sphere of influence in respect to league v union.

its a bit sad that you still call england the mother country. and the australian tourism influx obviously counts otherwise the government wouldnt be spending such money on ad campaigns.

As for the poaching comment – that doesn’t deserve much of a reply – especially with the number of Wallabies that could get (or already have) a NZ passport.

I think sometimes the ARU takes for granted the support they get from the NZRU.

Who is “you” anyway? I’m from New Zealand.

“The atmosphere created by the 2003 World Cup won’t be replicated”? WRONG! New Zealand is more in love with rugby than Australia ever will be. Neither nation is great at singing and general bonhomie but the idea that the Aussies have something over the Kiwis in this respect is just pure nonsense.

“The NZRU must also be worried at the sphere of influence with the demise of rugby union in Australia possibly affecting the New Zealand rugby community”? WRONG! The All Blacks make their money from juicy off-shore ties against whoever wants to play them. If the Wallabies return to amateur la la land, then the ABs will find someone else to play, no problem bro.

“I say the NZRU because they have a major stake in having the Australian population involved. If they don’t get an inflow of Australians, then it could prove to be a less than viable event.” WRONG! Most of the fans will come from the Mother Country and we’ll welcome them with open arms. The proportion of Aussie fans is irrelevant.

Yet another rubbish, Kiwi-baiting article on the Roar. Shame on you!

Rugby in the Southern Hemisphere would be better off with three domestic comps and a HC style tournament, but the Aussies can’t help us there. Whatever people of the Super 14, it served its purpose in the beginning (helping to usher in professionalism and prevent an exodus of players) and was exciting while it was new, but it needs a major overhaul. My guess is that in time players will be eligible to play for their country no matter which Super rugby side they play for and SANZAR will spice things up by having a truly professional style comp.

I do not write lightly about peak oil issues and they are very relevant to SANZAR. Technology is very important but it is not magic. Check out Colin Campbell Peak Oil, The Oil Drum and Deconstructing Dinner. Peak oil is very real and spraying rhetoric around the issue does not help the huge human and resource issues of a future with expensive energy.

Whether you agree with zhenry’s post or not, its intent and meaning are perfectly clear.

for you maybe

and as for fossil fuels you would realise of course, in your almighty wisdom, that the transfer of clean energy technology is coming at a huge rate and that might be depending on saudi arabias output rather than reserves. as they hold back their reserves in order to generate demand.

you didn’t actually comment on political and cultural spheres of influence, you just said there name, which doesnt quite make sense.

and national competitions should be the focus, but the super 15 also needs to exist. you seem to have veered from your original point that australia dissappearing in rugby would be a benefit or have no effect.

i dont quite get the “while you can” comment either. according to you im so pompous money or anything won’t have an effect on me.

As Pablo said, we didn’t steal the 2003 RWC, the Kiwis totally stuffed up their end of the deal.

The 2011 RWC is wholly in NZ, so any TV interest across the Tasman is of only marginal interest to them. I don’t what/if any benefit NZ receives from overseas interest. As for any benefit to us, well, that depends on both the success of the Wallabies & quality of games.

At present, rugby is struggling to define itself. We really don’t know collectively, what we want from the game at the moment.

Rugby union currently sucks in Australia. It’s dysfunctional on so many levels. Equally, any attempt at bragging rights by league is also futile. Rugby league has virtually nothing to recommend itself outside the East Coast of Australia, Northern Counties of England & the Auckland/Central Districts of New Zealand.

Which is why union & league will come together in Australia, either as an equal partnership or more likely, takeover by union. Neither code is good enough by itself. Their only hope is the sum of the whole will be greater than the individual parts.

I also agree there is a better structure available for the future of super rugby, which gives centre stage to the various national comps, & changes the SR (S15, etc) to a Heineken Cup style format. But SANZAR has yet to figure that out for itself.

and also its not owned by news limited like the NRL is, its run by SANZAR and the teams are owned by the local unions or a private equity model seperate from the News ltd ownership model, then the rights to broadcasting it are sold to news ltd in australia and new zealand only, however its broadcast by a seperate partner in south africa, also in every country a different brand sponsors the event such as rebel sport in new zealand, investec in australia and Vodacom in South africa

i’d like to hear though why it is owned by murdoch, if you have a real argument

Merry Christmas

if the wallabies become a 2nd tier team then there would be little resistance for new zealand and the game would gain a bit, until an ultimate demise.

also even a bunch of south africans agreed that melbourne deserved the team more and the New Zealand authority are obviously aware of this, the spears had no place even with being established for a year and the team would have to have played most of its games in australia anyway. SARU knew when they agreed to the terms of the new super rugby tournament that it was practically a no hoper for a 6th new zealand team and it was just them sucking up to their government, Smarter? i think not as now the are liable in the millions. it seems you understand Rugby in new zealand from a standpoint of for the all blacks rather than for the game.

i would think, a s anew zealander you would be all for poaching, as many islanders are for the New Zealand teams.

the super rugby competition is considered the best competition in the world. so you are wrong about dumping it, it brings in huge amounts of money for all the unions involved and the NPC will continue in your country, if there are so many stubborn unintelligible supporters like you.

And we didn’t steal the 2003 RWC from the Kiwis, they dropped it by not being able to ensure clean signage at stadiums.

the strength of rugby is its international sphere. compared to AFL (non-existant) RL (minimal) rugby has a massive global presence and is continuing to grow.

this is rugby’s chance to get back up with the other codes. remember 2003? that could be 2011 all over again. plenty of aussies will head over the ditch for the games. should be a great festival of rugby. i cant wait.