This year has definitely been an improvement for the Australian sides. However, the Kiwis have lost a lot of All Blacks to overseas post RWC. Next year there are a lot of good Australian players going overseas, so the Super Rugby franchises will be weakened. I don’t think Australian sides, as a whole, will build on from this season.
The Waratahs have had a terrible season. Early on, there were games they could of, should of, won, but didn’t. This would have them higher up the ladder. Also, maybe there would been very different results if they didn’t have so many injuries in the front row. In any regards, the Waratahs will arguably have a weaker team next year and will be hoping injuries will not be an issue again.

Christy, this is almost a rinse and repeat article. You have outlined issues that have been on going theme for Australian rugby. RA have been bailing water out of the Super Rugby ship for to long. It is time to jump ship and create a new vessle to carry the game forward in Australia.
The Waratahs are a worry. Next year they are going to be significantly worse. I can’t see them getting their 2 wins from the Crusaders next year.
I hope the cash injection from the Lions tour and the Rugby World Cup is as much as, or more than, what RA has budget for. Perhaps that is the time where RA can make meaningful change. In the meantime, RA needs to put together the strongest Wallabies team possible make the Lion tour competitive, and to perform well in the home world cup.

Yeah, I know. One would hope that one day RA will be able to run something that can make a profit.

I love watching 7s rugby. This is includes the women also. Great stuff.
I would love to see more of it here in Australia. It amazes me there isn’t a domestic competition. Would it be great if there was a national rugby sevens series played over the summer. It could have several tournaments across November to February. It would literally be rugby’s answer to crickets big bash.

I hear what you are saying about a 3rd tier competition doesn’t get the interest. However, the ARC and the NRC never had Australia’s top 30 to 40 players. I think such a competition should start with 8 teams with the view to increase it to 10 in the medium term.
I think a domestic competition would have some fast initial growth. I believe it would be more valuable to a broadcaster as there is more content than SR rugby can provide which is engaging to the Australian public. It also provides greater opportunity and pathways for players. This will have more people playing and less going overseas for opportunity. There will also be more marquay player contracts with 8 or 10 teams than with 5.

Thanks for the great summary of RA’s financial situation, and some good suggestions for change that may make the difference for rugby’s future fortunes.
I’m all for scraping Super Rugby and replace it with a national domestic competition. I like the State of Origin idea as well.
When I first heard the idea about playing through out the summer, I didn’t think it was a great idea. After thinking about it there is a lot of positives. A lot of positives. The obvious negative is the heat. However, it is very common to start games at 8pm, so that can assist with the heat. Also during summer school holidays mid-week games can work.
I always thought an Australian Sevens Rugby Series would be a great thing. It could have a similar format to the HSBC SVNS. I would have thought summer to be the ideal time. If Australia could manage 16 teams across 4 pools with play-offs for 1st to 15th, and 5 or 6 tournaments across spring and summer, this could be a greater revenue maker, a good promotion for rugby in general, and create a massive competitive advantage for the 7s national teams. If it takes off, it could become 7s rugby’s answer to crickets IPL.

I heard France did poorly out of the RWC because it was run poorly. Australia have a great reputation of putting on events. However, this doesn’t mean it is a given for RA.

NRL can’t act in the best interests of rugby union as it would not be acting in the best interests of the NRL. I don’t think this scenario is possible.

I find it interesting there isn’t an obvious pathway to the Australian 7’s team. There isn’t a Sevens competition to select players from. How is the team even selected? It seems it basically just people putting their hand up? Please excuse my ignorance, but I can only find competitions for women.

I would have though Sevens rugby would have been a great product to engage the Australian public. CA have the T20 Big Bash. RA could create their own 7s series for the summer to complement it. There could be several tournaments beginning in November through to the end of January. Each capital city can host a tournament. Maybe, once the concept gets legs, regional areas such as Townsville, Newcastle, Gold Coast, ect. could host as well. Tournaments could be played on the weekends when there isn’t a cricket test on.
To have a series of touraments, it would make sense to have 16 teams. That way there can be quarter finals at the bottom of the draw as well, and play-offs for places from 1st to 16th.
With 16 teams across Australia it can create rivalries and test the market’s appetite for a 15s team in national domestic competition, if Super Rugby is eventually dropped.
I know, regardless if this is a good idea or not, it will require something that RA doesn’t have, MONEY. I guess it requires a broadcaster to take a chance to back a concept.

