After looking at all the comments it is refreshing to see the majority agree in principle that the RA board has had its day. My question is how do you remove declyne & co. I assume it will need a request a vote of no confidence in their leadership and restructure the voting powers to allow a equal vote system for each state. If this possible in our lifetime or are we just wishing for a miracle to happen.

Stronger as Four + Japan yeh ??? Nah.

After playing fullback I say that Folau has his best position on the wing using his height to catch a “Garry Owen”. His kicking is Minus for touch/drop kick or converting , positional skills in defense goes missing. DHP for me thanks.

Pleased to see that someone believes in communication to solve problems. However RA do not have a good record for being transparent and having good dialogue with their employees. Western Force had the silent treatment because it did not fit the boards inclusion to please SANZAAR. A third neutral party such as Nick Farr Jones would be a good mediator who would look at both sides of this blown out situation and find some common ground. IMO Folau should serve a suspension for not adhering to the code of conduct but no fine he has suffered enough.

This article has skipped around the small improvements of success for the remaining 4 Australian teams. The real facts and results that need to be looked at are the true attendance figure’s not only in Australia but across SANZAAR. Even blind Freddie can see that a major hit on purse strings and most importantly interest in the game has declined.

Thanks to the ARU/RA generous removal of the salary cap. The Rebels have a full squad that needs a run. Meanwhile the Western Force will again knock up a team that will give 100% and hopefully will repeat the victory of 2017.

Pleased to see someone is getting closer to the bigger problems that the RA were hoping to dissolve once the teams had reduced to 4.The live crowds are no better even worse than last year, they cannot be profitable with less than 11,000-12,000 turning up for home derby games let alone the poor turn outs in SA, Japan & Argentina.
The great success of Pulver to get such a great deal from Foxtel is bitting back with crowds not turning up for live games and makes no difference if there were 4 or 5 teams in Australia. It will only get worse when AFL etc start up and reduce numbers especially in Melbourne.

What was the crowd attendance for this game?

Time will tell if the Rebels can achieve anything especially filling the AAMI park with a season long attendance.

The Force really supported you during your time in the West. We understand you statement but you are at least 6 months out of date. It would of been more productive if you could of raised enough emotion to make RUPU strike for their fellow players instead of sticking their heads in the sand .

If Brett Gosper is having discussions with Raelene Castle this week, prior to her visit to WA. This is no accident and hopefully World Rugby tells the RA that they are wanting a positive move made to approve IPRC a.s.a.p.

“Players union boss Ross Xenos has foreshadowed the possibility of the Western Force returning to a revamped Super Rugby competition in 2021.Playing more games in our time-zone and against teams which our fan base has tribalism with is an important part of any future decision-making.”
Lets get this straight, RUPA did nothing along with ARU/RA to support the WA players during this recent destruction of the Western Force.
The reference above about our time-zone & our fan base has nothing to do with anyone outside WA in Australia. Looking forward to Twiggy bringing on the IPRC without any further involvement from the greedy selfish bastards in the Eastern States.

The top priority for all teams especially Melbourne Rebels is to increase the crowd numbers of home games. The AR have put all their eggs in one basket to make Melbourne especially, become a major Rugby Union state. Even with cheap memberships being offered they will need to double at the very least attendance figures to start showing any return on a bad investment. IMO the Melbourne sporting public will dilute the crowd numbers to the same as before.

From the opinions raised today following David’s well written account yesterday, it can be agreed that the wheels were about to fall off Super Rugby at the time of the original push for expansion by SANZAR deciding to move from 12 to 14 and then 15 teams to include the Rebels. Super 14 Rugby worked fine with the inclusion of the Western Force except for the moaning from Eastern State teams of extra travel. The advantage to the competition was that teams could play and have a break when travelling to SA from NZ for example. The last straw on the camel’s back came with the insistent demands to include the Melbourne Rebels at whatever costs by the ARU creating the Super 15 Rugby . Time will tell if by removing the Western Force from WA & basically moving the whole outfit to Victoria will bring the return on investment that the AR have gambled on, IMHO after the intial start up of the season even with cheap membership, Victoria will dilute its sporting public down to the same levels as the past.

Stuff them all should of been ARU’s attitude instead of destroying 20% of our own game namely the Western Force. The new CEO will only succeed and gain respect from the rugby fraturnity is to have the guts to replace the board especially the chairman immediately.

