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Opinion
What can Rugby Australia do to introduce a third tier and what lessons does the New Zealand set-up hold for RA?
First, let’s all agree that RA needs a middle-tier domestic competition. They had one with the Australian Rugby Shield in the early 2000s and they tried more recently with the NRC until it was cancelled when the broadcasting arrangements changed.
The structure of rugby development is very much like a pyramid. The most important part, the base, is the grassroots club game. It supports everything above it.
The game as it is now is largely based on the club game in Brisbane and Sydney. A wider playing base is needed.
The pyramid model holds that with each new level added to the game’s structure, the standard of play should also elevate.
That level, or third tier, is the state or domestic rep game. In the old days this meant just Queensland and New South Wales with the ACT acting as a bit of a third wheel. Super Rugby has evolved the ACT into the Brumbies and created the Rebels and Force. That’s at least one team short; a competition needs an even number of teams.
(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
But it gives capable administrators a product to offer broadcasters and to promote the game nationally, albeit in a niche capacity.
Until RA sorts out its governance woes, Brisbane, Sydney and Canberra clubs should play each other and expand their competition.
New Zealand offers a model: they have a knockout challenge cup competition in place which allows any of their 26 provinces to challenge for the Ranfurly Shield, which started in 1904. Such a concept should be applied to the Australian context at some point.
Heck, Fiji has a competition as well – the Farebrother-Sullivan Trophy, which was modelled on the Ranfurly Shield and began in 1941.
The next level up should be Super Rugby proper and the tip of the pyramid would be Test rugby.
There are three big problems facing Rugby Australia: finance, governance and competition.
RA’s financial problems have been hashed and rehashed. Suffice to say, RA seems to be caught in a debt cycle that needs to be broken. This is not exactly a new development. Issues began in 1951 when Fiji made its first tour of Australia which ended in a drawn Test series and record crowds.
During my research, I happened to look at Fiji’s 1976 tour of Australia. Their opponents included Sydney, Tasmania, South Australia (10-7 victors!), Western Australia, Victoria, NSW Country, New South Wales, ACT, Queensland and Queensland Country.
This may be what RA should go back to – the restoration of old-school tours. It may help with the coffers and with developing the game. Lord knows RA is hanging on for the 2025 Lions tour that offers exactly that prospect. If they do, I suggest they not follow New Zealand’s model with the 2017 Lions tour, dropping provincial games for Super Rugby teams, which felt like a bit of an ambush in hindsight.
These tours would depend on governance and finance (yikes!) but would give them a point of difference in terms of a competitive sporting market.
Richie Mo’unga apparently had sterling words for NZ Rugby when he signed up for a Japan career: “Adapt or die”.
Those are words to live or die by for RA as well.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.