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What do we do with the NRC and the Shute Shield?

Roar Pro
22nd September, 2016
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The NRC is a vital pathway, but it can't come at the expense of viable Super Rugby franchises. (Photo Karen Watson)
Roar Pro
22nd September, 2016
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1168 Reads

A couple of weeks ago I penned an article regarding rugby in Australia and the crisis it is in. Since then I have talked about Super Rugby and the Wallabies. Now I would like to continue the conversation regarding the NRC and the next level down – the Shute Shield and similar competitions in other states.

» Shute Shield Fixtures“>Shute Shield Fixtures

I must confess that I have not watched the NRC but I did watch it last year and when it was the ARC so I am open to criticism regarding this fact.

Nevertheless the conversation should be had regarding this and other competitions within Australian Rugby. Prior to this it is valuable to look at where we want to be as a rugby tier one nation.

Cully’s article was the best I have read on this matter in that the All Blacks are in one universe and then there are five or six nations fighting out for two to seven – and should we be happy with being around two to five and occasionally being a clear No.2?

If this is the reality then how do we get to that position and indeed occasionally challenge the All Blacks deep into games and then maybe beat them? And this is why these competitions are important to get right.

At the moment Aus has 60 players that I found through minimal research playing overseas in four competitions. 14 are Shute Shield or the equivalent, 24 are current or former Super players and 22 are current or former Wallabies. They are playing in two competitions in France, one in Japan and one in the UK.

Looking at these competitions I would say that the closest to Super is the UK one and the others really are retirement funds. The relevance of this is to work out the players that we should be encouraging to play in the NRC.

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Naturally, from a funding/salary point of view this will be tough so therefore once they are gone we may not get them back, however it is the 14 from the Shute Shield equivalents that I would like to know why they have gone, and has the ARU put enough effort into retaining them?

The NRC appears to be a very entertaining competition with high scores on both sides so is defence a priority or are the players fit enough?

Another issue is the timing of the competition with it going head to head with the finals of the NRL and the AFL. Maybe it should be on when the Super Rugby is on, which would give the academy and wider training squads from the franchises a chance to play.

I would like to also address an ongoing issue with the ARU regarding their advertising of the product. There was an NRC game to be played in Orange on Saturday, however, it has just been moved to Sydney due to the weather (I thought rugby was a wet weather game).

Over the last three nights on the local news there has been no story on the game. Last week was the final of the local competition – maybe the guys could have played the curtain raiser when there was around 2000 people there, which would have been a lot more than there would have been on Saturday.

Finally, ARU, there were many out here in regional NSW wanting to go to the game but when they learned kick off was 1pm, it became a no no. Rugby kicks off at 3pm out here.

With regards to the Shute Shield, naturally, this has been and will continue to be a very emotive subject as to the format and indeed viability of this and similar competitions.

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I have indeed penned my views on these matters, nevertheless, the overriding issue is that there will be continuing funding problems unless the game as a whole does better.

Unfortunately, for all concerned with regards to these competitions I think it will be death by a thousand cuts so to speak. We have seen the erosion of information regarding programs, team lists in newspapers, scores on the ABC on the Saturday night news, the coverage shifted to a second channel and the list goes on.

Food for thought for the rugby community.

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