Not sure whether the rugby 12s will actually take off & personally don’t think rugby needs it. Currently rugby has apart from club rugby & various annual Tests, it has 15s World Cup, 7s World Cup, the 7s annual World Series, 7s Commonwealth Games, 7s Olympics, Wheelchair rugby in the Paralympics. Plus there are 10s tournaments here & there. They are also introducing in 2023 a global calendar of tournaments for women’s international rugby.
So really not sure how it will fit into the annual calendar. But will say it has some heavy hitters trying to get it off the ground and with most sport if there is enough money – who knows what will happen.

Obviously any format in the future will be driven primarily by the $$$, which is fair enough.
Quite like seeing all the teams in the one country but with 4 countries it means there would be a big gap in the rotation. Maybe rather than holding it in 1 country, have it in 2 countries each year. Will probably find in due course the issue of reducing air travel will becoming a bit of a focus – cost, player welfare & throw in climate change..

Agreed.
With the Giteau law, again be up front – we understand the issues with players going overseas, it is one of the benefits of playing rugby and we would like to access them for the Wallabies. But at the same time we have a highly competitive footy market in Australia with NRL, AFL, A League, we believe we need a strong domestic competition for our fans and the broadcasters.
It is a very complicated issue with a lot of ramifications for rugby in Australia as a result we haven’t come to a decision as yet. We continue to assess the options.
I’m fine with that.

How do you measure intent? How do you measure ‘inadvertently? How do you measure an injury? This result just seems to have complicated things. All seems to have become more subjective, which isn’t a good outcome.

I understand it’s a tough gig running rugby in Australia, there are lots of moving parts and inevitably compromises need to be made, but I would really like a bit more of transparency.
When decisions are made that don’t seem to align with strong supporters views eg NRC, Super Rugby AU, explain why, if the answer is they don’t have the funds, just say that.
With the Super Rugby Pacific format, just say from a broadcasters’ perspective & commercially it’s the best option. Similarly with the women’s game, 7s etc don’t PR spin it just be upfront ‘we can’t afford it’– I won’t be happy about it but will accept that.

The Wallabies seem to be lacking composure and also slow to recognise opportunities & then react. This is probably due to a combination of lack of experience and lack of footy smarts. The backline always looks unsure & at times is going through set plays, there is no natural flow.
Not exciting but I would put Hodge at 15 whether Noah or JOC is at the 10. Noah needs a confident voice from the back and I wonder if JOC plays whether he will kick goals, so Hodge would have to.

No idea what the solution is. Agree playing NZ so regularly is a tough & disheartening gig, just not sure what the real options are.
Hate to say it but maybe it’s not possible to fully revitalise rugby in Australia to the old days. Unfortunately, I think the biggest & most significant issue is we don’t have any $$$ ie we are broke, this impacts everything – 7s, NRC, women’s rugby, development officers, Australia A tours. Look at Cricket Australia, they have the $$$ to fund the Sheffield Shield to develop & pay players well without getting any financial return or audience in running it.
Rugby AU is just hanging in there which is sad for the players and the fans.

Agree Allana has been terrific.
It was just good to see Stan/ Ch9 have a female rugby women player on. Unfortunately there aren’t any Wallaroos games so it is an opportunity to develop the profiles & use some of the 15s players, especially with the World Cup on next year – get the fans better engaged.

Sometimes we just have to take a breathe & have some perspective – the Kiwis are a very good side & have a lot of depth and unfortunately we aren’t up to that standard. It looks even worse having to play them so often. In saying even with that realistic perspective it is painful.
And yes the sun will rise again tomorrow.

Disappointed again, yep. Would I make changes, yep. Will we struggle against Sth Africa, yep.
I reconcile all this angst with the fact we are getting international rugby on pur shores.
Also it was great to see good crowd – no doubt there has been some valuable goodwill with the Wallabies in WA for the last few weeks.

On the flip side to SBW how good was it to see Sera Naiqama debut on the panel, about time Stan got a rugby 15s player on board, she was a quality addition.

You may well be right – sometimes I really wonder how a full time player can’t execute some skills.
With the Super Rugby teams (eg Tahs) and Wallabies whilst I would like them to be winning all the time I know that’s not going to happen but so long as the games I watch are competitive even with the the occasional blow out, I will enjoy it.
Commercially for Rugby AU it must be a concern, I know we have gone to a lot less Oz v NZ games over the last 10 yrs.

