Rugby News: Former All Black No.9 gives update on Wallabies link, Kiwis tout historic Fiji Test

Canada has gone backwards for the same reason that the PIs did which is they couldn't get enough players into a professional environment once the game turned professional. Namibia, Canada and Romania have gone back wards while Japan and Georgia have excelled. Fiji have very much improved because of all their players that have moved to Europe and have been getting professional rugby. If you went back to about 10 Fijians playing in Europe where would the other 70 play. Maybe Japan but they like to cap players and Oz and NZ teams are very strict on the number of foreign players. Like all the Dura players before they joined SRP they would be trying to get into the 7s to get a shot on the world stage. The former English player who has been called up by Wales has spoken about the club discuss the change due to him going to the WC. These clubs need to field players during the test window and must stay under a cap so what are they to do if their 1st choice goes to play for France and the backup is off to Fiji. Most businesses have clauses in their contracts relating to employees changing their availability. WR could be clear and say no club games on test weeks but then Clubs would demand no out of Window test which Unions don't want.

The inaugural XV squad picked in 2022 shows other places they can increase revenue. Sponsors want coverage and the more games the test sides play the more money they make be it AB, XV, 7s, women or Maori all which are mentioned specifically on the website (except XV). Yes there are other things but are they going to generate the same money. URC this year has been showing scorecards for all their players based on effects they have on the game, fairly sure the next step with that is player cards like baseball but doing it for over 600 players in the URC or 1600 players across the 3 European leagues (which is more likely) is more likely to make money that NZ test players or even SRP by itself. NZR does want to become a performing monkey that will do anything for money.

For starters, income directly from the July and November windows aren't the only place where SL can increase revenue

I totally agree that the system is against T2 teams in general (with arguments both ways re Japan) but you can’t seriously be suggesting that their players playing in Europe has been good for the Pasifika test teams. It’s an objective fact that their world cup performances have gone backwards in this era. In the 90s Samoa had five wins against T1 opponents in their first three world cups (Wales twice, Argentina twice and Italy). Tonga also beat Italy and Fiji beat Argentina. In the five world cups this millennium, there have been just two wins over T1 opponents. The Pasifika coaches simply don’t have the same access to their players as their predecessors (or T1 coaches now) because the clubs put all sorts of pressure on them. People have even lost their jobs for going to a World Cup, or not gone because they would have done. It puts them at a massive disadvantage.

System is not stacked against the PI nations it is against all non T1 nations, especially those who are not given substantial WR handouts like the PIs. The PIs are not a special case, and the sooner they and North America realise they are not entitled to more WR funding than the rest of T2 nations they might actually start doing stuff like South America and Europe have done. Georgia has had Italy go there as the first T1 nation to visit. As I said previous Fiji has had Wales, Scotland and Italy in the last 15 years. GDP for Georgia is about 5k while Fiji is 4.6k, Namibia is 4.8k but we don't see WR looking after them. Romania had a similar GDP in 2000 but WR wasn't helping them. The amount earned by the host nation is irrelevant, the 6 nations are covering cost and the reason the cost are so low is because the RC teams can't afford to pay more or aren't playing T2 nations. NZ refuses to have a WR agreed fee as they are the most expensive team to play by a long shot. In Super Rugby how many people from T2 nations are being employed. These "rich" European Unions are passing that money onto the professional teams that are employing 330 players from Argentina and the rest of the world excluding the 6Ns and 3N. Most T2 players in Super Rugby that are not at the Dura are heritage players rather than actual players for T2 nations. Georgia keeps their players in their Top14 teams when playing many T2 nations because the T14 is a higher standard. Without the European leagues we wouldn't be seeing teams like Fiji (80 players) and Georgia (46 players) getting better on the field. We hear how great SRP is great for including the Dura yet Europe is giving pathways to twice as many players for Fiji and has been for over 15 years. There are nearly 70 Samoan and Tongan players in Europe which again is nearly twice that of MP. Lets not kid ourselves that if the European Union gave the PI Unions $10m each a year that the players would get any of it, we only need ask WR about that.

