A couple of weeks ago, the Queensland Rugby Union announced that their Super Rugby players were back in training for the 2014 season. The other Australian Super rugby franchises are also in training.
For me this is rugby madness. The players shouldn’t be training for next year, they should be playing out this season in some sort of national competition.
If long and intense training for rugby was the secret of success on the field, Japanese sides would be unbeatable. These teams train for long periods and play few games in comparison with the off-the-field work they put themselves through.
South African rugby has its fabled Currie Cup competition which is nearing its climax with many Springboks, including the captain Jean de Villiers, being co-opted into teams who fancy their chances of winning the tournament.
In New Zealand, there is the ITM provincial tournament which is divided into two conferences. These play among themselves with promotion and relegation rewarding or punishing the teams that succeed or fail.
All the teams in these conferences, too, are eligible for a shot at capturing the Ranfurly Shield, a trophy that is over 100 years old and is a sort of New Zealand rugby equivalent of the FA Cup.
The point about this is that while the top Australian rugby players are training, their South African and New Zealand equivalents are actually playing. In the end, players who play in hard competitions are generally going to be better at playing than their opponents who play less and train more.
Not to mention that they are available to play for the national side, if needed.
The case of Cory Jane makes this point. He missed all of this year’s Super Rugby tournament but two games in the ITM Cup have been enough to convince the All Blacks selectors he is ready to play against the Wallabies at Dunedin on Saturday.
In Australia this could not have happened because there is no rugby outside of the Wallabies available to the top players.
I’m wondering, too, if all the training actually sets up the players to be more easily injured than if they trained less and played more.
in 2007 a number of senior All Blacks were taken out of the Super rugby tournament for nearly two months for special training to prepare them for the Rugby World Cup tournament.
For the first and only time, the All Blacks were beaten in the quarter-finals, with several of the stars, including Dan Carter, going down injured.
So much for the extra training.
In my view, there is no noticeable superiority in fitness or in skills in the Australian players over their South African and New Zealand opponents that comes out of the longer training sessions.
In general the South African and New Zealand teams, with players who play more matches each year and get a shorter break at the end of the season, are fitter, tougher and more successful than their Australian counterparts.
There is a huge need in Australian rugby for an equivalent of the Currie Cup and ITM Cup tournament.
I would say that it is the most important issue facing the board of the ARU. Unfortunately there seems to be a lack of ideas and discussion about what this Australian Championship (my title) should look like.
Here’s an idea. It should be a national club championship. The premiership clubs in Sydney and Brisbane (for complicated historical and geographical reasons) are the equivalent of provincial rugby in South Africa and NZ.
So an Australian equivalent of a provincial tournament would be a national tournament of the top six Sydney clubs, four from Brisbane and the Gold Coast and the leading clubs in Melbourne and Canberra.
These clubs could be boosted by, say, two or three outside players whose clubs are not in the tournament.
If properly promoted The Australian Championship could have a great appeal and create the willing, hard, competitive rugby that is currently lacking at this time of the year in Australian rugby.
The ARU and the clubs are apparently having some earnest and heated discussions about their future and future competitions. Why not go with something that is already virtually in place and which has the tribal resonances that enhance the value of tournaments to the players and supporters?
If the Super Rugby franchises object (as they probably will), their objections should be overruled. Players get better and tougher playing rugby rather than training to play it some time in the distant future.
This will benefit Australian rugby in the wide context in the future, and if only they the Super Rugby franchises had the wit to realise this.
Blackheart
Guest
The ARU are constantly talent scouting elsewhere to save themselves shekles. Look at the" born overseas" team listing the wallabies are holding ATM. They are trying to organise Speight as this debate ensues. The new Prime Minister was a union player at UNI, so the goss goes, recruit Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey (who plays touch currently) to the cause.... Private school educated powerbrokers are a gift to the game... Lets play them. Loosen the pacific Island immigration criterion and encourage families of hard working industrious tough rugby playing Fijian, Samoan, Tongan and Nuiean Island nations... Just as New Zealand did way back when..... Look at the result! ARU talent scouts cannot forever camp at overseas airport terminals and hope to persuade incoming prospective superstars in this day and age. The grass roots rugby has to be cultured from the cot to the plot.... As in NZ and. SA. Without the vacant gap between school/ university and super series. Whilst is would be electoral suicide for any politician to out himself as a rugby union player and full fledged endorser in Australia, lobbying has to be a top priority for the ARU. With the up and coming Olympic Games having opened up rugby 7s,....to chance ones arm at sniping a gold medallion for australia has to be attractive for an immigrants son!
