Thursday’s Rugby News sees Twiggy’s rebel competiton pick up speed, a call for a senate inquiry, the Wallabies out to prove their worth and an ear-xtremely notable ban.
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Hong Kong Calling
The culling of the Western Force has left many rugby fans on all sides of the country shaken. Twiggy Forrest pledged that, should the Force’s appeal by unsuccessful, he would launch a rebel Indo-Pacific League.
Many, particularly at Fox Sports, have come out and said they believe that it would be impossible for such a competition to exist. Even former Force player Drew Mitchell encouraged current Force players to join one of Australia’s four other franchises to improve their hopes of reaching the Wallabies.
“I’d exhaust my options here in Australia,” Mitchell told the Kick & Chase program.
“If there were none here in Australia, I would look overseas.
“I would play at a level that would actually better my career rather than going to play against understrength sides.
“It’s great for him (Forrest) to come up with something like this, but if there’s no flesh to the bones, I think we’d be better off not talking about it.”
Yet, only twenty-four hours after Twiggy announced that this rebel league was intended to be a reality, he received his first expression of interest: from the Hong Kong Rugby Union.
Twiggy hasn’t revealed much in the way of plans for the competition, but hopes to have six teams to begin with, with the Force being one of them. Hong Kong Rugby Union chief rugby operations officer Dai Rees, in an interview with the South China Morning Post, said the HKRU would definitely be open to the opportunity of participating and being the second team to join the competition.
“We’d be crazy not to look at it,” Rees said.
“It’s a seven-hour flight to Perth and it’s in the same time zone. When you look around the world at other opportunities, that’s not a long flight.
“We’ve been looking to add a team to the Japanese league and looking at opportunities to expand our base and bridge the gap between our domestic game and the international game as it moves into a more professional era.
“We have done that with the elite rugby program and we’d be silly not to look at other options.”
It’s important to remember that the competition won’t go anywhere unless it is agreed to by World Rugby. But then again, World Rugby has talked a lot about the opportunity that is apparently available to grow the game in Asia. Could this rebel league be the means to finally grow the game on the Asian mainland?
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In de-Clyne
The WA Government are also among the many many folks who’ve got the shits with the ARU. With the RugbyWA appeal dismissed by the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday, the WA Government have instead called for a senate inquiry into the ARU’s decision. Turns out, if the Force may not the bankrupt the ARU, the WA Government could.
As a result of the inquiry being called, the ARU will be forced to reveal full documentation and potentially sensitive information in relation to their decision to cut the Force, which could leave them open to potential harm from the State Government.
WA Premier Mark McGowan is reportedly examining whether the State Government can sue the ARU for a huge loss in revenue from cutting the Force. The Force were part of a large redevelopment plan to move all of the state’s major sports teams to the soon-to-be-completed Perth Stadium, which has cost nearly $1.5 Billion to build.
The motion for the state inquiry was put forward by Western Australian Senator Linda Reynolds as a result of her criticism of the ARU’s decision-making processes and lack of transparency. Her motion was quickly carried.
“The Force is so much more than a sports team,” Senator Reynolds said to AAP.
“It’s a community and the devastation that community faces …(means) Western Australians need transparency and they need to understand the process and reason behind it as captain Matt Hodgson said.”
Reynolds has labelled the inquiry as a a “Senate Inquiry into the Future of Rugby Union in Australia”, as many hope that the impact of cutting a Super Rugby team on national participation will be part of the agenda.
Reynolds expects a ‘warts-and-all’ inquiry, with no stone left un-turned. There’s a shit-ton of stones to go through though.
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Wallabies out to prove worth
It was good to see Wallabies coach Michael Cheika among the 4,000 plus who turned out for the Perth Spirit‘s opening match of the season against the Melbourne Rising.
Cheika has focusing on preparing the Wallabies for their test against the Springboks this coming Saturday, but after all the events this week, many have been wondering how rugby fans will react when the Wallabies take the field. Will they wear blue in protest? Or wear black? Or not turn up at all?
Cheika, however made it clear that one thing can be done to at least alleviate some of the Force fans pain: the Wallabies put together a performance that the WA faithful can be proud of. In doing so, Cheik made notable reference to Matt Hodgson, who had been reduced to tears on Tuesday following the announcement of the Force’s cutting.
“I made him a captain of Australia one time because he is a passionate player and he represents so well,” he said to rugby.com.au.
“So, it’s a difficult time but the one thing we can do without trying to take anything away from the sadness that’s being felt here from that regard is to go out there and show how much we want to play for Western Australians out on the field on Saturday and for the lads from the team that are inside the Wallabies as well.”
In respect to Cheik, it’s all he really can do. Yes, he was selected by folks at the ARU, but all he can do is select and manage the national team. However, it was noted that the team has come together in the last few days in Perth, particularly around the Force boys in the Wallaby squad.
Tatafu Polota-Nau and Adam Coleman both got the chance to speak to the local media about the decision.
“It’s sad that, I know there’s external factors, but it’s pretty sad to know that it won’t be there,” said Polota-Nau.
“I want to reward them for being such a big help in my career by giving them (a good performance), I know it shouldn’t be a windup for a Test, but this’ll definitely be emotional for me just because they’ve been a big help in my regard and I want to reward them, hopefully putting in a performance they can be proud of.”
For Coleman, the network of the team and family has been of particular importance to him.
“Having that support network of my family and having the boys around, I think it’s really helped me,” he said.
“You’re so used to running out there in the blue jersey, and it makes it very special when you run out in the gold jersey.
“Every time is special but playing in your home environment in front of your friends and family that don’t really have to travel that far, it’s definitely very special.”
It’s going to be a tough gig to win back the support of the west. And that’s an understatement.
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You Bite the Man, You Get the Ban
Finally, the NRC will be back for an interesting second round this weekend. The Fijian Drua impressed many with their strong debut against Brisbane City last week. However, when they face up against the Melbourne Rising at Harlequins on Saturday, it will be without their hooker Samu Suguturaga.
Suguturaga was cited for biting the ear of Brisbane skipper Andrew Ready, and since then, has been the butt of some ear-xtremely bad ear puns from the likes of Mr. Hartman and myself.
But, for a such a serious incident, Suguturaga has been handed down a heavy ban on Tuesday night that will see him miss the remainder of the NRC championship, and then some. Yep, he copped a twenty week ban.
Most would agree that a ban that large is pretty fair considering the severity of the offence. Turns out, according to Sporting News, it could have been even worse.
The Fijian hooker went into the judiciary hearing expecting to cop a 24-week ban, however he had his suspension reduced due to mitigating circumstances. He reportedly has 48 hours to appeal the result of the decision.
It was a pity that a huge amount of the NRC coverage was to do with this particular biting incident, which cast a shadow on the outstanding rugby played (including 47 tries scored in four games. That’s utterly ridiculous).
Hopefully, the rugby should take centre stage this time round, with a lot of great fixtures lined up for this round. In addition to Melbourne hosting the Drua, Saturday should see the ultimate derby clash of the NRC, when Queensland Country will look to wrestle the Andy Purcell Cup off Brisbane City for the first time in NRC history.
Sunday will see the Canberra Vikings hosting a dangerous Perth Spirit outfit at Viking Park. The round will them culminate in the what could potentially be another thrilling derby match, when the Sydney Rays open their campaign against last weeks big winners, the Greater Sydney Rams. The Rams win, and they successfully defend the Horan-Little Shield and wrap up the race for the Benn Robinson Bell. The Rays win, and they take the Shield and set up a decider for the Bell in Goulburn a few weeks later against NSW Country.
The Eagles have the bye this week.
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