Why would you sign a deal where say 10% of your income goes to a third party when you are going to be getting 10-30m extra a year for the next 4 years. Surely you do it after the 2027 WC when you have had the big cash flow. I am working on an article as to why the Nations League and Silver Lake investment are actually working against each other as it reduces the ability for Silver Lake to earn money. In 2021 it quoted the head of the 6 Nations and yet 2 years on it is still just as far away as it was in 2021

What you are avoiding is that England is making millions out of the Pasifika nations we are making very little. And you're cherry picking England - other NH nations don't give anything more than WR reciprocal tours regulations, which are stacked against the Pasifika nations who make very little when they host. https://www.scotsman.com/sport/rugby-union/samoa-are-bankrupt-but-test-v-scotland-will-go-ahead-1437008 My apologies though that I got the match fee wrong - that certainly wasn't the case when we went to Samoa in 2015, we also paid for our own travel to Samoa. Even then Samoa ended up losing money. I've been happy to say many times including under this article that the system is stacked against the islands and we haven't done enough to help. As usual you've just wanted to attack us without looking in the mirror. It would be great if you could reflect on your constant desire to attack SH rugby. A recognition that we're all to blame would be a good start.

It says all the main stakeholders. PE isn't about "giving away" anything, the deal only works for either party if the partner helps significantly grow revenue.

"prl teams lose less than nz srp but dont have a union to bail them out" rubbish. english premier rugby has been heavily subsidized by english rugby union. where do you think the twickenham test $$$ goes? french club rugby is kept afloat by a dozen heavily cashed up zillionares. the crowd numbers for most eng/fr club matches fall a long way short of covering the costs. fact. the only nth hemisphere rugby tournament that actually makes money is the six nations. urc leapt at sth african teams because most urc matches didnt make a profit, but now, the extra travel,accom, extra player costs arent stacking up.you cant fly across the planet for a crowd of 8000 and expect a profit. italian,welsh and scottish urc teams arent happy.

Their 3rd or 4th? Tell me how many players have represented 3-4 nations? Potentially 2 for a very few. Some players may choose to represent their family heritage on the way up or down from the Kangaroos. Purely designed to assist a minnow country succeed. Not a Tier 1 country pillaging minnows or other, older Tier 1 players after short period of time. The difference is the Kangaroos don't need a cheat sheet for it's players to sing them anthem.

Again why should the 6 nations have to do as good as the SANZAAR teams at looking after all their local teams and also play all the other teams. You should do a list for European T2 sides and compare England and New Zealand just to make it fair. Since you have been the one accusing the SANZAAR teams of not pulling their weight, I invite you to do the analysis. But, as I have shown above, any suggestion that say, England plays our Pacific/Asian neighbours more than say NZ, doesn't stack up.

behind a paywall. Does it say World Rugby have said its almost all agreed or is it the 6 Nations as in 2021 6 nations said things in principle were agreed and would probably start about 2024. Mark has now said its 2026 or 2028 which doesn't sound like its almost done. Also if almost done RA wouldn't be looking for PE as this deal is meant to sort all the financial issues meaning why agree to give away part of the Lions, WC and Nations League funding if the Nations league is nearly sorted.

NH fees barely cover the costs v Maori fees more than total income. Article is clear, its better to have nothing then owe something.

See the article you posted.

So paying the Fiji Union a 5 figure sum is worse than charging Fiji 250k. What costs does the Fiji Union have to spend when they play in England.

Really? I don’t recall the wallabies or All Blacks ever playing a test in Fiji. That’s probably because the wallabies last played a test in Fiji 50 years ago. The all blacks 1984, but not considered a full international. So how is the Australian Government paying RA for the wallabies to play a game in Fiji?

SR is a commercial failure, so they need some radical thinking on how to prop up the whole show! As CPM pointed out: having the NZ men's national side being a travelling roadshow (and trying to extort appearance fees) is the only way to raise revenue for NZR in it's current guise.

Here's my article. Where yours that contradicts it? Clearly states July and Nov. All the fundamentals agreed. Your man is only talking November because they still only have three weeks in July. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union/2023/03/20/revealed-world-rugbys-blueprint-new-global-tournament/

I believe that’s exactly what Doc is referring to.

Aus we’re never looking at K-B, it came up as a hypothetical in an interview with him, and then was turned into a ‘scoop’ to get clicks. I don’t think he was ever that serious and I doubt he ever featured on the Australian radar. Don’t believe the hype.