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Brett McKay is one of The Roar's good news stories and has been a rugby and cricket expert for the site since July 2009. Brett is an international and Super Rugby commentator for ABC Grandstand radio, is the voice of ACT club rugby, has commentated on Under-20s Championships, Women's Uni Sevens and National Rugby Championship coverage, and has written for magazines and websites in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK. He tweets from @BMcSport.
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As the magnets continue to be shuffled around different whiteboards in different countries to work out if and how and when a resumption of professional rugby might be possible for this year, attention is also being cast forward to see if workable solutions for 2021 can also be found.
It’s felt like the target that we might never get to, but all the planets are aligning for the Australian incarnation of Super Rugby to get underway in early July.
It’s long been a ‘silver bullet’ pipedream for Australian rugby fans and even Australian rugby broadcasters, but never really given a lot of thought on the New Zealand side of any trans-Tasman thinking. But two recent developments show that this idea is edging closer and closer to reality.
Ultimately now, what’s done is done. Rugby Australia is in a messy state of flux once again, and once again the blood is on the hands of Australian rugby.
Last week’s challenge to name the best Australian, and then New Zealand and South African Super Rugby Championship XVs went down really well.
Right then, enough with the off-field power struggles and boardroom shenanigans, in these times of crisis, it’s time to return to our roots: selecting fictional teams!
There has been exactly zero subtlety about News Corp’s approach to the current round of Australian rugby broadcast rights, but the length and breadth of their concerted assault genuinely fascinates me.
So how are we all coping during this unfortunate but necessary time of complete sporting shutdown?
I’ve said it a little bit over the last week, but these here really are crazy times.
You all thought we wouldn’t be around this week, didn’t you? But not even the small matter of there being no games was going to stop the panel coming together!
I’m not going to lie. When I sat down to write this column, I will openly admit that I really didn’t know what I was going to write about. Or what I could write about.
Alright, this is the week. I knew it was coming, and I’m still not comfortable about it all. I actually feel a bit dirty.
Holding a narrow 14-13 lead as they ran into the sheds for halftime, I was happy enough to give the Waratahs the benefit of the doubt and call the one-point margin a reasonable reflection of the first forty minutes against the Chiefs in Wollongong on Friday night.
SANZAAR are often a very easy target when it comes to criticism of Super Rugby.
Hard to believe, in the first week of March, that we’ve already had a full month’s worth of Super Rugby, but here we are heading into Round 6.
Well, I laid out the possibility of a Blues win in my sure thing last week, and sure enough, the smurf-looking sods from Auckland got me good.
A couple of weeks ago, after the Brumbies had beaten the Queensland Reds to kick off the 2020 Super Rugby season on the last weekend in January, I found myself in my usual post-match mode.
Just the six games this weekend, but who needs full rounds of seven games anyway? People are time poor, these days! It’s all 140 characters and the here and now!
Wherever you stand on whether the National Rugby Championship should remain in 2021 and beyond, and how feasible the idea of a national club competition is, one thing I’m genuinely happy about is that we’re having the conversation in the first place.
The really concerning part about Round 3 is that it looks a genuinely tough round. Maybe only one game that looks relatively easy to pick.
I’m way late to this, but nevertheless amused.
Listing those three examples wasn’t an attempt to ridicule Andrew Forrest or the Minderoo Foundation; merely illustrating for JD’s question above that all is often not what it seems when it comes to his public announcements.
This isn’t even a criticism. Andrew Forrest is very clearly a smart man and very obviously one of the best negotiators in Australia. And good luck to him. Minderoo have in fact led the way in helping the South Coast of NSW get on with bushfire recovery when government assistance has become woefully slow-moving.
So it was entirely unsurprising to see you somehow take issue with all this, Barry. You’ve been quick to presume to know my motivations and how I think in the past, even failing to take in little details like context and common knowledge. I still have no idea why you have this beef you do – you won’t answer the question – but you do and have done on all of my recent columns.
But, you know, whatever floats your boat. And I reckon the fact you won’t address me by name or reply to my posts says plenty about you, too…
SANZAAR fighting a losing Super Rugby battle on two fronts
It’s not that he’s unsuitable JD, it’s just that it’s very rare that anything he does (or gets headlines for) is out of the goodness of his heart, or is as generous as it seems.
– his offer to RA (~$50M) wasn’t a cheque to RA, but instead the ongoing running of the Western Force (subject to annual RA grants per the other states) + ~5M/year to the Australian Rugby Foundation, for use developing the game.
– his huge donation at the start of the year to bushfire relief sounded fantastic, except that something like 75% of the amount was going to his own foundation to fund research into bushfire recovery and climate change.
– even his very recent announcement that he’d secured $330M worth of PPE from China came with the very significant asterisk in the fine print that the Australian Government would reimburse the cost!
I have no doubt he loves rugby, none. But nor is he the grand humanitarian that he’s often made out to be. There are always conditions attached..
SANZAAR fighting a losing Super Rugby battle on two fronts
Enever was injured, yes, and so was Brown earlier in the season – he nicked home early in the shutdown, and thus has only just able to rejoin training after quarantine this week. Believe he’s back to full fitness now..
Reds trio refuse to take pay cut, stood down by QRU
Right, this is your basis for claiming the offer was $70M? And that I’m wrong in bringing it back to the widely reported figure ‘upwards of $50M’??
