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Rugby in Australia is often not well represented by Rugby Australia. To be Australian in Australia is often to raise one state over country.…
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The 2025 Lions will tour Australia as the Irish and British Lions. Surely half of Andy Farrell’s selections will be green. The final cuts…
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Several million rugby tourists are making their plans to be in Australia. A British and Irish Lions series kicks off only 13 Wallaby Tests…
The tenth Rugby World Cup is done. Injured players who made it back before or during the tournament did well. Replacements did, too. Following…
Imagine a man who had grown up in Despatch with Rassie Erasmus but had spent the last five years in a medically induced coma,…
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Jack Dempsey was superb in this year’s 6N. In fact, I think he was the second best No 8 in a hot field. His numbers on gainline, rucks hit, tackles, dominant involvements, and turnovers: excellent. But my point is not about trying to nail the five right ones. It’s about bringing 10 overseas guys in: the ones who get paid the most by the clubs who win the most and have the best scouts. Someone watched a video in Toulouse of Manny Meafou and immediately said: dump money on him, and he will be a French star. Someone else watched him LIVE in Melbourne and said: no. Repeat that story for about 7-8 Aussies playing Test footy but not for Australia
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
thanks for the comment. As I’ve dug more into the Irish model, and thought about how unwilling Australia’s states would be to give one state what Leinster has (or built, Leinster would say) I’ve come to think it’s going to just come down to big wins for the Wallabies to generate the buzz and the cash and the PR.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
The debate is good!
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
Thanks for commenting.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
The best players tend to get offered the most money. Some take it. Some don’t. But they get the big offers.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
😂
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
I can think of 4-5 Test quality locks who play overseas.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
Fair point, but he starts for La Rochelle in massive games and plays very well. I agree: not a natural Joe pick.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
All the best! Maybe the “keep doing what we’ve been doing” will work.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
Thanks for reading my essay and taking the time to comment.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
It’s getting squeezed and although it generates 80% of the money, it gets scraps at times. The most powerful cabal is Top 14 owners, the top of the URC, the Euro champ cup, and this is driving a Club World Cup concept which will go head to head with “friendly” Tests. We are not far from players preferring to skip most Tests except RWC. Wait. we are there.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
You can just tell Jordie Barrett is excited about playing in front of 40,000, 50,000 or 80,000 fans for Leinster against Toulouse or La Rochelle or Harlequins a bit more than a final in Hamilton.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
Cheeky alert: we can also argue Ireland picks overseas players. Several of their most important. 😂
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
Fair points.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
Razor agitating against it.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
I am convinced rugby in Australia would explode in joy and energy if the Wallabies won the Bledisloe 14-12 and 9-6 this year, took the Boks in last minute DG wins 2-0, and beat the Pumas in dour and niggly kick-fests. Huge.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
So, SA has many, many levels of comp. Schools is so robust now that TV coverage and crowds rival SRP. Varsity Cup is bigger and bigger. Currie Cup has more than one division. All of that is growing, as rugby gets more and more democratic, less elitist and sexier bc of the RWC wins. But I think you are referring to URC. The last 2 years, the in-out flux has grown less “out.” Still mostly out, but some big stars (Eben, Willie) returned.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
The Boks score a lot of tries and can produce a thriller like the QF v France. I think Aussies, even non-rugby Aussies, would have found that QF simply amazing.
For sure, Aussie rugby will have its own style, distinct from SA and likely will emulate the Irish pass-spokes-of-wheel recycle-wide-wide exit-by-foot pattern, BUT to do that, it is even MORE important to have 3 packs of Test forwards. Rather than focus on “the best domestic guy is good enough” the Boks focus on depth and if Dan McKeller or Ronan O’Gara is coaching an Aussie abroad, I am sure Laurie Fisher could coordinate on style and ruck cleaning so that one or two injuries don’t spoil the show.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
At the moment, only the Brumbies look a reasonable chance to win it and even then, it would be a huge upset to them to beat BLU or CHI or HUR in a KO for all the money. That (the thought that only one allegiance can bear fruit) seems like the feeling year after year now. The drudgery of that seems to weigh down the vibe. But the Wallabies can still pack a stadium, and I do not think they even have to win TRC: just win 3-4 Tests, build into EOYT, and come out blazing against the Lions in 2025. There is no way Joe will think he could not benefit in a 3-Test series against Ireland + England + Duhan from having an extra 6-7 NH-based Aussie forwards and a couple of brilliant backs based in Japan or wherever.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
Man, Kerevi in 2022 with Quade basically beat the Boks by their own selves.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
Fair enough. I’ve always felt the same (about SA and OZ being inapposite on rugby, largely because my life was spent in SA rugby and it can FEEL like it dominates a place like the Western Cape, where people of colour as well as the white folks are obsessed with rugby, but the truth is soccer swamps rugby in SA just like AFL/NRL does OZ). So it’s related to your point about being broke. Even WP was broke until they raised capital this year. The only union with a good balance sheet is the Bulls.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
Big push for RFU to change their limits and I think Borthwick will get a giteau-like allowance for RWC 2027.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
I deferred to the conventional wisdom, and I’ve only been to Australia twice in my life, but I do immerse myself in Aussie stuff, rugby, culture and entertainment (for some reason I’m still fathoming!) and lately I’ve just sort of decided: SRP won’t keep enough of the prospects home. Hell, it won’t even keep Jordie Barrett home.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
Combinations on defence: all 15. Keeping foes under 2 tries a match, for the most part, all hands on deck. But yes, swinging the ball wide w/o cleaners is a recipe for disaster. Ireland kicks a lot, France even more. NZ boxes clever and has amazing set pieces. There is no way around it: to win (and Joe will be pragmatic) the greatest problem is losing the ball or a turnover in the wrong spot.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
Thanks for the substantive comment. I didn’t say underperforming Wallabies should copy nobody. I wrote it is currently copying the wrong models which I doubt will work. The fealty Connacht and Ulster pay to Leinster, and the lions share the Leinster Lions get would never sit well in Australia. Copying NZ never seems to work for anyone. And French rugby is mega rich. So the only other top four team is SA: poor, terribly administered, not the most popular sport, and a winner. Not all the time, but enough to build PR and a show and money and PE.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table