It would be a bit of fun to see Quade getting a run, although not great for long term team development but may jag a win which would be good for team morale. It is probably a covid issue also because with JOC being injured longer than expected we could only add players from QLD to the squad. So it is just a odd year. I’m just pleased we get to see some international rugby in the current environment irrespective of who we play in the team.

It is a complex issue from a sport growth, strategic & commercial perspective and some how finding the balance. Unfortunately having 5 teams may well be ok if we weren’t constantly being compared to NZ teams. Also I think we need to have 5 teams to have a national foot print when there is NRL/AFL in the country competing for talent.

I guess that is a fair call by Read and he is probably close to correct in regards to the NZ win rate next Super Rugby season. Although am pretty sure the Australian teams are trying to step up and improve, they just aren’t currently good enough.

I guess change is always possible but I can’t see things changing too much in Australia. AFL is way ahead financially, strategically & with fan engagement compared to any of the other footy codes and that won’t change in the next 50 years. They will become domestically the number 1 footy code for women in the next 10 years. So rugby has to leverage the international aspect as the differentiator
In my opinion from an international perspective the eyeball focus should be on developing USA/ Canada, a combined population 350-400M, that’s the real opportunity. Again it won’t ever compete with NFL. MLB, NBA, NHL but it doesn’t need to.

While it pains me greatly to agree with Hansen (& I will deny it in the future) , have to admit I didn’t watch the Sth Africa/Lions games as the feedback was it was boring. In saying that South Africa rugby doesn’t have to be entertaining they have no other code to compete with, they are happy to win no matter how. Similarly the Lions probably had the same attitude, just win for the record books. To get deep, the never ending question in life is ‘Do we have a greater responsibility than self?’

This is a great click bait headline, got me to read it, kicking myself a bit now.
I will say Australian rugby is unfortunately in a very unique position having to compete with the NRL/AFL, so it has to be entertaining to get the casual supporter on board. That is never going to change, it is just what it is. While in South Africa there is no competition so winning is all that matters no matter how it is achieved.
In terms of talent being lost to the NRL again it is what it is, it will not change there are more NRL team opportunities & more $$, so many will go to League.

Hope you are right that there will continue to be juniors.
And yes I have noted Eastwood heading out to the Hills district, probably a smart idea.

Really enjoyed the article, have no idea of the solution.
Shute Shield clubs are pretty much self centric, which is good and bad – the good is that it makes it very tribal, the bad it doesn’t look at the bigger picture ie the greater good of rugby in Sydney or NSW. In some ways subbies is what Shute Shield was decades ago, now Shute Shield isn’t sure what it is.
As someone has mentioned the loss of Penrith will have real long term issues, the rugby juniors in the area were probably encouraged to play by their family, they wont to do the same for their kids, so a whole generation of not just players but supporters for the future will be lost.

Also interesting, Parramatta in the NRL, lots of players, lots of money, quality players, coaches but have been middle of the table for years, no premiership since ’86.

Fingers crossed – this is good news. Just like the France series I’m just happy that we get more international rugby in Australia, so hoping it all comes together. As for times, venues, dales, scedule etc, it doesn’t bother me in the least, it will be just great to get games.

Have to admit I’m a bit bored of playing NZ so often, made worse by losing so often. It just seems not as special or as important as it once did.
In saying that commercially & geographically we don’t have a choice.
I will still watch, but the pity is some of the enjoyment has gone.

It is the classic just because you work with someone, doesn’t mean you have to like them. The NZ/ OZ relationship at the management level is now purely a business arrangement that is needed to deliver financial objectives to support & grow the game.
There probably wasn’t any trust anyway, it has just now become very public. There will be warm and fuzzy statements in due course but the reality is, it is unlikely there will be a trusted relationship in the future between NZ/OZ. In saying that from a commercial /geographical perspective they still have to work together & they will.

Initial thought, it hasn’t won me over at all – not sure what is a better option but this isn’t for me but I’m just 1 person. I do know my viewing dropped significantly when the Super Rugby TT started. I assume Stan is keen on this format and they are dishing out the $$$, which is fine.

There are some significant underlying issues between Australia and NZ rugby and Covid has brought them more to the surface. This (and other recent issues) probably highlights that professional rugby should be recogised basically just as a business. Some of the values/ principles we have long enjoyed about rugby are probably no longer applicable at the professional level. Disappointing but probably reality.

In the end it just comes down to respect. Maybe NZ rugby needs to learn a bit about humility and respect from their national cricket team, highly respected by all.