That’ll do me…
SANZAAR fighting a losing Super Rugby battle on two fronts
I can’t answer either of those questions sorry, Hazel, though I do believe the Cheetahs and Kings have been home in South Africa for some time..
SANZAAR fighting a losing Super Rugby battle on two fronts
I can’t speak for the advice. But it does seem an odd decision they’ve made, when all their colleagues accepted the cut..
SANZAAR fighting a losing Super Rugby battle on two fronts
Sorry, what have I got wrong?
SANZAAR fighting a losing Super Rugby battle on two fronts
No, not in Australia either, mate. The Rebels was the first instance of private involvement, and it’s fair to say that’s not gone well to date..
SANZAAR fighting a losing Super Rugby battle on two fronts
Nah, let’s not worry about a trivial $20 Million.
Or the trivial conditions that were applied to the offer.
Of that Andrew Forrest doing some good work in WA for the last few seasons doesn’t change my point, that no rugby-mad tycoon has stepped forward to bankroll Super Rugby in any of the three major countries over the last 25 years.
(And save yourself replying “But Twiggy did”. He just didn’t.)
SANZAAR fighting a losing Super Rugby battle on two fronts
The offer was never $70 Million, JSJ. But you’ve been told this before… 🙄
SANZAAR fighting a losing Super Rugby battle on two fronts
Professional teams like Panasonic etc would annihilate club teams!
I like that you’re thinking of ideas, I do. But this is too much..
SANZAAR fighting a losing Super Rugby battle on two fronts
Maybe it would Ferret, but not if the cost of the move costs more again. Moving to NZ or South Africa isn’t like changing buildings, or moving to a different suburb. You can’t hire a truck to move to Auckland..
SANZAAR fighting a losing Super Rugby battle on two fronts
Again Don, I actually don’t care how we’ve got here, and I’m sure the QRU aren’t blameless.
I’m also sure there would be other Reds players coming off contract – and without any offer on the table, never mind an RA offer – that have accepted cuts. What are they thinking about teammates placing themselves above the rest?
SANZAAR fighting a losing Super Rugby battle on two fronts
You’ve got Japanese Top League sides “qualify for australias nrc” ?!?
SANZAAR fighting a losing Super Rugby battle on two fronts
I have still got it, Highlander –
The interview aired on Fox Sports News over the weekend and yesterday, though I’m not sure of its origin. Either way, Jantjies was asked his thoughts on all the discussion around South Africa leaving Super Rugby:
“I wouldn’t like that, to be honest.
“I love Super Rugby. Australia, New Zealand, South Africa… Argentina joined us, Japan I think next year. (I presume he means The Rugby Championship here..)
“It’s really a quality competition to have Super Rugby. It’s the best for us and it brings the best out of South Africans, it brings the best out of New Zealanders and Australians. We measure ourselves against the best and we feel that we’ve definitely got the four best nations in world rugby playing in one competition.
“So I feel personally that we need to look at keeping the competition instead of going up north, because what is going to happen in the south?
“There would still have to be teams that travel. What are you going to have, teams travelling and then staying longer, if for example you play in the UK? Then you would have to do it like the Kings and the Cheetahs, where they were spending two or three month overseas and a few months in South Africa.
“I don’t see that working for us, personally. We’ve got more Unions, we’ve still got families to look after and we still want to be at home. People in South Africa still want to see rugby.”
SANZAAR fighting a losing Super Rugby battle on two fronts
That’s actually a really good analogy, RahRah..
SANZAAR fighting a losing Super Rugby battle on two fronts
Correct. Though what I mean by ‘partners’ is more along the line of production partners and telcos who could provide a platform to operate from..
SANZAAR fighting a losing Super Rugby battle on two fronts
Likewise Don, forgive me for being sceptical about second- and third-hand info you’ve heard in discussions with mates!
I don’t even really care where the truth lies, if I’m honest.
What I am saying though is that we have a pretty obvious case of players who aren’t waiting to see what the future holds, they’ve decided to look after themselves now..
SANZAAR fighting a losing Super Rugby battle on two fronts
I’d have thought that Harry, yet they’ve done an awfully good job of hiding their interest for 25 years!
SANZAAR fighting a losing Super Rugby battle on two fronts
Charlie, you seem to be assuming the national director of rugby, the person charged with signing players and coaches, isn’t being given full disclosure!
SANZAAR fighting a losing Super Rugby battle on two fronts
Woodart, when I haven’t written about competition formats, and comments seem to think I have, It’s not me that’s behind the play.
Also, I mentioned new expanded NZ comps all last week. But thanks for the tip…
SANZAAR fighting a losing Super Rugby battle on two fronts
You seem very sure about what reads as very speculative, Don.
When the national director of rugby talks about the three players fitting into the plan going forward, and the state admits to being disappointed the players and their manager have gone down a road no other players have gone down, if there’s any disconnect there, it doesn’t sound like a state and federal issue to me…
SANZAAR fighting a losing Super Rugby battle on two fronts
So painstakingly clear, yet there’s way too many jumbled thought bubbles there for me, Jaeger…
SANZAAR fighting a losing Super Rugby battle on two fronts
The Brumbies too, have had a relationship with Suntory for many years. Includes reciprocal coaching study tours and resources, paved the way for Peter Hewat to return to Australia..
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