Hi David,
Point 1.What on Earth were Rugby Australia thinking when they were a party to changing Super Rugby from 15 to 18 teams ?
Too much international politics from World Rugby wanting Argentina & Japan for the World Cup included & South Africa using its voting powers to feather its nest to six teams.Rugby Australia should never have included Melbourne Rebels to make 5 Australian teams knowing that they were financially stretched as a conference.

Point 2.How in hell can three Wallabies vote to kick out an Australian franchise from Super Rugby?
Very good question, seems to me that the ARU board are more concerned about keeping face with SANZAAR, than carrying out their duty as quoted by Geoff Stooke, who resigned from the board.
His parting comment was right on the money: “The Australian Rugby Union is the custodian of the game of rugby in Australia, not simply the custodian of the business of rugby.”

Their must be a vote of no confidence against the past board with recommendations to replace the Chairman.

The Rebels will have to win the Australian conference to start the justification of the ARU/AR spending the millions above the Western Force. The real litmus test for the ARU/AR board and its recent decisions to cut 5 down to 4 in theory, now needs to be proven in practice and make the teams better,if they are able to beat the NZ teams. Time will tell.

Pleased for Rona to stay with Rugby Union. Only Ben McCalman (ex Force captain) to leave the sinking ship.

Ms Castle needs to build relations as the top priority. She must personally take over the Clyne dictatorship and stop the ego negativity.
Twiggy needs RA support & approval not to cause Super Rugby dilution but to allow a future for WA Rugby and growth into Asia and other untapped markets.

When Ms Castle & Twiggy meet in January it will be in her interest not to include Clyne but replace with Brett Robinson who is currently acting as deputy chairman. There is too much ego being shown by Clyne to allow a positive agreement to be found for the IPRC approval and pathway for international honours. If it is good enough for World Rugby & Asia Rugby, the new AR board must stop the rot and start growing the game.

Stop the rot ARU/RA and support the endorsement of IPRC. If it is already approved by World Rugby and Asian Rugby you should be working together to grow the game with the generous financial aid from Twiggy Forrest.

The only reason why there would be little support from the remaining franchises is due to the fact it is not in their interest to upset the status quo with larger squads and raising of salary caps being approved soon,and the old saying “I’m alright Jack”.
I am more interested in the genuine rugby union supporters whoever they represent.I want their point of view put forward to see the real feeling about the boards decisions and future of the great game in Australia as a nation..
Just remember in WA, we no longer have a Super Rugby franchise, no longer have team, no longer have coaches, no longer have admin staff, all that is left are the supporters who want to watch rugby and the grassroots who no longer have any local stars to aspire to.

I am sure he will be fully recharged for the IPRC in 2019. Along with the rest of the mighty Ex Western Force supporters.

Thank you Rob Hill for creating this discussion :The silence surrounding RugbyWA’s demise.
It is deafening the support from the remaining franchises & RUPA.
Not only has the ARU/RA thrown the bath water being the Western Force away, but the baby went too, being Rugby WA.
The state of WA is in severe threat of extinction with every level from Perth Spirit down to grassroots being targeted, due to no future vision coming from the top.
The role of national & state based bodies in encouraging greater participation in Rugby Union has failed with the current ARU/RA board and will not start on a positive road to recovery until they are replaced.
May I suggest Rob, assuming that ROAR will allow a vote of confidence against the current board, to see if it is possible to put pressure on this important matter.

Both SANZAAR & ARU have fallen for the bait of a fistful of dollars from broadcasters & minor international countries.
This may look great short term for the boards commercial bankers balance sheet, but has eaten away at the heart of the real reasons we enjoy rugby union.
The real supporters turn out at home games is now at very low levels due to high ticket costs, grossly over expensive merchandising, Foxtel making it too easy for lazy fine weather followers to sit at home & above all unattractive games with non balanced teams at crazy time zones.
Further-more the legal destruction of the Western Force by non-passionate, overpaid, individuals who as a group do not know the game they are representing, illustrates the lack of vision for the future of Australian wide representation.

Rugby WA has shown this past season in particular the way forward in many ways, high passion from improving supporter attendance, better Australian conference results finishing equal first in 2017 with games won, and solid growth in all types of men’s & women’s competitions, plus official education from excellent grassroots structure.

These fundamental equal aims and core value focus must be re-instated across the nation now, and stop hiding behind commercial confidential so called agreements, and out of date idealism that the Global international great game is only allowed to be played in the upper class eastern state heartlands of Australia.