Better Rugby Rules

Source: O’Neill wants to align provincial competitions  – Sunday Star Times

With the Super 14,15,18, 100, whatever, the current second tier non professional level is like a wet fish, just not that interesting. The Ab’s wont be playing in provincial sides as they have duties else where, the NPC would be further diluted of senior and skilled players with the never ending player drain. So I guess a non/semi professional Australasian Cup is the next best thing. How this work I have no idea, how would the NZRU deal withe ARU power plays, dunno. How would revenue be made and shared, dunno.

So Teams for the non professional ANZAC NPC could be:
1) Otago
2) Canterbury
3) Wellington
4) Hawkes Bay
5) Taranaki
6) Waikato
7) Auckland
8 ) NSW
9) Queensland
10) Perth
11) Canberra
12) Melbourne (???)

Note: There should be promotion and relegation, with this as well, no team should be in it by right.

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.

Source: Republic threatens to split SANZAR– Greg Growden

SARFU says hands off Currie Cup!    So will SANZAR split ?

Good on ya SARFU stick to your guns. NZRU and ARU may just find out how small and isolated they really are, this was a stark reality after I read this statement.

South Africa has retaliated by saying it would form its own competition with Argentina, the US and teams from Scotland and Ireland.

Geographically the SA are better placed in the world to cater to the travel demands with other rugby playing nations. NZ and AU have the Pacific and Indian oceans to cross, we are 4 more hours on a plane from anywhere (… that has decent rugby opposition).

Of course SARFU may be doing all this squealing for a bigger cut of the SANZAR revenue pie.

PREDICTION: There is a 15th super rugby team to be allocated, SARFU and ARU both want it. ARU believe its there’s by right. If they don’t get you can bet that SANZAR is over. John O’Neill will see red and say to NZ lets go it alone, and form an Australasian Cup tournament ( note: which I favor, no matter the reduction in revenue for NZ/ARU).

Also dont you get the feeling SARFU union are getting a little pissed off with John ONeill brash and loud manipulative style of getting what he wants. He is not subtle.

UDPATE1: Source: Impasse over Super 14 expansion  – Marc Hinton

Money, as always, lies at the heart of the issue, even if the travel factor involving South Africa also creates major problems.

With South Africa’s SuperSport contributing 65 percent of the TV rights money for the tournament, any withdrawal by the republic would be felt hard in the pocket by Australia and New Zealand.

Whether the trans-Tasman unions are prepared to sacrifice that sort of money to forge ahead with a new competition without South Africa has to be highly doubtful.

COMMENTS: Little old NZRU and ARU better say sorry real quick, otherwise there are pay cuts coming and not only for the players !!

*****I refer you to a post by Wynne in May 03, 2008.*****

Source NZHerald : Wynne Gray: Forget the world, let’s make it more interesting at home

 Extract..

Let’s consider a few alternatives and start with the World Cup, which is not going to disappear. That event is scheduled quadrennially for September and October.

So in the other three years of the cycle let’s make that the time for both inbound and outbound tours or tests. Forget the sort of unbecoming drive-by internationals we are getting from Ireland and England in June.

The Super series should begin in April and run for about 20 weeks of round robin and finals competition. New Zealand rugby would be better served if the competition had the same number of teams but no South African content.

Time zones and an absence of provincial tribalism are sporting enemies in the Super series. Transtasman combat is an answer; eight NZ sides and six from Oz playing in front of capacity crowds at smaller stadiums would also be more financially sustainable, logical, interesting and easier to follow.

Players would have the progressive build-up of club and country, while an amateur club and amateur NPC competitions could run underneath the professional series.

A gap between the round robin and finals could be put aside for the Bledisloe Cup, while tests against the Springboks would become far more appealing if they went into the September-October international window. The distinctive honour of tests would return if players were involved in six or eight a year rather than double that as they are now.

The All Blacks could then take leave before Christmas. All professionals could have January and February to condition and March to prepare with their team before an April start.

More on this subject : Super rugby – It’s in safe hands (not) ! 

MY COMMENTS: Why the hell NOT !!!

Source : South Africa ‘threatens’ to quit Super 14 – Neil Reid

I know for a fact the late and great John Drake would be pleased with this outcome, he would promote a true Australasian Cup. That would be 12 teams from NZ and 6 from Aussie going through 18 rounds of games with a 4 team play off, thats 22 weeks of professional or semi professional rugby. This would give the Aussies (and NZ)  a solid media program against there league mates, and give TV 22 weeks of competitive rugby over a very large market, any sponsor would love that !!

This is good for all, as all regional teams get exposure to top rugby. This would also dilute the power from old super 14 power regions (Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin).  Just imagine Taranaki  or Hawkes Bay winning the ‘Australasian Cup’.  Yeah man, I would watch that !!

So whats the down side…I will miss the 3.30 am starts to watch SARU games, yeah right !

Of course the NZRU would have to stop the big money deals from pulling ‘Dan Carter’ types out of the NZ scene to the Aussie scene, we cant have Dan playing for Perth for a $1 mil a year can we !! But they (Aussie) will cry we must allow players to get larger financial rewards to ward off the Nortern clubs stealing our NZ/AU players. Well then no internationals for them then ! If the NZRU ever break the tribe vs tribe rule that would lessen the apeal of regional match ups in an Australasian Cup. I guess nothing is going to be easy.

Go SARU go !!