.

 

[PhilClinton]

It is a very long term commitment from Eddie. A lot can happen in 8 years, especially from a rugby body who are finding their feet again.

Rugby no doubt gaining more traction with the MLR, but I imagine there is going to be a wave of soccer endorsements and funding heading to the USA as they gear up to host FIFA world up in 2026. I wonder how much that could stagnate possible rugby growth over there during Eddie's potential tenure.

 

[Rebel man]

It is a very long term commitment from Eddie. A lot can happen in 8 years, especially from a rugby body who are finding their feet again.

Rugby no doubt gaining more traction with the MLR, but I imagine there is going to be a wave of soccer endorsements and funding heading to the USA as they gear up to host FIFA world up in 2026. I wonder how much that could stagnate possible rugby growth over there during Eddie's potential tenure.

Rugby’s biggest challenge in the USA will always be football not soccer. 90% of soccer players couldn’t handle the physical demands of rugby

 

[PhilClinton]

Rugby’s biggest challenge in the USA will always be football not soccer. 90% of soccer players couldn’t handle the physical demands of rugby

I think you missed the gist of my comment, rugby and football aren’t realistically competing for players at a high level in the USA, they aren’t even in the same tier.

Soccer and rugby on the other hand are both trying to get market share at a grassroots level as the next tier down, kids/players looking for an alternative to the mainstream US sports. Not many would dispute that a professional soccer player would get crunched on a rugby pitch, but I’m talking about grassroots level and getting players into the game.

Soccer/FIFA have the jump in the US with the World Cup happening 5 years before the RWC. It’s hard to build a strong rugby presence and competition if your players are being funnelled into another sport, especially considering your pool of players isn’t big to start with.

 

[Rebel man]

I think you missed the gist of my comment, rugby and football aren’t realistically competing for players at a high level in the USA, they aren’t even in the same tier.

Soccer and rugby on the other hand are both trying to get market share at a grassroots level as the next tier down, kids/players looking for an alternative to the mainstream US sports. Not many would dispute that a professional soccer player would get crunched on a rugby pitch, but I’m talking about grassroots level and getting players into the game.

Soccer/FIFA have the jump in the US with the World Cup happening 5 years before the RWC. It’s hard to build a strong rugby presence and competition if your players are being funnelled into another sport, especially considering your pool of players isn’t big to start with.

But at the same time rugby can feed off football as there are a lot of transferable skills and you can provide a pathway for players to go pro who don’t get drafted out of college

 

[Wallaby Man]

I have heard a few people in the know over the years mention that surprisingly that the best transferable athletes are actually basketball players for rugby. It’s a multifaceted game that doesn’t rely on isolated skill sets, has vision, hand eye coordination, etc. minus the physicality of the NFL I kinda get how the dynamic nature of basketball is a better transfer of skills.

 

[Viking]

I have heard a few people in the know over the years mention that surprisingly that the best transferable athletes are actually basketball players for rugby. It’s a multifaceted game that doesn’t rely on isolated skill sets, has vision, hand eye coordination, etc. minus the physicality of the NFL I kinda get how the dynamic nature of basketball is a better transfer of skills.

Imagine Lebron James and Michael Jordan as your locking pair!
Tom Brady as Hooker.

You'd never lose a line-out.

 

[PhilClinton]

I have heard a few people in the know over the years mention that surprisingly that the best transferable athletes are actually basketball players for rugby. It’s a multifaceted game that doesn’t rely on isolated skill sets, has vision, hand eye coordination, etc. minus the physicality of the NFL I kinda get how the dynamic nature of basketball is a better transfer of skills.

That's interesting, the starting 5 of my high school basketball team also happened to be the best 5 players in the 1st XV (and only one was a 2nd rower/centre). Part of this was simply because they were great athletes in general, but you're right that they were able to utilise a range of skills, all were very good passers, low error rates and went on to have pretty successful club footy careers.

 

[Tomthumb]

But at the same time rugby can feed off football as there are a lot of transferable skills and you can provide a pathway for players to go pro who don’t get drafted out of college

Its not as transferable as one would think. Football players is all about explosiveness. Plays only last 10 seconds max and then they stop again. Ten minutes into a game of Rugby they would need to be replaced