Better Rugby Rules

Source: We’ll show you the money if players want, says stunned O’Neill– Greg Growden

O’Neill also confirmed that an alternative trans-Tasman Asia-Pacific tournament was discussed at a meeting between ARU and New Zealand Rugby Union officials in Sydney on Thursday. This follows Australia and New Zealand being in major conflict with South Africa over expansion plans for Super rugby.

The ARU and NZRU said yesterday that they wanted to continue working towards a 15-team Super competition from 2011 in partnership with South Africa. However, repeated compromise calls from South Africa, including demands that their Currie Cup competition not be affected, had put that partnership at risk.

“We still want South Africa to stay in, but they have to accept that Super rugby is the pre-eminent competition,” O’Neill said. “But if you start diluting the value and content of that competition and put a domestic competition in the form of Currie Cup as the preference, then we have a real problem.”

If South Africa continues to stall, Australia and New Zealand will look on the Asia-Pacific competition as a viable alternative.

“It works,” O’Neill said. “We didn’t start all this with the trans-Tasman option being a preferred option. But when we looked at it and discussed it with our broadcast advisers and the broadcasters across Australia and New Zealand, they find it quite attractive.

COMMENTS: Local NZ and AU broadcasters realise that local derbies and local time zones is better for ratings, and more intense competition. After all the AFL and NRL are local, and NZ is just the sixth state of Aussie so I think it would work great, bring on the ‘Australisan Cup’ or the ‘ANZAC cup’ or the ‘Pacific Cup’ or the ‘Trans Tasman Cup’ whatever, just bring it to town !

Other Posts on the subject: Australasian Cup – Wynne Gray idea revisited

UPDATE: Source: TV tunes to trans-Tasman option – Greg Growden

RUCK & MAUL

IF AUSTRALIA and New Zealand tell South Africa to shove super rugby and go it alone with a trans-Tasman tournament from 2011, it will not be a financial disaster. Some overseas media outlets have been going on about how South African broadcasting money gives that country an upper hand and will lead to super football’s survival, despite the frequent clashes between the SANZAR partners. However R&M has been told Australia and New Zealand officials recently received encouraging news from local broadcast advisers that if the trans-Tasman tournament goes ahead, they would not receive less broadcasting money. Local broadcasters, who know that showing South African matches in the early hours is about as enticing to viewers as water torture, like the idea of a 10-team tournament played in the one time zone, where matches can be scheduled at 3.30pm, 5.30, 7.30 and 9.30pm on a Saturday.