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Rugby News from unexpected places

Highlander35

Highlander35

Steve Williams (59)
CJ O'Stander is definitely King, but I can't help but feel Nelly would be close had he not missed the past 4/5 months.

SRU have been good over the past 5 years. In one of the articles at some point one of the Board members said that for International Recruitment, we were basically got in the latest and offered the lowest of the pro leagues, whereas we're now one of the earliest and can offer salaries competitive with Wales and Ireland.

And Scott Johnson is actually useful in the finding and touching base with Scots eligible players. Supposedly Bob Valetini is on the list for his next trip home too.

On track: I want more European teams at a high level, particularly (Sorry!) In Western/Central Europe. I love how Romania and Georgia (and to a lesser extent Russia) have been competitive, but if you could get 2 or 3 of Spain/Portugal/Belgium/Germany/Netherlands up to that Standard, keeping the 6 Nations as it is isn't as commercially necessary, and while I love it, a genuine 12-16 team European Championship Quadrennially, with some WC qualifying and maybe a Home Nations tournament would be much better for Rugby in the long term.
 
amirite

amirite

Chilla Wilson (44)
Highlander35 said:
CJ O'Stander is definitely King, but I can't help but feel Nelly would be close had he not missed the past 4/5 months.

SRU have been good over the past 5 years. In one of the articles at some point one of the Board members said that for International Recruitment, we were basically got in the latest and offered the lowest of the pro leagues, whereas we're now one of the earliest and can offer salaries competitive with Wales and Ireland.

And Scott Johnson is actually useful in the finding and touching base with Scots eligible players. Supposedly Bob Valetini is on the list for his next trip home too.

On track: I want more European teams at a high level, particularly (Sorry!) In Western/Central Europe. I love how Romania and Georgia (and to a lesser extent Russia) have been competitive, but if you could get 2 or 3 of Spain/Portugal/Belgium/Germany/Netherlands up to that Standard, keeping the 6 Nations as it is isn't as commercially necessary, and while I love it, a genuine 12-16 team European Championship Quadrennially, with some WC qualifying and maybe a Home Nations tournament would be much better for Rugby in the long term.
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I think in rugby, quality content is key. It gets eyeballs and eyeballs get $$$. So, there's a lot to be said for a hemisphere cup, to be positioned much the same as the European/Asian Championship in soccer.

The reality is, rugby functions in hemispheres more than continents, so I'd build it off that every 4 years replacing the 6 Nations and Rugby Championship.
 
Omar Comin'

Omar Comin'

Chilla Wilson (44)
Longitude matters more than latitude for fans. And from an Australian rugby perspective you'd certainly hope that in the long term world rugby doesn't split into southern and northern hemisphere tournaments because the South would be the very poor cousin! We should at least get Japan in our tournament (and China if that $100m investment from Alibaba pays off).
 
stoff

stoff

Trevor Allan (34)
amirite said:
Nationality isn't binary, mate.

I think you'd struggle telling all those Aussies with yearly Tomato days and vowels at the end of their name that they aren't 'actual Italians'. Same goes for the Italian speaking Parisse and Castrogiovanni, who are part of the 40ish% of Argentines born to Italian families.

The Scottish-born but Italian-capped Allan has the first name Tomasso for god's sake. It's not exactly the same as those South African's running around for Scotland or the likely 2018 Irish rep named Bundee Aki.

I'll also add that despite France's big statement they currently have a back 3 of players who moved to France specifically to play professional rugby in their adult years. But once again, those blokes speak French, and are raising families in France, so who am I to tell them they're not French. I just all think it's very silly.
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Chill out. All I meant was maybe they have a preference for not scouting the globe for anyone who could possibly qualify for their team and qualifying them.

Whilst nationality may not be binary, that is only because of dual citizenship. Cultural identity is a different thing.


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amirite

amirite

Chilla Wilson (44)
stoff said:
Chill out. All I meant was maybe they have a preference for not scouting the globe for anyone who could possibly qualify for their team and qualifying them.

Whilst nationality may not be binary, that is only because of dual citizenship. Cultural identity is a different thing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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The way Britain runs is rugby is proof that rugby is a culture, and not nationality, based sport.

I also don't think that you can't tell someone to chill out because they have an opinion you don't like on a discussion board.
Omar Comin' said:
Longitude matters more than latitude for fans. And from an Australian rugby perspective you'd certainly hope that in the long term world rugby doesn't split into southern and northern hemisphere tournaments because the South would be the very poor cousin! We should at least get Japan in our tournament (and China if that $100m investment from Alibaba pays off).
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In rugby I don't know if that's true. Otherwise why would we be playing South Africa?
 
Omar Comin'

Omar Comin'

Chilla Wilson (44)
amirite said:
In rugby I don't know if that's true. Otherwise why would we be playing South Africa?
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Shared colonial history, matching seasons and because the only strong rugby nations outside of Western Europe have traditionally been Australia, NZ and South Africa. Lets face it, when people talk about Northern vs Southern hemisphere in rugby they generally mean UK & Ireland plus France vs SANZAR.

But as more countries become competitive and rugby grows in global popularity I don't see why it makes sense to continue dividing the rugby world neatly by North and South, at least for actual tournaments. It definitely doesn't make sense for the SH nations as all the biggest global markets are in the North! And from an Australian perspective many Asian nations are in very similar time zones, which is important for fans watching games.

