Aussie Pro Rugby
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Where does Australia go from here,This is going to hurt the game massively in Australia.
We need them to be better, really we are playing a tier 2 nation with a top team ranked 10th now as our main playing partner,With weak SR teams and a eroding player base.This could bring us down even more.
We need to get the Argies back in and grow the Japanese relationship quick smart.
Is Fiji our main rival in the pacific out side of SA . -
Sadly I think it’s now Aussie “rugby”
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@Chris maybe we really need to look internally at improving our competitions, and given there was talk of tours to SA as well, that could be to spark needed.
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@taniwharugby said in Aussie Rugby:
@Chris maybe we really need to look internally at improving our competitions, and given there was talk of tours to SA as well, that could be to spark needed.
Yeah those SA tours will be brilliant,I think you are right about internally growing add another SR team from NZ,As it seems NPC is not the answer according to the NZR.
Add a Japanese and Argie team,Drua are going well,Look to grow into the USA.
force Australia to drop at least one team. -
@sparky said in Aussie Rugby:
@Chris Let more NZ players play in European club Rugby and in Japan. It’s worked for South Africa.
I understand what you are saying,But I think it will stuff our competitions.
It would be shit having our best 30 players only playing at home 3 or 4 times a year in test matches.
It would I think hurt our development underneath the ABs doing that. -
@Chris said in Aussie Rugby:
@sparky said in Aussie Rugby:
@Chris Let more NZ players play in European club Rugby and in Japan. It’s worked for South Africa.
I understand what you are saying,But I think it will stuff our competitions.
It would be shit having our best 30 players only playing at home 3 or 4 times a year in test matches.
It would I think hurt our development underneath the ABs doing that.My feeling is that we could do it if if were in sanctioned competitions such as a pro comp with Japanese teams.
All Blacks (perhaps after a certain number of caps) could play in that comp and still be available.
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@KiwiMurph said in Aussie Rugby:
@gt12 not sure how ABs playing in a Japanese comp is going to help prepare for test rugby vs Europe and the Saffas.....
Me neither to be honest, but it doesn't seem to be hurting the SA players who are playing there.
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This morning felt like rock bottom for Australian rugby, it really did. And unfortunately for NZ, we are intrinsically tied to them.
There is significant danger that what we are seeing now is not a temporary blip, but the beginning of the end for the code as a serious force.
Everyone knows the current format is not working for them, and interest is at an all-time low. The problem is, what next? The ARU are broke, and it's already a case of community rugby paying up to fund the elite level, rather than the other way around. The two big football codes go from strength to strength, hoover up more fans and more resources, and spend heaps on development pathways. Rugby is two decades behind in this, and catch up is really hard to do.A little over 2 decades ago rugby was flying here. Wallabies were the World Cup holders, we had the Lions series that almost single-handedly re-vamped the concept. The 2003 world cup was one of the best ever. Since then a series of shithouse decisions has been made by i cavalcade of either Sydney investment bankers, or dangerously under-qualified old boys has reduced the code to it's current state, broke, hidden behind a streaming service, best players overseas, and no interest.
And we are slowly getting fucked because of it. Our super rugby teams are getting soft feeding on easy kills for half of the comp. Our skills are deteriorating because we don't need them more then 3 times a season. The Bledisloe lost its shine a decade ago. Super Rugby is going with it. And our major partner is staring down the barrell of irrelevance.
A big issue is, what is probably best for NZ is Australia do nothing, and just continue on the same path. Because the alternatives are a national reset, a process that would take a decade at least, and just further erode our only competition, or they just pack it in all together and leave us with nothing.
Huge danger signs for NZ rugby.
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@mariner4life said in Aussie Rugby:
There is significant danger that what we are seeing now is not a temporary blip, but the beginning of the end for the code as a serious force.
agree with everything except this....i think the beginning was a long time ago, the AB's success from 2010 - 2019 kind of plastered over cracks and the aussie rugby kind of rode on the coat tails by being in the RC and super rugby
If im honest im worried NZ is just where aussie was a decade ago, in 10 years we're going to be on here debating why concentrating almost solely on the international game and only investing on the very best of the best hasn't worked
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@Kiwiwomble that's actually very fair comment
We can't decide on a structure for NZ moving forward either. And where Aus have a bunch of guys who think the Shute Shield is the way to go because that's what historical success came from, we have people who still think the NPC should be the bedrock.
The NH have shown if you build a solid club game, international success flows from that. NZ and Australia are still thinking the opposite (i used to think it was only Aus but your comment actually made me think about it).
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@mariner4life said in Aussie Rugby:
This morning felt like rock bottom for Australian rugby, it really did.
It does right now.
But whenever RA reach the bottom of the barrel, they'll say "hand me that axe, would ya?"
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If you think about some of the things that make and keep a country strong on the international stage, you'd have a list looking something like this:
- lots of engaged players
- strong and growing community support
- well-run administration
- access to strong competitions with like-minded countries
NZ and Oz will always be down the list on #1 (see below, sorted for Adult males)
We have had success with #2 for a long time, Australia less so in recent years.
#3 seems to be an issue for us both right now
#4 we had this once, but even then it wasn't perfect given the way Super rugby is played. The RC helped with regular competition against SA. Right now, we have nothing - geographically we are pretty fcked, and long ago we opted to play Australia 17 times every year cos money or something.
To be honest, I think the strength of #1 and #4 for NH teams is going to be really hard to turn around for both NZ and Oz. I can totally see why SA opted to join them, and they're never coming back. We are in danger of turning into Argentina.
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@mariner4life my current feeling is concentrating on only the best of the best is too narrow, we've seen that 3-4 of the super teams will all be trying to play the same style of rugby...it doesn't allow for innovation....so it works when it works....but when it doesnt...you're fucked
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I think if you look at Australian rugby with a very long lens (since 1960) then this doesn't look like rock bottom. What it looks like is a reversion to the mean.
And the period from 1990-2003 is the outlier. As the code became more professional, Australia adapted much better than any other nation and were richly rewarded. As the other countries caught up, we've gone back to the pack.
So now we sit were we always have, maybe slightly below. We will rise and fall but the idea we will return to #1 is fanciful.
