How Twiggy will run his rebel rugby comp

[yungfen]

Dane and Adam......please say it's Dane and Adam!

They are Wallabies Gigs, so cant be tem as they will be part of the November test squad
I think these two would be currently overseas not in Oz

[shasta]

The Badge.

[forced logic]

The Badge.

I have actually been thinking this for a little while now. He is a marketing dream. He may not be playing his best rugby at the moment but he doesn't need to.
1) He stated about 2 weeks ago that he would be keen to play rugby anywhere he was wanted.
2) He is enjoying his time away from the game (the short IPRC might be right up his alley)
3) He's a good Force boy
4) last time I checked Asia love him
5) so do NZ
6) Andrew Forrest talked about entertainment value of the game he wants played... need I say more

I don't know who his manager is but he would be mad not to look at it.

[GIGS20]

They are Wallabies Gigs, so cant be tem as they will be part of the November test squad I think these two would be currently overseas not in Oz

You assume that the ARU will still be able to pay player salaries in November 2018? Bold prediction!

[valzc]

I have actually been thinking this for a little while now. He is a marketing dream. He may not be playing his best rugby at the moment but he doesn't need to.
1) He stated about 2 weeks ago that he would be keen to play rugby anywhere he was wanted.
2) He is enjoying his time away from the game (the short IPRC might be right up his alley)
3) He's a good Force boy
4) last time I checked Asia love him
5) so do NZ
6) Andrew Forrest talked about entertainment value of the game he wants played... need I say more

I don't know who his manager is but he would be mad not to look at it.

He stated at the breakfast last Friday that he would love to be involved in whatever capacity he could, whether it be marketing or perhaps playing.

[volvo]

Forrest's new rugby comp excites players

Australian players from all around the world are expected to flock to Andrew Forrest's new rugby competition if the ARU endorse it.
Former Wallaby Matt Hodgson says his phone has been ringing hot with high-profile players expressing interest in joining Andrew Forrest's new rugby competition.

Forrest officially launched the Indo Pacific Rugby Championship this week, with the inaugural season to kick off in August next year.

The lucrative tournament will initially feature six teams, with places like Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Tonga, and Samoa in the mix to host a franchise.

Forrest was left fuming when the ARU axed the Western Force, and initially wanted his new competition to swallow up Super Rugby.

But the billionaire has since changed his tune, and wants the competition to work hand-in-hand with the existing rugby set-up in Australia.

The three-month IPRC will run after the Super Rugby season, and Forrest is urging the ARU to support it.

If the ARU endorse the competition, it would mean players could feature in it without harming their Wallabies prospects.

Forrest said the IPRC, which is set to feature lucrative contracts, will help retain Australia's finest players, as well as lure back those who are plying their trade overseas.

Hodgson, who is the director of sports relations for the IPRC, says he has already received widespread interest in the competition.

"I'm getting hundreds of calls from players who are interested, and managers and coaches as well," Hodgson said.

"Former Wallabies who are playing overseas, people that have stopped playing recently, and players who are playing for other provinces.

"It's an exciting time for Australian rugby."

Technically, the ARU still own the Force's licence but Forrest is confident he will be able to buy it back in order to use the Western Force name for the Perth-based side in his competition.

The ARU bought the Force for $800,000 last year, but Forrest won't have to fork out nearly as much to get it back.

"Really I'd expect the value of that would be a little bit less than what they gave to the Victorian Rugby Union, which was $1," Forrest said.

"They actually cancelled our licence, so the claim to it would be tenuous."

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2...xcites-players

[andrewM]

Now that is a bitter pill, not sure I can stomach that, from the Australian

"In the same fashion, he also wants to hone his coaches and he said he would encourage Wessels to take up coaching another Super Rugby side — which effectively means the Melbourne Rebels — to sharpen up his skills for the IPRC."


http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spor...0a3c85cf00738e

Twiggy’s bid to win the World Cup

Andrew Forrest, centre, with Force captain Matt Hodgson and coach David Wessels
The Australian12:00AM September 14, 2017
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When all the motivations and competing emotions are stripped away from Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest’s reasons for establishing his own international rugby competition, it is all aimed at one objective: the Wallabies winning the 2019 World Cup.

What began as a punitive raid, intended to strike back at the Australian Rugby Union over its decision to cut the Western Force from Super Rugby, has moved with remarkable speed to become a co-operative, multifaceted attempt to repair the ills of Australian rugby at the elite end.