RA want to select the Wallabies from the Super Rugby teams in order entice players to stay in Super Rugby and maintain the integrity of the Super Rugby competition. This strategy is failing. Super Rugby is failing. They will keep flogging this dead horse until there is no horse to flog no more.

To determine if he is value for money will depends on how much money he offers and accepts.

Regardless of the limits placed on selecting overseas players in the Wallabies squad, Rugby can’t continue with only 5 professional teams and hope to lift its profile in the national sporting landscape. Rugby is not the No. 1 national sport in any country apart from New Zealand. Even then, the current competition format is not ideal for them. I don’t think Rugby Australia needs to look abroad to determine what is best for rugby in Australia. It just needs to examine what is successful in it own backyard. That is, take its learnings from the AFL and NRL.

I’m not sure scraping the Giteau law is what you are advocating, as scraping it would mean not selecting any Australians overseas. Expanding the Giteau Law, or removing the limit on selecting overseas players would be more precise.

I’m all for it. RA will not have an opportunity like has the next several years for a very long time. It needs to make hay while the sun shines. Rugby in Australia is not strong enough for the Wallabies to go into battle with an arm tied behind its back. It needs all its talent. The Wallabies need to put up a good show against the Lions next year, and be a real contender at its home RWC. I don’t think they can risk not picking their best possible team. I don’t think there will be a significant increase of Australian players switching overseas. There isn’t a limitless amount of places for then to fill.

The Waratahs have been in most games this year. They have failed to finish games well and let the opponent come up with the win. They almost did it again. If that last conversation was delayed another few seconds, it was another Waratah loss. How the Tahs got to golden point and were able to win was impressive. I feel the Tahs can use this as a turning point in their season. They can feed off it and create belief.

You can’t fault a guy for putting himself out there and having ago. Having aspirations is not an indication of arrogants. It isn’t his fault he has been given an opportunity at the Force, and it is not his fault if somehow he is selected for the Wallabies.
For Beale to be selected for the Wallabies he would have to be playing exceptionally well. I would assume he would have to outperform his younger opposition for a jersey by a large margin to be a chance with Schmidt. Like you, I don’t see this occuring.

I think RA are not in to position to take a risk by paying on a league player’s potential. RA need to be disciplined and offer player contracts on merit. They have to offer him a contact like any other fringe Super Rugby player. They can add performance bonuses which can elevate his salary to the level of a Fraser McReight or Bobby Valetini if he gets game time for the Wallabies.
I think it is about putting the risk back on the player. It shouldn’t be rugby taking a chance on Critchton, but Critchton taking a chance on rugby. If he can’t back himself then how can anyone else?

I think 2 wins from 25 games was an all time low.

I feel it is throwing the baby out with the bath water. After it is all done, they will turn up to the office on the Monday and they will not know where to turn the lights on.

It was culled because Australian teams were not able to beat New Zealand teams. Super Rugby Pacific was somehow going to make a difference. Also, they wanted to introduce Fiji and Moana Pacific’s. They probably had designs to include a Hawaii team in the future at that point.

It will be great experience to play NH teams, however, it is only every 4 years and only for a few Australian teams, if lucky. It’s probably not frequent enough to be any significant value. Perhaps the Australian SR teams could have a short tour on NH each year. They could play trial matches against various clubs up there. That would be some valuable experience.

This is a situation. We are discussing the prospect of having a domestic competition to replace Super Rugby. This is no likely to happen. RA have not communicated this as an option they are considering. Regardless, everyone is making suggestions as how they think the said competition should be run, etc.. You are saying, expansion will not work with Rugby as they have failed in the past and they will not change it ways due to underlying conflicts of interests. If, in your hypothetical future domestic competition RA have not changed their ways, they are not going to pursue moving away from Super Rugby either. So debating if they have to ability successfully expand a hypothetical competition is mute point as your premise is they can change and therefore there will not be domestic competition anyway.

Andy, that’s not evidence. It’s just an assumption made to try to explain something. Why is it phenomena unique to SR? It isn’t the case in other sports. Why are the Waratahs performing so poorly in recent years?
Even if your theory is true, it’s not something that can’t be remedied.

I don’t think you need to name a team NSW Country or QLD country. Just include Newcastle, which would represent everything north of Sydney. Canberra pretty much has everything south of Sydney. Just as Penrith Panthers do, Western Sydney can represent everyone west of Sydney.

Well if there isn’t a Super Rugby Pacific competition to play in then Fiji may have to make a compromise.

Why would you put a team is Bathurst or Orange? They definately do not have the population to support such a team. It doesn’t make any sense.