Reg yes, but it's not the full story.
The Saffer conference will be easier. In NZ/Aus we have a higher exposure to the Kiwi teams and the depth across NZ should mean the overall Kiwi standard drops little even with the post RWC leavers.
We need to be top 5 for the finals. that includes all Kiwi teams and Brumbies and Waratahs. In just that group of 7, which 3 do you think we are a chance of displacing?
To me this seems a pipe dream. I'm struggling to pick many teams in NZ/Aus we are likely to finish ahead of. Let alone to finish top 5. And for a serious shot you need top 2.
Let's keep the realism going. 2016 looks a write off. Final playing contracts and HC selection could reduce the despondency. But it doesn't look good right now.
Totally agree dru.
I hope it's not escaped fellow posters attention that the Bled Wallaby squad announced yesterday has just 5/31 Reds players, 16%. 2 of these are departing for 2016, so our remaining % is down at 9.7. This maybe an all time low.
Compare this to the Brums representation of 10/31, 32%. This being a team with far, far less demographic and locational and player base advantages than possessed by the Reds/QRU.
The QRU is failing to develop competitive numbers of elite rugby players both in absolute terms and in relation to its comparative position in Australian rugby State-related dimensions.
This is all further and vividly reflected in the latest Reds squad announcement for 2016. A team light, to put it mildly, on proven excellence or even obvious potential excellence.
Even the very best Reds HC will take 2-3 years to have the capability to approach a S18 finals berth, let alone win the S18, a goal that apparently our QRU has now totally forsaken in the name of its own odd and inexplicable policies and practices that clearly have little to do with the harvesting and delivery of rugby excellence in this once-great rugby State.