Teh Other Dave
Alan Cameron (40)
They'll have to apologise to the pith helmet brigade about Burma for a start
That's about as likely as you apologising for your war crimes.
They'll have to apologise to the pith helmet brigade about Burma for a start
Plus we've played a number of Tests in Japan over the years. Far more than in the Pacific Islands!
There's definitely scope for another look at the Rugby Championship, at very least to see if Japanese involvement would drive up TV revenue.
.
Plus we've played a number of Tests in Japan over the years. Far more than in the Pacific Islands!
There's definitely scope for another look at the Rugby Championship, at very least to see if Japanese involvement would drive up TV revenue.
.
If the NZRU was happy to pick test players from Australian teams, we could have a competition with more Australian teams involved because they would be more competitive. Interest would increase dramatically.
The problem is, the NZRU want to be able to control the management and conditioning of their own players for the sake of the AB's, which is fair enough. They do this so much better than Australia.
But is there a way for the NZRU to still have control of their players in this way, even if they allow NZ players to also play for Australian teams? Is there a way for Australian teams to do just as good a job at conditioning and developing their players as the NZ teams so that the NZRU could be fully confident in this idea.
If this problem could be solved - tough, though it is - it could be key in revolutionising Super Rugby for the better.
All Blacks great Andrew Mehrtens has called for Super Rugby to be disbanded, encouraging New Zealand and Australia to dump South Africa and Argentina and link with Asia to save the game in this region.
Mehrtens believes a successful link with Asia would also allow All Blacks to play offshore and still be selected for New Zealand.
He's also frustrated that the huge spread of time zones that hit Super Rugby.
Mehrtens, the former Crusaders and All Blacks first-five, believes increasing a competition with Asian involvement can help counter the growing exodus of players to Europe where wealthy competitions in Great Britain and France utilise Kiwi talent.
It could also see a relaxation of the strict rules that say a New Zealand player must be involved in a New Zealand competition to be eligible to play for the All Blacks.
The ratings support such a move. The question is whether admin are brave enough to pull the trigger. I don't like the language of 'dumping' SA or Arg. as I believe no matter what the RC should be guaranteed. But I think a shift northward for both SA and Arg would help long term in regards to time zones.
A move to Asia from an Aus/NZ point of view could involve a merger of GRR (Force, Fiji plus 1 more) and Super Rugby plus say 6 Japan based squads.
The ratings support such a move. The question is whether admin are brave enough to pull the trigger. I don't like the language of 'dumping' SA or Arg. as I believe no matter what the RC should be guaranteed. But I think a shift northward for both SA and Arg would help long term in regards to time zones.
A move to Asia from an Aus/NZ point of view could involve a merger of GRR (Force, Fiji plus 1 more) and Super Rugby plus say 6 Japan based squads.
TBF to Mehrtens though, he may not have used the word "dumping". Probably a bit of added colour by the reporter.
Six Japan based squads would be pretty unlikely, what with their revamped league and all. I think a 17 team competition could work. Play each team once over 16 weeks then three weeks of finals. 5 x Aus + 5 x NZ + Fiji, + Sunwolves, no idea who the other five would be other than a couple of the GRR sides.
TBF to Mehrtens though, he may not have used the word "dumping". Probably a bit of added colour by the reporter.
Six Japan based squads would be pretty unlikely, what with their revamped league and all. I think a 17 team competition could work. Play each team once over 16 weeks then three weeks of finals. 5 x Aus + 5 x NZ + Fiji, + Sunwolves, no idea who the other five would be other than a couple of the GRR sides.
Merhts has said this before, he does or did work for Kearnsie in Sydney so is probably fairly heavily influenced by him. Nothing wrong with that he is entitled to his opinion , as is everyone else here etc, just I not sure any of us have any clue on how it will work out in the finances etc, and I would be personally disappointed if SA wasn't part of comp, just for what they add to rugby styles etc. I think it would weaken Aus and NZ rugby myself. And there no advantage to NZ public anyway, as I have said a few times, games played in Australia are not much better time for NZ than games in SA.
I use to think playing against SA and NZ regularly would improve how Australians play rugby, but I don't think it's helped Australia very much at all, at either national or provincial level.
Fair enough Joe, do you really think that Australian teams would of been better by playing each other or even a few weak teams from Asia, that I tend to think only lowers your need to improve. I personally would fear for Wallabies if they went into test matches with players who only had this experience.
Yes, but you just as easily can turn that around and say if we had spent more time working on a greater domestic agenda we would have a far more popular game, which in turn would have led to more athletes/players to choose from. That fear factor for the Wallabies, like the Vietnam war, so busy with a body count you end up losing the war.
Fair enough Joe, do you really think that Australian teams would of been better by playing each other or even a few weak teams from Asia, that I tend to think only lowers your need to improve. I personally would fear for Wallabies if they went into test matches with players who only had this experience.