The T-CUP principle is one that is used throughout sport psychology; and in rugby circles really came to the fore in 2003, with Clive Woodward’s World Cup-winning England team, that clinched the title in extra-time with that drop goal.
T-CUP: Thinking Calmly Under Pressure
The idea is simple and requires little explanation, but its application can vary from sport to sport. The All Blacks have various, individual methods to achieve this and remain grounded, switching from red-heads to blue-heads, etc – but the principle remains the same.
Australian rugby fans have seen a plethora of examples over the years, and just this season have witnessed clutch moments in Super Rugby Pacific games slip through the grasp like that fourth grade winger who should never be passed to….
Tane Edmed of the Waratahs. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
The Tahs and Reds have both lost in golden point scenarios to the Drua and Hurricanes respectively; whilst the New South Welshmen also came up just short against two Kiwi sides (Blues and Highlanders) in games that they should be winning if they are to have stronger hopes of being competitive in finals footy.
Whilst ruminating over these near-misses, it sparked a former thought that I had: that Australian rugby players simply do not play enough high-level rugby. Presuming, in a best-case scenario that a player played for the Brumbies in 2023 and remained uninjured and free from suspension, then they would have played just 16 top-level games prior to being at the whim of international selection.
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Compare that with a player in the Gallagher Premiership, United Rugby Championship or Top 14; who along with having a potential 20, 21 and 26 domestic games also then have Inter-Continental competitions to participate in, adding a minimum of four games.
Whilst over a season this difference can be reasoned away, the compounding effect of this sees scenarios where players like Marcus Smith (25 years old) has played 151 games for Harlequins and Noah Lolesio (24 years old) just 63 for the Brumbies and Toulon combined.
So that’s the problem, what is the solution? Sabbaticals.
Reds look dejected after the loss during the round two Super Rugby Pacific match between Hurricanes and Queensland Reds. (Photo by Kelly Defina/Getty Images)
Not sojourns over to Japan to top up the pension pot or regular run-outs in the Shute Shield or Hospital Cup, but actual temporary moves to the European-based leagues that can offer something significantly different to southern-hemisphere tournaments. Send the tight five to France, to upskill their set-piece game, the inside backs to England to learn the tactical kicking approaches utilised by the likes of George Ford and Owen Farrell. Outside backs, take your pick, just go somewhere where the pressure is greater, where the level of competition is higher.
The move as a medical joker to Toulon has done Noah Lolesio the world of good, he is taking the ball closer to the line, backing himself more and appears more comfortable with dictating to teammates where they should be and when.
Imagine if some of the props went over to Toulouse, La Rochelle or Bordeaux and upped their scrummaging game, honed their techniques and learned what it takes to compete with some of the biggest behemoths the rugby world has seen.
The moves could not only benefit individual players, their development and their careers; but also ailing Rugby Australia who could effectively reduce some of the outgoings for two-four months of the year, letting others pick up the tab for wages, physio, strength and conditioning, etc. Yes, it could lead to some players leaving Australian shores early, but that is happening already; and the pros vastly outweigh the cons on the grand scale.
You could also see revolutionary rugby union models that start to try and mirror the footballing world and have clubs in a wider network. The Waratahs partner up with Montpellier and Suntory Sungoliath to provide players at different points of their careers opportunities to extend themselves, whilst also remaining in touch with “home” with a view to return a better, more complete player.
The NRC isn’t coming back and the tier between club rugby and Super Rugby remains a void, so maybe, just maybe, Rugby Australia and its teams need to start thinking differently. They need to start T-CUP both on the pitch and in the boardroom.
kingplaymaker
Roar Guru
The thing is they had it just two years ago. They should start straight away next season and start to pull some of the fans backs. Even if they won't add any more teams straight away it's still better. Of course Adelaide, Western Sydney, Newcastle, Gold Coast are all lonely but persuading RA to do anything is tough.
Dusty10
Roar Rookie
Not easy, good suggestions though. Remember rugby league's Panasonic Cup? It was a relatively short pre-season comp, before the important Winfield Cup premiership games commenced. Rugby union could (and probably should) consider something similar with existing Oz Super teams and maybe a few other squads (maybe a Country NSW team, a country QLD team, an NT team etc.). There are fringe Super players who would gain experience and exposure to stronger rugby, and existing Super players get more rugby under their belts.
Muglair
Roar Rookie
That is the big hill to climb, RA has to rebuild the game so there is something they want to come back for
Jezdexter
Roar Rookie
I don't expect they'd start on 200k but if you put in 2/3 good seasons that's the sort of offer they'd get over there, and then have to compare that with what SRP teams could afford to pay them. I don't think too many would come back unfortunately. Pro D2 salary cap is 8.8mil Euros, about 14.5mil AUD. Super Rugby salary cap is 5.5mil........
