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In an article last week lauding the announcement of the National Rugby Championship, Spiro called the new competition a “national provincial championship”.
I beg to differ. It is a nine-franchise league. Nothing wrong with that in my opinion. I applaud the ARU for its creation and I will be an enthusiastic supporter of the Melbourne Rising come August.
But a provincial comp this ain’t.
Last year I floated the idea of the Australian Provincial Rugby Championship (APRC) in these columns.
This was based on the fact that during this three-conference era of Super Rugby we have a built in, stand alone home-and-away competition going on between our five rugby provinces with a professional team.
Given where Super Rugby seems to be heading, it looks like we only have this year and next to enjoy this opportunity. We had better make the most of it.
To recap, the Reds clearly won in 2012, and last year the Brumbies won the competition comfortably as the table below shows.
There is some critical information in this table we will come back to later.
It has taken a while for a sufficient number of games to be played to form some initial views on where the championship is heading this year. The Rebels had a very slow start and with the Force have now played three games.
The Brumbies and Waratahs have both played four games and the Reds only two.
After Super Rugby Round 7 the standings are as follows:
So at not quite the half way mark, the Waratahs are the clear front-runners and importantly they are scoring plenty of bonus points.
Looking back to the 2013 table, the Brumbies only won half a game more than the Reds but won the championship comfortably on bonus points, with a positive net try for and against.
This performance in the APRC was ultimately crucial to the Brumbies success in Super Rugby, where they only scored one more bonus point against all SA and NZ teams. So far this year, with 50 per cent of their games completed they have no bonus points.
We have a long way to go before this is settled but I expect that this will be a lot closer than the last two years.
The Brumbies are starting to falter and the Reds have barely got started. The Force are having one of their best seasons and the Rebels are on the rise.
The Tahs have jumped to an early lead but do they have the ticker to go on with it?
Given the erratic spread of games, I will provide updates on an irregular basis. The next post will be after Super Rugby Round 10, by which time the Force will have played six times, the Tahs and Brumbies five times each and the Reds and Rebels four times each.
After that there is a hiatus with the next APRC games not scheduled until Round 14.
I am still waiting for the ARU to come up with a trophy. It is something that an Australian team is certain to win and at no extra drain on their meagre coffers.
It seems like a no-brainer to me. Maybe The Roar should offer one!
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.