What’s this you say? ‘The ARC. No one’s playing for the ARC!’ No, not officially – but I think they should be.
For the last three years the ARC has been competed for, but nobody seems to notice or care.
The five Australian Super Rugby teams, each representing their State or Territory union, have played each other on a home and away basis.
Whatever you want to call it (and I will happily take recommendations for a name change – I did toy with ‘Premiership’ – but only briefly), the winner of these contests should be recognised as the leading Australian rugby province for that year and the ARU should reward them with a trophy – submit your suggestions for a name to the Pulveriser!
It will cost them nothing and will provide added spice to the rugby year (maybe they could even raise a sponsor for this comp).
Here are the overall ARC 2013 standings with one round to be completed.
The 2013 Australian Rugby Championship
|
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
+/- |
BP |
PTS |
|
|
Brumbies |
7 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
210 |
96 |
114 |
6 |
28 |
|
Reds |
7 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
129 |
123 |
6 |
2 |
18 |
|
Waratahs |
7 |
4 |
0 |
3 |
155 |
164 |
-9 |
2 |
18 |
|
Rebels |
8 |
3 |
0 |
5 |
173 |
224 |
-51 |
1 |
13 |
|
Force |
7 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
115 |
175 |
-60 |
3 |
9 |
Yes, the Brumbies have won the Australian Super Rugby Conference.
Yes, they are the Lion tamers.
And yes, they are the Australian Rugby Champions – easily sewn up with one round to go, no matter how the table is compiled.
I have given two totals columns – one with and one without bonus points. For the ARC my own preference would be to exclude bonus points, but I won’t fight anyone who prefers them counted.
Either way the Brumbies have romped home and cannot be overtaken.
Their domination (with one hiccup against the Tahs) is evident not just in competition points and bonus points but their for and against versus the others is outstanding.
It is the same with tries. They have scored 26 to date with 10 against.
The next highest try scorers are the Rebels with 17 (26 against) with both the Reds and the Waratahs on 13 scored and 10 and 16 against respectively.
The Brumbies’ success in Super Rugby this year has been well and truly founded on their success against their conference rivals – particularly in bonus points earned. (And the reverse is true for the Reds).
That’s three trophies (OK two trophies and one scalped main) locked up. That has to give them the confidence to go after the fourth, the Super Rugby Championship, even if they do have to go to Pretoria or Hamilton for the semis.
Who is going to be second? Unlike the Super Rugby conference this is still in doubt and will come down to the outcome of the game between the Waratahs and the Reds on July 12.
The Tahs must win as a draw will ensure that the Reds are second with a 15-point for and against buffer (unless they also score a four-try bonus point and the Reds don’t).
At least this gives the Tahs something to play for in addition to just beating anything in Red.
Who will ‘win’ the wooden spoon? If bonus points are excluded, the Force has that honour sewn up.
If bonus points count, my team the Rebels have completed their games, so it is up to the Force to determine their own fate.
A win against the Brumbies by ten or more points or with a bonus point will raise them above the Rebels but that seems unlikely. Is that just wishful thinking on my part?
I have not crunched the numbers for the first two years of this illustrious Championship but the Reds would have had an equally clear win in 2011.
But 2012 would have been tight between the Reds and the Brumbies. The [insert preferred name and sponsor’s logo here] trophies should be retrospectively awarded anyway.
Roll on July 13 for the final games and let’s hope that Mr Pulver is in Perth to award the Brumbies their richly deserved trophy (and the Force their spoon).
Confucius says
Guest
Can that be locked in? (excuse the pun)
Jerry
Guest
Nah, it should be named after someone who's had great success in Super Rugby. Eales was a great, but perhaps Joe Roff or George Gregan would be a better bet. Matfield can be the SA one, but the NZ will have to be either the Reuben Thorne or Caleb Ralph trophy.... Nah, maybe your idea was better.
Jerry
Guest
The problem is that the trophies look like some sort of container filled with liquid. The NZ one, being black, looks like oil, coca cola or Guiness. The SA one looks like swarfega or green cordial. And the Aussie one looks like...well....piss, basically. http://www.ougrote.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/trophies.jpg
Renee Matey
Roar Rookie
The Eales Cup really is Nobodys Cup.
sheek
Roar Guru
Well yes Allanthus, Being of that position myself so long ago..... I always considered myself a frustrated lock, frustrated in that that's how I saw myself, but my coaches never agreed with me. So with the positional name change I can tell people I was a lock back when I played. Win, win! ;-)
Geoff Parkes
Expert
A little bit biased towards second rowers there Sheek...?? :) Any chance of the Bryan Habana Cup instead? No, on second thoughts he's too annoying to warrant further recognition. Agree with the consensus, nice article and great idea.
sheek
Roar Guru
If we're going to retain a positional sense for naming rights of conference winners, then I suggest John Eales (Australia), Vic Matfield Cup (South Africa) & Brad Thorn Cup (New Zealand).
Infamous
Guest
I've always thought the conference winners should be decided purely from the home and away fixtures within their conference it's the only fair way. And then the three 'wildcard' finalists to make up the top 6 to be decided as they are now, from all games played. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
David of Canberra
Guest
The John Eales Cup - great suggestion. Or the Nick Farr-Jones Cup. I wonder if Bill Pulver gets the Roar in his media monitoring daily feed from the ARU media unit? Bill, if you're reading, then this is dead easy to do.
Who Needs Melon
Roar Guru
Probably the most incredibly sensible idea I have ever seen on any forum.
Chris
Guest
It's important to remember the winner of the "ARC" and the winner of the conference won't necessarily be the same team.
Wilson Flatley
Roar Rookie
The conference winner is rewarded for wins over foreign teams, the ARC put forward only takes Australian Derbys into account. The way the draw works, some teams get better foreign teams away, and weaker teams at home, inversely others are benefitted similarly. As a true home-and-away, the result of the proposed idea is more conclusive.
Chairman Kaga
Guest
Agree, the Aussie regional champ of rugby is the Conference winner first past the post. They just need to add a reserves competition to the current setup and we have what we need in place. Victoria's and West Australia's club competitions need to improve their standards to increase the player pool. Not sure how you would achieve this, but I am sure it is possible.
Brett McKay
Expert
God one Peter, I've long said more should be made of being crowned Conference champions. New Zealand are doing it from this year, Australia should be as well...
Sailosi
Guest
I've always believed in this, great article. Winning the conference should be celebrated and recognised more. -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.
James
Guest
The winner of each conference already gets a trophy (its just that they aren't awarded with much fanfare)...but the ARU should definitely consider 'spicing' it up by awarding their own trophy instead...like Barry said, the 'Eales Trophy', or something like that, would go down a treat.
Barry
Guest
i'm pretty sure that they already give a trophy to the winner of each conference
Nice article Peter, I totally agree with you and I am partial to calling it the Eales Cup.