And why not, it’s a new year and a new Super Rugby season is about to arrive. The Rebels are history and the spoils have been divided with RANSW and the Reds being the main beneficiaries. Commonsense has prevailed and we’ll see Australian teams and the Drua playing each other home and away with three home and three away games against their NZ counterparts. Hopefully at some stage in the future we’ll see a united competition where everyone plays each other home and away. Hoss’s annual prediction that the Tahs will sweep all before them may even bear fruit.
We’ve also seen some well overdue changes in the hierarchy at Rugby Australia. Whoopee! And it’s out with the old and in with the new. Things are starting to look up with a new coaching team and an autumn tour that hinted of promise to come. The new management team also put forward a plan to set Aussie rugby, men’s and women’s, on the right path. OK it’s a plan that is in my opinion, a bit light on detail with much being dependent on the revenue generated from future events, but green shoots and all that. There are a couple of question on everyone’s lips; firstly, what sort of media package will RA be able to negotiate and secondly, a cloud on the horizon, will Joe Schmidt be sticking around after the Lions tour or will he pack his bags and return to the Land of the Long White Cloud for more time with his family?
It’s only early in 2025, yet Australian rugby already has an air of positive excitement and expectation around it. It’s been a while since we could all say that. Long may it last.
And in other news.
We should be so lucky. There’s nothing like a whinging Pom and by crikey have they been doing a lot of whinging these last couple of weeks. Their latest moan is all to do with the European Champions Cup, which is supposed to be the pinnacle of rugby in the northern hemisphere. I have to say that I do have some sympathy with them. The organisers, European Professional Club Rugby, have again made a bit of a dog’s breakfast of the scheduling of games and the way the competition plays out. The four pools of six teams, commenced in the first week in December and ends mid January, interrupted by Christmas and three weeks of domestic competition. With the top four in each pool going through to the knockout round of 16, some teams have sent less than full strength squads to away games and in one case have qualified by accumulating bonus points and winning just one game. Go figure. Fans have quite rightly been saying that when you are paying an arm and a leg to see the best, you expect the best.
TV coverage has also come in for some criticism. With the different competitions being shown by different providers, supporters who follow their team live and who also want to watch the other games are having to sign on with more than one to indulge themselves. At least with STAN rugby coverage is virtually under one roof. On a separate note it’s been mooted that TNT are going to bid for sole coverage of the 6Ns, so it’s no more free to air from the BBC and ITV. If it’s true then no doubt the 6Ns countries will take the money and run. Shame on them if they do.
However, for those of you who are interested, here are the matches for the round of 16 of the Euro Cup:
Bordeaux v Ulster
La Rochelle v Munster
Toulon v Saracens
Toulouse v Sale
Leinster v Harlequins
Glasgow v Leicester Tigers
Northampton Saints v Clermont
Castres v Benetton
On paper at least it’s not difficult to see home wins in all these games. After the way Toulouse demolished a virtually full strength Tigers team 80-10 it’s not difficult to see them in the final, some of their play was just breathtaking. Supporters of Leinster and Bordeaux may disagree. Only one Premiership team has a home game which pretty much reflects on the parlous state rugby in SD land. However, rugby’s a funny old game and on the day the unexpected can happen. Saints should get past Clermont and the Tigers and Sarries could pull off a surprise. At least the next round of matches, which takes place after the 6Ns, should be competitive and not complete walkovers like we’ve seen in some of the pool games – apart from Sale going to Toulouse, ouch!
Just to reiterate, the whole structure of the competition needs looking at. There are too many teams and the game schedule is disjointed being spread over too long a period that supporters find both confusing and annoying. That’s a conversation for another day.
Bring me the head of Bill Sweeney.
Off field the knives are sharpening in SD land for the RFU’s beleaguered CEO, Bill Sweeney, from disgruntled community clubs and fans. If RA want a salutary lesson on how not to do things the RFU are a prime example. Appointed in 2019, he bathed in the glory of reaching the final of the RWC but since then it’s been a slow slide downhill followed by a plummet. A series of poor performances on field and mismanagement off field over a number of years have ended up with the latest scandal. You will have no doubt read that the RFU made a loss of £40m yet the CEO trousered a cool £1m that included, would you believe, a £300k performance bonus. On top of that the top executives pocketed £1m in bonuses. This is just the latest in a litany of fuck ups presided over by Sweeney and his cronies and I don’t propose to bore you with the gory details. Fortunately, the chickens seem to be coming home to roost with the chairman Tom Ilube gone and Sweeney apparently on borrowed time. It’s been reported that 150 clubs wrote to the RFU demanding a Special General Meeting but this was knocked back on a technicality, the letters weren’t signed by two senior club members. Crassness alive and well at HQ. However, further uproar in the press means that the meeting will now take place after the 6Ns when hopefully Sweeney will be shown the door with, no doubt, a hefty severance package as a sweetener. In his latest missive Sweeney all but says that he’s worth every £ and abrogates any responsibility. Makes Pontius Pilate look like Mother Theresa. What an a#@ewipe.
Still all is not lost and Sir William of Beaumont has been brought in as temporary chairman in place of Illube (unpaid I hope) to steady the s(t)inking ship and put things right. 😉😂. He’s promised a tour of clubs across the land to hear their concerns first hand and I, for one, will be interested to see the results or even if this magical mystery tour materialises. I just cannot wait.
Mere mention of Sir William brought back this reminder of the test match in 1982 between the SDs and Australia. England captain Bill Beaumont was annoyed to discover that his team mates were paying no attention to his half-time team talk when Steve Smith informed him, ‘Bill, there’s a bird just run on with your bum on her chest’. Would have liked to’ve printed a picture of Erica ‘Not Many Of Them To The Pound’ Roe but the censor would’ve got me.
And to quote my old mate Eminem, “it’s so good to be back”.
