Should the Australian Rugby Championship come back.

[wolverine]

Reds have hosted one of the Japanese teams in the past as well, the ARU has established a working culture with the JFRU by hosting a Bledsloe in Japan.. The links are already there, it's just a matter whether such a concept is feasible..

Fair point, feasibility is a question. On The Roar, a poster called ohtani's jacket familiar with Japanese Rugby wrote an interesting article that poses questions of Japanese teams being involved in other competitions: O’Neill hasn’t thought through logistics of Japan in Super 15. It refers more to Japanese taking part in S15, but the same questions could be applied to other cross border competition. ohtani's jacket's replies in the comments section add more insight.

IMO what is clear is that nearly all the ARC proposals would be too costly for the ARU.

 

[Spectator101]

]I'm almost anti-ARC now, which is odd because when the ARC was running I was 100% in favour of it.

I now think the only viable option is expansion of the Juinor Tahs/Brumby Runners concept. Each franchise's academy/b team should be playing the curtain raiser or undercard as the senior team does. For example, (say) the Brumbies are playing the Tahs in Sydney. The 22 is picked for the Brumbies and Tahs, then those who miss the cut play in the Runners vs. Junior Tahs game, which is a combination of those who missed the cut and academy or rookie players needing that extra step up to the Super 5 level.[/QUOTE]

I agree with you 100%- The academy boys train all year to have 4-5 games a year.. they should be the curtain raiser for the Super 14 games in Aus.

 

[Bowside]

I have always been pro arc, I loved it back in 07 and I still have fond memories. But, as it is not a viable option at this point in time, I think an academy super 5/6 comp, with maybe a pacific island barbarians team based on the Gold Coast or even a Japanese team, is the best option at this point in time. If they could get some funding from japan, or from the pacific (maybe from the irb, on the premise that it will grow the game in the pacific), then the comp could be a viable option over the next few years.

As someone said earlier, ONE HD has hardly any australian content. It would be the perfect channel for this comp to be shown on. If this comp is to succeed it needs a tribal supporter base like nrl clubs have, and getting it on free to air tv would go along way towards building that.

With the rwc next year and the lions tour a couple of years after, the ARU will have a bit more money floating around, so now might be the right time to get this comp going. The wobs have a very young team and while they might not win this rwc they will be looking very good for 2015.

The next few years are make or break for rugby in this country. Rugby needs to win back its market share and a development comp like this will go along way towards growing the game.

 

[Gnostic]

Bowside, How'd you get the idea that the ARU will have more money from a RWC year?

There are no in bound tests apart from the reduced 3N (which face it haven't been a great draw card for the Wallabies) and as for the inbound Lions tour its success will be very dependant on how the Wallabies perform for the rest of this year and next year.

I loved the ARC but it just wasn't financially viable then and I can't see how any second tier comp staring from scratch can be in Oz at the moment.

Any proposal that makes use of the clubs would IMO have more chance of success as it will tap into the club following. Use a Euro-cup style competition.

 

[TOCC]

correct Gnostic, the RWC is actually a hit to the ARU's pocket, even with the fee which the IRB pays each nation, the ARU is left financially worse off.