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USA launches professional rugby competition

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T

TOCC

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There has been false dawns in the past when it comes to rugby union launching a professional competition in the USA, but this tournament sounds a little bit more promising with endorsement and support from USA Rugby.

USA Rugby will partner with PRO Rugby and launch a 6 team competition playing 10 games each running from April - July 2016, theres a statement on the USA Rugby website but the site has currently crashed.

http://usarug.by/1WIByCZ

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/nov/09/us-professional-rugby-union-league
 
badabing59

badabing59

Cyril Towers (30)
Canada also joining 2017! Lot of positive vibes amongst the club fraternity up here already. The availability to train year round has been sorely missing from the game in Canada, and hopefully this will also put to rest the petty provincial rivalries that are a blight on the game here.
 
badabing59

badabing59

Cyril Towers (30)
It'll be interesting to see if either USA or Canada target any of our Super whatever-the-hell-version-it-is-now mega coaches. And if they're going to be cashed up, as I suspect they will be, the raids on some of our players could be Atilla the Hun-ish.
 
Pfitzy

Pfitzy

Nathan Sharpe (72)
6 teams? Jeez that's a bit narrow. Guess you need to start somewhere, but they could have thrown 2 Canadian teams in there and had a full home/away season over 14 rounds, then finals.
 
TheBigDog

TheBigDog

Nev Cottrell (35)
Hopefully they don't go all hell for leather on overseas players during their startup phase, although the way the MLS competition has gone in recent years makes me think they may follow a similar model.

There is such a dense player base over there that I can see them forming a relatively strong competition based on local talent if they choose to do so. I do like the idea of giving some overseas coaches getting an opportunity though, there are some great young coaches around Australia who would benefit from being in a professional environment regardless of what country it is.
 
WorkingClassRugger

WorkingClassRugger

Michael Lynagh (62)
Pfitzy said:
6 teams? Jeez that's a bit narrow. Guess you need to start somewhere, but they could have thrown 2 Canadian teams in there and had a full home/away season over 14 rounds, then finals.
Click to expand...


Well, they wanted a Houston franchise but they couldn't find space in the stadiums schedule for next season (BVAA Compass) but they are keen for it to come online in 2017. They also wanted at least one Canadian franchise (Vancouver) but RugbyCanada opted out of next year looking more toward 2017 as well.

Next season appears to be primarily about establishing a solid foundation in which to build from. Believe me, they could easily expand this competition to 14-16 over the next 10 years or so.
 
WorkingClassRugger

WorkingClassRugger

Michael Lynagh (62)
TheBigDog said:
Hopefully they don't go all hell for leather on overseas players during their startup phase, although the way the MLS competition has gone in recent years makes me think they may follow a similar model.

There is such a dense player base over there that I can see them forming a relatively strong competition based on local talent if they choose to do so. I do like the idea of giving some overseas coaches getting an opportunity though, there are some great young coaches around Australia who would benefit from being in a professional environment regardless of what country it is.
Click to expand...


There's a strong emphasis on domestic players (they are planning on counting Canadians as domestic) as a means to bolster both the Eagles and Canada. They will be setting a limit of 3-5 imports per team. They won't be throwing money at just anyone. The most the highest earners in the league will see is $40k for a season. Most will average $25k for the 4 month commintment.
 
WorkingClassRugger

WorkingClassRugger

Michael Lynagh (62)
Omar Comin'

Omar Comin'

Chilla Wilson (44)
WorkingClassRugger said:
There's a strong emphasis on domestic players (they are planning on counting Canadians as domestic) as a means to bolster both the Eagles and Canada. They will be setting a limit of 3-5 imports per team.
Click to expand...


I think it'd be cool if they opened it up to players from South America too. Or even just had some sort of extra dispensation for players from the likes of Brazil, Chile and Uruguay.
 
dru

dru

David Wilson (68)
Pfitzy said:
6 teams? Jeez that's a bit narrow. Guess you need to start somewhere, but they could have thrown 2 Canadian teams in there and had a full home/away season over 14 rounds, then finals.
Click to expand...

How many teams were there in Super Rugby when it started?
 
Highlander35

Highlander35

Steve Williams (59)
You can't ask too much Omar. For Chile and Brazil at least, maybe the starting 15s would be worthwhile squad signings, probably the best 23 Uruguayans. 6 squads of about 30ish is 180 players, that's not an awful lot of places. Then there would be all the cost dealing with Visas, and relocation. Reckon looking to the next World Cup, having 8-10 stable teams across The states and Canada, with 250+ Americans/Canadians between them would be absolutely fabulous, then you could look into the rest of America.
 
dru

dru

David Wilson (68)
dru said:
How many teams were there in Super Rugby when it started?
Click to expand...

OK found it. It was the precursor to Super Rugby I was thinking of. South Pacific Championships apparently was 6 teams. According to Wiki.
 
Highlander35

Highlander35

Steve Williams (59)
Super 6 in 92, end of Apartheid made it Super 10 in 93-95, officially became the professional Super 12 under SANZAR in 96 with the Kiwis and Saffers switching to Regions rather than the top provinces of the previous year.
 
dru

dru

David Wilson (68)
So from 6 to 18 in a 24 years. Who knows how USA will travel. Fingers crossed.
 
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