It's also worth noting that the biggest complaint people have in Australia about Super Rugby is that the games in South Africa are at terrible times for us, and most fans have little connection or knowledge of their teams as a result.
 
amirite

amirite

Chilla Wilson (44)
Omar Comin' said:
Shared colonial history, matching seasons and because the only strong rugby nations outside of Western Europe have traditionally been Australia, NZ and South Africa. Lets face it, when people talk about Northern vs Southern hemisphere in rugby they generally mean UK & Ireland plus France vs SANZAR.

But as more countries become competitive and rugby grows in global popularity I don't see why it makes sense to continue dividing the rugby world neatly by North and South, at least for actual tournaments. It definitely doesn't make sense for the SH nations as all the biggest global markets are in the North! And from an Australian perspective many Asian nations are in very similar time zones, which is important for fans watching games.

It's also worth noting that the biggest complaint people have in Australia about Super Rugby is that the games in South Africa are at terrible times for us, and most fans have little connection or knowledge of their teams as a result.
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I don't disagree with your sentiment, but the fact is this is what people care about right now because of the factors you mentioned in your first paragraph.

It doesn't make sense in a perfect world, but this is how it is.

If things were sensible the Saffas would play in the Champions Cup and leave Super rugby, and that would be pretty devastating for us financially. Luckily they aren't.
 
Rebels3

Rebels3

Jim Lenehan (48)
amirite said:
I don't disagree with your sentiment, but the fact is this is what people care about right now because of the factors you mentioned in your first paragraph.

It doesn't make sense in a perfect world, but this is how it is.

If things were sensible the Saffas would play in the Champions Cup and leave Super rugby, and that would be pretty devastating for us financially. Luckily they aren't.
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South Africa actually has more issues than the rest of us.

They might be in a similar time zone as the European nations, but their seasons are polar opposite. So unless Europe wanted to switch to a summer game, their current winter season would be played during a scorching hot SA summer. The other massive issue they have is distance, for South Africa to travel to Ireland for example, it takes around 13hrs, that's practically the same flight time as flying to Australia (the same flights we have been hearing about for the past 20years). If anything they are the most isolated rugby nation on Earth, at least Aus and NZ have each other, plus Asia isn't far away. Argentina have greater economic prospects in the america's. Europe well.... has europe. Africa unfortunately economically hasn't got much going for it.
 
WorkingClassRugger

WorkingClassRugger

Michael Lynagh (62)
More Pro12 speculation. Apparently there's now interest from a potential German franchise. Which does seem far fetched if not for the fact that it seems to be centred around Heidelberg which is also the home of the WILD Rugby Academy. The same billionaire who has been in the process of getting approval to build a 12,000 Rugby specific stadium, in the area along with an academy. According to a Welsh Rugby journalist they have $42m AUD for the project.
 
WorkingClassRugger

WorkingClassRugger

Michael Lynagh (62)
Rebels3 said:
This is where the Italian sides should be looking at.
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There's been some discussion of this on other forums. One suggestion would be to enter a team in the Espoires which from what I understand is a U22 league structure. The idea being allowing for national U20 players access to the French clubs as a means of getting more players in professional programs.
 
stoff

stoff

Trevor Allan (34)
amirite said:
The way Britain runs is rugby is proof that rugby is a culture, and not nationality, based sport.

I also don't think that you can't tell someone to chill out because they have an opinion you don't like on a discussion board.
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The chill out was in reference to your tone, not your opinion. Finishing your first sentence with mate comes across as either aggressive or patronising.

Cultural identity aside (and accepting the anomalies in Britain and Ireland), my point was that it is not incumbent on any struggling nation to scour the globe for potentially qualified players which was the suggestion i inferred from the post I replied to. I can accept that I made that point poorly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
exISA

exISA

Fred Wood (13)
WorkingClassRugger said:
More Pro12 speculation. Apparently there's now interest from a potential German franchise. Which does seem far fetched if not for the fact that it seems to be centred around Heidelberg which is also the home of the WILD Rugby Academy. The same billionaire who has been in the process of getting approval to build a 12,000 Rugby specific stadium, in the area along with an academy. According to a Welsh Rugby journalist they have $42m AUD for the project.
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Did you see the post match press conference ? one of the georgian journalists asked how the "200 million euro investment is being recieved in germany" both captain and coach had a wry smile on their face and replied as diplomatically as they could saying "well if its there we havent seen any of it" :rolleyes:
 
Rugbynutter39

Rugbynutter39

Michael Lynagh (62)
I personally would love to see Georgia, Romania and Germany given opportunities to join a professional league. Not suggesting 6 nations but expanded pro-12 perhaps.

Getting somehow the Georgia's, Romania's and Germany's of Europe professional opportunities will only further grow the game in their respective countries whilst make European rugby stronger.
 
Rugbynutter39

Rugbynutter39

Michael Lynagh (62)
WCR what is happening with American professional rugby - has the previous Pro Rugby now disbanded or will another season happen.

North American market such an important growth market for world rugby and seemed with launch last year of Pro Rugby competition and 5 teams involved could be start of building an expanded North American professional rugby conference - now seems defunct after only 1 season. Not that up with it - what is planned for this year...as yes saw the stories on Pro-12 trying to expand into North American market but not sure how real that is....or just the rumour mill running over drive.
 
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