Force boss urges RA to create Asia-Australia comp

GRR isn't dead, just suspended because of COVID. It is run through the Hong Kong Rugby Union. Seeing how the idiots at Rugby (East Coast) Australia appear to have abandoned the NRC (again) GRR will be all the more important when international travel allows it to be restarted.

Innovative stuff

Seems too good of an idea. I doubt it's been discussed.

I thought the NRC was a good idea. As a supporter got right behind it, went to live games every week, joined the RAMs supporter group, but also followed NSW Country and Rays when based on the central coast, then moving to northern beaches. I was all for this comp, it was a pity it was set up to fail by the "powers of rugby" I don't think foxtel helped at all, they priced the average punter out of watching matches on TV. Stan is a good deal at the moment, $10 for the content. just hope it stays this way and pulls more subscribers which hopefully puts money back into the game.

When I was back in England the best Irish squad, I saw was the Irish Tarmacing Squad. Just like magic they appeared!!

I’ve got a Great idea? Let Twiggy lead the GRR comp with Force in that competition. That way at least they’d win something for change?

I'd be all for it. The issue is where will the money come from?

So, South Korea & Japan have “rugby programs” & are doing well?!?! But New Zealand has one too, so we can’t do that! The unbridled pig-headedness of some in Australian Rugby who are too proud to admit that maybe, just maybe, the two best rugby nations on earth, have the best model to sustainably produce quality players is just mind numbingly dumbfounding! The Reds current success, the Brumbies continued success, & indeed the Crusaders success, is all based on a successful third tier…what happened to Irish Rugby when they concentrated on building their roots…& yet this system is not good enough for Australian Rugby?!?! Also, I thought the general consensus, is no one wants to watch a “development comp”?!?! SMH :unhappy:

Feel free to call me crazy. How about we flip the schedule? Why don't we play the Rugby Championship in parallel with the 6 Nations - this means the show piece tournament of our rugby season isn't competing for Airtime with League and AFL as it comes before it.. Then go into the Super Rugby domestic comps.. April, May, June. Then Mid-season tests Late/early July. Followed by the Trans-Tasman Super Rugby comp before the Spring Tour of NH to finish the season. That way Australian players in Japan could sign loan deals to play Super Rugby TT to qualify for Wallabies ahead of Spring NH Tours, meaning guys like Kerevi et al. aren't completely lost to the Wallabies set up. Yes, we might lose a couple more players to Japan, however, the Top League has a cap on overseas players so it won't be much worse than what it is now.

The idea that has been flagged is to have two Force sides, one playing Superugby and a development side that play in a Tier 3 competition.

I wondered why a few of the Tahs kept slipping. That's pretty poor management of a struggling side , clearly something missing in the organisation

Agreed we need a Tier 3 comp and like Lewis’ innovative comments. I don’t know what the best model is for a tier 3 comp. NRC wasn’t commercially viable, but if you had Force A or Brumbies A without the Wallabies players in the NZ’s NPC would that work? Join their comp. I know Twiggy sees Asia as the future, I just don’t know if there is a commercial appetite for the Force to play Korea, Hong Kong and Malaysia national teams. We’d just pump them.

Sensible comments.

This is definitely a good idea however the period of the calendar Justin is referencing is post SuperAU/TT comp I think, basically when the NPC is being played in NZ. You could have them playing before Wallabies games I suppose. But yes the SuperAU academy teams should definitely be playing throughout SuperAU and TT. If RA has decided to scrap the NRC, I would (and have voiced this before) look to include the 5 provincial sides from Australia (basically Super Rugby "A" teams) plus one A team each from Tonga, Samoa and Fiji (with those three teams feeding into the new Pacifika and Fiji super teams). In regards to expanding into Asia you can't really go off what Global Rapid Rugby did because two of those Asian sides were basically NZ and SA provincial teams, of which most of those players would be playing in the Currie Cup or NPC at the same time. You could make a case for a Hong Kong Team (South China Tigers) as it was made of mostly the Hong Kong national side and possibly a Korean representative team. I don't think the Japanese contracted players would be able to participate in a comp like this due to the nature of the top league and companies within it. This would create a 10 team development comp that serves RA, Tonga, Samoa and Fiji as well as the 2nd and 3rd best Asian rugby nations. To include Japan in Trans Tasman rugby in some way I would have the top three Top League teams play the top three teams from SR AU and the top three from SR A creating Champions Cup style comp to replace TT. Then have the next three from each comp play each other for a Challenge Cup. Obviously the NZ would probably sweep these comps currently but that wont be the case forever. I was amazed by the revelation that the AUS teams (barring the Force) have an average of 500 less professional games per team against the NZ teams Super sides. This to me highlighted the need for more development rugby in Australia and I think we'll see the class of the teams close as that differential narrows. Under this proposal the professional rugby calendar would go: Super AU (With academies playing simultaneously) > Super Rugby Champions Cup/Challenge Cup > International matches (With Aus/Asia/Pacific Development Comp playing simultaneously). This way you could increase the engagement of rugby across Asia and hopefully gain some financial traction, create a true eastern hemisphere championship with limited amount of lop sided results eg. Crusaders V Waratahs this weekend (not saying the Reds did any good but a least no one thought the game was decided before the whistle) and create development pathways for us and other nations in our region.

HK the strongest Asian side after Japan, we used to get pumped by the Chiefs development squad. Would be awesome for me as a fan but not what we need for the development of Oz rugby

True. Still might be cheaper than the alternatives though, with much the same benefits.

Indeed! Frankly though, it beggars belief. I was a lower grade park rugby player and packed two pairs of boots. Even with the amount of experience that has shipped out of the side how can they not do the same? I saw Cotton plant his feet and get sent backwards as though he was sliding on ice, this is a front rower with the wrong boots on. Mind boggling.

A problem with having a second game as a curtain-raiser is that you increase the costs (travel costs with extra players, carrying extra players as few teams have squads of 46, even extra ground-hire costs as staff are paid for longer). But curtain-raisers don't usually attract extra attendance, and almost certainly won't attract extra TV revenue, so the already broke RA are unlikely to go for it.

Imagine if they had a coach that was originally from NZ to think about things like that and discarded him, promoted his assitants and had them work 3 jobs between 2 of them. Some basic things might slip through the cracks...

Yep, common sense. At the very least, wherever and whatever it is, there needs to be a third tier NRC style comp. Just saw the Force have announced a match against Bay of Plenty too for July.