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![Not allowed!](images/buttons/down_dis.png)
![Not allowed!](images/buttons/up_dis.png)
Interesting that your argument is the exact opposite of the argument that has been floated to retain superficial rugby in its current format. In that version, a trains-Tasman league would be unsustainable in terms of finances AND player quality. So which is it? Is East coast/NZ the salvation, or the millstone? I know I wouldn't want to invite the wankers from NSWRU in until the competition is strong enough to contain their massive ego
C'mon the![]()
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In regards to this issue we will know more come March when SANZAAR meets to discuss the next tv deal. I don’t think the Brumbies are too keen on five more years of Super Rugby. Particularly with the lack of promotion and the fixtures. The same issues that the Force had.
'I may be a Senator but I am not stupid'
https://omny.fm/shows/the-alan-jones-breakfast-show/cameron-clyne
Link to Senate Report http://www.aph.gov.au/senate_ca
https://www.change.org/p/rugby-australia-petition-for-cameron-clyne-to-resign-as-chairman-of-the-rugby-australia-board
Some news, of sorts, today from the Land of the Rising Sun.
Cloud of uncertainty hovers over Top League
BY RICH FREEMAN
DEC 26, 2018
Japan Times
The New Year is traditionally a time for looking back on the past and looking ahead.
And while the future may appear bright with the Rugby World Cup kicking off in nine months, there are a lot of people involved in the sport in Japan who are spending the holiday period looking at a glass half empty.
The 2018-19 Top League season has already come to an end despite us not even reaching the new year.
... Sources tell me there will be a cup competition in June and August — either side of Japan’s involvement in the Pacific Nations Cup — that is set to involve the 16 Top League teams and eight Top Challenge sides. Though given the heat at that time of year, the proposal has not been exactly well received by many coaches, particularly given that World Rugby has said player safety should be paramount.
Beyond that no one knows what is happening.
Some sources say the Top League could eventually be cut in size — with a national third division introduced — to allow a home-and-away schedule. Yet that would seem to be impossible for the 2019-20 season given the Japan Rugby Football Union has already announced there will be 16 teams next time around.
... The real problem, the official told me, lies in the hands of World Rugby, which is hoping to introduce a global league involving the top 12 countries from both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
The proposed tournament would be aligned with a shift in the dates for test matches, which will, from 2020, see games played in July and November. All of this means the JRFU is still not sure as to when their domestic competition should run, despite the view from Dublin (where World Rugby is based) that everything had been agreed upon.
... Making things even more complicated is that a decision will not be made on the future of the Sunwolves and their involvement in Super Rugby until at least March, by which time another Japanese team could be taking part in the new Global Rapid Rugby competition.
The word is that team will be Panasonic Wild Knights with a second Japanese side set to join in the future — though that could be a privately run venture as opposed to a corporate set-up.
With the 2019-20 Top League season set to kick off in January 2020, that means, for at least a year, there will be Japanese sides involved in three different competitions running at the same time.
It’s no wonder coaches, players and fans are unsure who they should be pledging their allegiance to.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/.../#.XCNrMtR967A
How about inviting all the Top-League teams into GRR next year?
Then we can have CONFERENCES!!!![]()
Japan and the Pacific Islands for Aussie Super 9's!
Let's have one of these in WA! Click this link: Saitama Super Arena - New Perth Stadium?
I hope the home nations veto the proposed World League it is a rubbish ill conceived idea with no consideration for tier 2 nations like Japan. The tier 2 nations already play each other enough in the 6 Nations B which runs over two seasons, Pacific Nations Cup and the America’s Five Nations.
They want more games against tier one nations which was agreed upon a year earlier.
'I may be a Senator but I am not stupid'
https://omny.fm/shows/the-alan-jones-breakfast-show/cameron-clyne
Link to Senate Report http://www.aph.gov.au/senate_ca
https://www.change.org/p/rugby-australia-petition-for-cameron-clyne-to-resign-as-chairman-of-the-rugby-australia-board
Kyle Godwin on the left wing for Connacht against Ulster. Cheika surely would be interested about him playing out of position.
'I may be a Senator but I am not stupid'
https://omny.fm/shows/the-alan-jones-breakfast-show/cameron-clyne
Link to Senate Report http://www.aph.gov.au/senate_ca
https://www.change.org/p/rugby-australia-petition-for-cameron-clyne-to-resign-as-chairman-of-the-rugby-australia-board
Prediction.
This is the week we are going to hear the details of GRR. Sports journalists all around the world will be coming back from their holidays and their sports editors are beating them up for some stories.
Agreed on all of these. People need to know the fixtures so they can book trips and purchase season tickets.
Some areas are still waiting to see if they have a team.
'I may be a Senator but I am not stupid'
https://omny.fm/shows/the-alan-jones-breakfast-show/cameron-clyne
Link to Senate Report http://www.aph.gov.au/senate_ca
https://www.change.org/p/rugby-australia-petition-for-cameron-clyne-to-resign-as-chairman-of-the-rugby-australia-board
I believe all the competing teams and unions have been sworn to secrecy by GRR, so the news did not leak out in unconfirmed dribbles, like happens with SANZAAR.
I think we already know the 8 teams with 99% certainty. The only one which has doubt in my mind is Hawaii.
However it interesting that their Wikepedia page lists Global Rapid Rugby as an International competition.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii...Football_Union.
Looks like it's in the Navbox at the bottom of the page ... Not that it means anything.
I'll go out on a limb in this case and say it means, nowt - nothing (sorry, JSJ).
Wikipedia can be a good place to get info ... BUT ... it's only as good as the 3rd party source cited with the info.
No cite means it's most likely just some punter speculating on an aspirational media piece at best, or hearsay, grapevine etc. (and no better than chat elsewhere on social media)
But since we're speculating, I agree with JSJ - six or seven teams look pretty close IMO. Hawaii seemed to be the most in doubt.