Old Bugger
Guest
K They sound oblivious except on one point - they may very well counter that the A-league comp isn't helping the Socceroos after the past results. And, it could become a tidal wave if the Kangaroos fail in the RLWC.
allblackfan
Guest
hoy, better the wet season than the hot season!!
KIwi Rugby Fan
Guest
You dont need a lot of money for the players maybe its a semi professional competition if they should want to play at the next level then there is a degree of sacrifice thats needed and mixing a job with the playing is part of building that ethic that if I play well in this competition then i can work towards the possibility of full/part time professional. This would lead towards a super rugby contract and the product will be more equipped and better prepared players turning up for super rugby. Thats just my view point anyways. Kia Ora
KIwi Rugby Fan
Guest
The next tier is the only way it will work for the future development and strengthening of wallaby rugby. Super rugby shouldn't be the pathway for young players they need another competition for development towards the demand of super rugby. Its already obvious that your players cant sustain 5 super sides and pitching them in is doing nothing for the game in Australia. Weve heard over here this week that the ARU is coming this weekend looking to recruit more nz players to go across and play there with the added carrot of a super rugby contract and even an opportunity to play wallaby rugby. This is not fair on the boys there that grow up with a dream of playing in the gold jersey and it brings a false sense of the strength of wallaby rugby as these players are being supplanted into your competition and they probably dreamed of being all blacks. I remember clearly the era of domination that wallaby rugby had with intelligent rugby players that played a fast paced game with outstanding back play. That was the strength of your game and with the dominance of the ABs and NZ super teams it seems more and more Ozy teams are replicating some of the NZ style of game rather than keeping true to the style of whats was wallaby rugby . There are currently nearly 12 australians playing ITM cup rugby and this is wrong they should be in Australia playing in an Australian competition continuing their development of an Australian style of game. The world needs it and so does NZ rugby need it cause those were huge challenges the ABs had everytime they stepped out against an australian test side. Dont get me wrong we know that even the current test team given some confidence can fire they just need to build that confidence,but that wont answer the problems that are already happening with the game over there. The template of more competition as opposed to training and training camps works and will teach players how to operate under the pressure of regular game time. Kia Ora
stainlesssteve
Guest
wise words, Spiro, and everyone, not surprisingly, as the problems have been around for a long time. But what is this "FA Cup" that you are comparing with The Ranfurly Shield? Must be pretty good! The Shield is, for those Roar posters who don't know, a focus of passion, intensity and enthusiasm, which can galvanise local excitement about rugby in general, beyond any other fixture, even the Bledisloe. Having got nowhere, for forty years, trying to get the ARU top-downers to see reason, perhaps something of this kind is what is missing in Australia?
andy shearer
Guest
pretty sure i saw Beau Robinson playing for an ITM Cup game over the weekend.... Aussie players must be able to join the Kiwi regional teams. I must say that i was blown away at the level of play in the ITM - talk about an AllBlack incubator !
Charging Rhino
Roar Guru
I agree with you Spiro. I think it's crazy that Australia don't have their own domestic competition. What do the players do between August and February? More importantly what did they do (prior 2011) when Super rugby used to end in May/early June?!
Peter
Guest
I would love to see an Aussie comp in conjunction with tge pacific Islands teams. Have teams based out of all the super 15 clubs or cities and play against west somoa, Fiji, Tonga. Also run a under 21 game if possible before. Far more costly - but would be very commercial for TV and would draw big crowds...
Ajax
Guest
Well given its halfway through October.. you would expect blokes to be on their end of season break. These days most of them should be keeping in shape anyway, so they come back after a 3 month break.. begin rugby specific training and skills early second week of December or early Jan with a week off for Christmas new year. Training now just wears these blokes out mentally.. I mean seriously.. come June or July these blokes have been going flat out for 9 months already, every week they are urged to "bring it" against the best players in the world... pretty sure that was Will Genias problem this year.. he was simply jaded.. probably the same for Robinson......
