John Connolly recently proposed a Union State of Origin tournament between NSW and Queensland in lieu of the farce of substandard European touring teams. So why not take Connolly’s idea and update it for 2009?
Based on the standings of the four Australian Super teams, hold a semi-final style 1 Vs 4 and 2 Vs 3 one weekend, with the winner playing a final the following weekend.
This idea has some obvious merit, including allotting domestic bragging rights and giving selectors additional opportunity to watch head to head match ups for hotly contested positions.
You also could rest handful of top line Wallabies and give some bench-warmers a decent gallop.
But there are a number of additional permutations to the format that could give this idea legs.
One if to turn it into a carnival hosted by a single city that misses out that year on a major Test. The media, Super franchises and Wallabies selectors and admin people rock into, say, Perth or Melbourne, for a ten day stretch of rugby, fundraising dinners and publicity.
You could run the tournament in places where rugby league has a monopoly, like the Central Coast, the Gold Coast or FNQ.
You could have a regional tournament in Toowoomba, Tamworth and Taree. The Panasonic Cup, anyone?
In Sydney or Brisbane, you could use club grounds or host it at powerhouse rugby high schools and give the ad revenue and gate takings to grassroots or school rugby.
They could bring back afternoon rugby, with the first semi on Saturday afternoon and the second that evening
Surely a couple of these ideas could get some significant interest from fans and make the money men happy.
It would be better than Wallabies Vs Scotland’s second XV!
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