Muglair
Roar Rookie
You probably would not be expecting to roll into that sort of salary at 20yo anyway. By next level down I was thinking something lower than a full time gig. Young blokes with no family do not need a big salary to survive and will be happy for the rugby and life experience I think. They would at best be playing 1st grade in their home town so are not on big money before they go.
kingplaymaker
Roar Guru
There are some pre-season trials which could be made into games but there aren't that many available and it might not make that much difference (could be started in New Zealand first for temperature). So the question would be whether to continue it through the European tours at the end of the season. That is basically what they do in Europe, while they're fighting for their finals. An argument for it is that it affects all the strongest teams relatively equally, as they will all lose internationals at the same time. In terms of recent set-ups, if there were a Super rugby AU + AO as well as Super rugby trans-tasman then that final could happen before the tours, to give the winner a guaranteed spot in the finals later and mean the final matches (which would be trans-tasman) weren't the only way to win that part of it (assuming the winners of Super rugby AU + AO were guarantee a trans-tasman semi-final spot). But it's true that none of these options are easy. Having said that, the season's so short now and a ton of money is lost by stopping the whole of Super rugby for these touring internationals.
Jezdexter
Roar Rookie
I was thinking, how would the younger players afford to move to France and live there on the base salary of the lower comp. Well Pro D2 has higher salary caps than SRP and pay their average player more. Win win for the young guys, rack up the early cash and the experience to bring back..... But also shows a real problem for SRP because if you're earning 200k in Pro D2 why would you sign for the Tahs on 100k?
whistleblower (retired)
Roar Rookie
"Send the tight five to France, to upskill their set-piece game, the inside backs to England to learn the tactical kicking approaches utilised by the likes of George Ford and Owen Farrell." The rhetoric is nice but a) NH teams have their own need to develop players. and b) France in particular have strict rule on how many non-French players each club can have. I suspect all French clubs are now fully topped up with overseas players. No, something needs to be done locally.
Gary Russell-Sharam
Roar Rookie
Agree FF
Gary Russell-Sharam
Roar Rookie
I have extreme doubt that our players would walk into any of the top sides, and there lies the problem. It is alright theorising this type of thing but in reality I do not think it would work. In saying that I agree with your assessment of super rugby it is far too short a season and the players do not play long enough at all. I believe that a higher club competition is required. I have and have others on this site put forward ideas for a club competition with clubs from most states competing as per the league does at the moment. It will take some braveness to do this but due to the present state of super rugby getting crowds of maximum 14 to 16 thousand at large venues that have a capacity of 40+thousand and perhaps running at a loss, I think that change is inevitable. If something is not done Rugby will wither and die as a sport in Australia. For all you people that are too young to imagine rugby without Super rugby. We had a great competition going in clubland in Brisbane Sydney and Canberra. Why cannot this be expanded on and with private backing of clubs, you then create a sustainable competition. By all means have your state champs at the end or do it like SOO and that would then go towards selections for the Wallabies. We have got to start somewhere the present competition is not sustainable in its current form.
Dualcode
Roar Rookie
Sabbaticals does seem the way forward as seen with Noah Lolesio when he went to Europe, heck even a "Champions Cup" with L1 Japan would make things interesting for Super Rugby. Kiwi players tend to become better versions of themselves when they return from sabbaticals, so it may help upcoming Aussie players IMO.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Yeah for non-internationals that's the issue. Logistically it's a problem though. To work you have to say internationals will miss some games. That's fine too. The problem is starting earlier really isn't feasible. it's already creeping into summer and if you start too early, internationals from the spring tour miss the start. That itself isn't a problem but you also need them to miss up to 9 games due to internationals. Where the problem comes in is that the internationals are going to occur now at the business end of the season. You can't have a comp where teams are fighting for finals and playing finals missing their best players.
Billy Boy
Roar Rookie
Good idea NP and agree the NRC is long gone. Agree the OZ SR clubs should partner with some of the NH clubs and look at player swaps during their respective season. It would be one way to make sure the SR teams have sufficient depth
southcoastboy
Roar Rookie
Really like the idea. Lots to sort out, of course, but the principle is sound. Be interesting to see if RA has the gumption (or the intelligence) to start looking at how something along these lines may work.
JD Kiwi
Roar Rookie
South Africa don't need to because the URC lasts all season. As long as there's no NRC and the SR season remains short Australia has this problem. The only question is whether NH teams would want someone just for the first part of their season.
kingplaymaker
Roar Guru
There's also the issue of international players and non-internationals. A full international season and Super rugby is a reasonable amount, but for the Super players who don't play international rugby the season is extremely short. The first stage is to lengthen it at the front or back or both.
In From The Side
Roar Rookie
Mate that’s certainly a better option than some of the ideas on here. I agree the dream of NPC is long gone, there is no support for this at RA, no way of paying for it and far too much focus on the club games which will never provide enough for higher level development. The risk of course is that they start liking it over there, demonstrate they’re good and then don’t come back. However, I think there are ways that could mitigate this and it is certainly something that has merit. My biggest issue is that while it helps the players, it doesn’t help the development of coaches. Unfortunately most coaches are older and with families so it’s a lot harder to get them overseas for their development and without developing the coaches we will always struggle with unskilled players.
Footy Franks
Roar Rookie
Yeah I don’t get how RA can pay the players so much with no spectators. Surely this idea of linking up with Euro clubs and sending players overseas is a no brainer but whether as Derek said their is the demand for Oz players, I assume it would be like 5-10 players. I still think a 20 team domestic comp is the way to go.
Muglair
Roar Rookie
I think they need to go younger and play next level down, as preparation for becoming a SR player.
Freddo
Roar Rookie
Good thoughts. Do the Sth Africans have anything similar? I know they play in Europe/UK a lot.