Charcoal
Guest
I'm sick of saying this, but for the umpteenth time, the ARC was still the best model with its structure of representative teams giving the best players from all clubs an opportunity to participate. It just needed some tweaking to correct the mistakes made in its implementation, ie. teams based outside of their supporter regions in Sydney and Brisbane. One city teams in Canberra, Melbourne and Perth didn't have this problem. It also needed more time, after some adjustments, to become established. One season wasn't enough and I think we can blame JON's revengeful ego for that. By starting the competition after the conclusion of the respective State club competitions (say mid September) and running through to the end of October, avoids any conflict with the clubs and maintains their integrity. It is essentially a higher level extension of the club competitions, without restricting it to a handful of the stronger clubs..
Bakkies
Guest
The fringe players in Australia don't play enough competitive rep A level and under 20s matches. Compared to European nations that improving their fitness and skills levels, Australia are going the other way. The competitive British & Irish Cup is producing more match ready Heineken Cup players for the Irish teams rather then chucking in a player straight in from club rugby. When players come back from injury they generally play an A level match first to get match fit. The under 20s also exist at provincial level as well as the 6 Nations under 20s comp. This has seen better prepared teams go to the junior wc. Aus on the hand throw together a squad play little to no matches. It might of worked for a while but the europeans have caught up. Even NZ is feeling the pinch there.
Bakkies
Guest
The pitches are poor in club Rugby. Some you might as well be playing on a cricket pitch. I remember Mark Chisholm getting a season ending injury a few years ago playing for Randwick when he was just about to break back in to the Wallabies. Other fringe players have picked up injuries in the club season post Super Rugby. Deans got more players back in to club Rugby but there is a risk that they could break themselves on rock hard pitches and be out for weeks.
B-Rock
Roar Guru
The whole comp is based on the unis so the two options would be: - make it an U23 elite comp which is only available while they study. Let's face it, by 23 we have worked out if someone will be a SR player or not. This also ensures renewal of the playing lists and opportunities for 18 year olds - open age, players keep playing long term for the unis after study. The comp runs after club rugby finishes. This concept was raised by JON/Pulver when he started but didn't stick for some reason. Don't want to appear to claim the idea! Don't think the schollarship angle was in there though
Starchild
Guest
Good point brief, yes Australia may have to tape themselves up like mummies to get through this next All Black clash.
Katipo - Wallaby supporter
Guest
It's not difficult to come up with suggestions for a national championship but will the ARU do anything about it? If JON had realised that the Wallabies would win the Tri-Nations once a decade (and the Bledisloe Cup less that that) and that an Aussie franchise would win Super Rugby only twice a decade would he have been so quick to shut down the ARC? I hope the current A-League success while the Socceroos get thrashed isn't going unnoticed at ARU HQ. With no domestic rugby tournament to give us winning teams every year, like AFL, NRL and A-league, it's a dangerous tactical predicament the ARU finds itself in. I think they are oblivious to be honest.
Wozza
Guest
The gulf between the haves and the have nots is a joke. I played for Manly. Eastwood beat Manly 55 - 18 or something to qualify for the GF. Then Uni rack up 50 against Eastwood. Its a joke and its destroying club rugby. Uni have so much compared to everyone else that no-one can compete. Its like Manchester utd playing in the A-League. Expanded club comps aren't the answer. There is no way I'd watch Uni win every year!!!!!
hog
Guest
Agree DB, its' like the elephant in the room nobody wants to discuss, Rugby will die without Super rugby revenue. Yet at the same time rugby is dying in this country because Super rugby is an exclusve pay TV product. Until a genuine National competiton is started that has presedence, rugby will continue to die. And if that means we start on a shoesting budget, and loose players to overseas, so be it. It is the only Rugby Union will move forward in this country.
jeznez
Roar Guru
james we all know that training, particularly fitness training is performance enhancing and should not be allowed.
jeznez
Roar Guru
not a terrible idea => I'd prefer something different than the states but can see why it would be good to use existing infrastructure. Super sides minus Wallabies and injured players bolstered by their EPS and the best of the club competition would work to provide that next level down.