The Indo-Pacific Rugby Championship, to be set up simultaneously in six countries by late July next year and running through to a grand final in mid-October, is essentially intended as a multiple cure for so many of the woes that have seen Australia tumble from winning the World Cup in 1999 to being easybeats for any and all New Zealand sides.


In a way, Forrest’s response to the litany of woes that currently dog Australian rugby is that of a rugby tragic — an incredibly wealthy rugby tragic.

READ MORE
Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest, left, and Cameron Clyne. Pictures: AFPForrest is the circuit-breaker
“I’ve spent a lot of time with Andrew over the past couple of weeks and I’ve come to realise that he is, through and through, a rugby fan,” said Western Force coach Dave Wessels of Forrest.

“He’s doing this for the right reasons. In a word, what he wants is for the Wallabies to win the next World Cup.”

That might seem fanciful but not when seen in the light of the fact that there are 130 Australian rugby professionals playing overseas. And more are leaving every day.

Test No 8 Sean McMahon is heading to Japan at year’s end on an estimated $1 million a season. Champion Reds centre Campbell Magnay, who Australian coach Michael Cheika has rated as a potential Wallaby, is already at Suntory. Forrest wants to bring them and all the prodigal sons home — or, more correctly, half of them.

“This is now balancing the unfair playing field where you have had these very wealthy clubs and organisation in Europe who can take 130 of Australia’s players, a good half of which would be wonderful contributors to Super Rugby,” Forrest told The Australian.

“There’s 65 players there. Well that’s enough for all four remaining teams in Super Rugby. And they’re all overseas.

“I would say that we are prepared to go toe-to-toe for the first time in Australia’s rugby history, with anything which can be put on the table for an Australian player from Europe, Japan or the other destinations.”

Presuming the ARU looks favourably on the proposal that Forrest put to it yesterday, the big winner out of all this should be Cheika and his Wallabies. Players like Liam Gill and Matt Toomua, European-based players who don’t qualify for Australian selection under the 60-Test Giteau Law, will find that by playing Super Rugby and then the IPRC back-to-back on salaries of $300,000 for four months, they cumulatively should be able to make the same income as they presently make in France and *England.

Although Forrest insists that he has had expressions of interest from 20 countries, he intends kicking off his competition next year with a Perth team — the remnants of the Force — and five other Asian and Pacific countries. Which ones, he is yet to determine, but he listed Singapore, Samoa, Fiji, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Sri Lanka and Malaysia as prime contenders.

“I really need to get over there and talk to them, look people in the eye,” Forrest said. “What I prefer to do is go and see the sports ministers and the like and just gauge their own levels of enthusiasm and commitment. But the initial response has been that this is an idea whose time has come.”

Local players will be supplemented by Super Rugby-level players from Australia and New Zealand but it very much will be a market-to-market approach, according to Stu Taggart, the executive director (Sport) of IPRC.

Where countries such as Malaysia or South Korea might have only a few locals worthy of playing in the competition, other countries such as Samoa, Fiji or Japan might be self-sufficient.

The talent will be centrally pooled and if, for example, IPRC has six good wingers, they could be farmed out, one per team. There will, as well, be special marquee players that will add lustre to the competition. Dan Carter and Sonny Bill Williams have been the names most widely circulated.

“I’ve said to my players in the Force, you will face the world’s best players. None of us will be intimidated by that but we will be sharpened up by it,” said Forrest.

In the same fashion, he also wants to hone his coaches and he said he would encourage Wessels to take up coaching another Super Rugby side — which effectively means the Melbourne Rebels — to sharpen up his skills for the IPRC.

Forrest moved yesterday to shore up the National Rugby Championship, even as he was revealing that seven rounds of the IPRC would overlap the NPC. He is understood to have offered the ARU around $200,000 in sponsorship for the third-tier competition, the same amount the national body lost earlier this year when the NRC sponsor withdrew.

“I’m a big supporter of the NRC,” he said. “It is a critical step in the pathway between grassroots and intermediate rugby to advanced rugby, state and national. I want to shore that up and make sure it’s strong, because I believe it’s fundamental to the player pathway and critical to Australia being able to field a team that’s competitive with the All Blacks on a long-term basis.”

He also indicated Australia’s long-held dream of free-to-air rugby coverage was looking promising. “We’ve had really solid contact from free-to-air and not free-to-air and from organisations that would like to market across the Indo-Pacific and did not have a vehicle prior to this,” he said.

[sittingbison]

$200k

NRC is finito

[chibi]

On side, I did have a chat with someone from the Sri Lankan Rugby Football Union, he said he hadn't heard of Twiggy or the IPRC. That didn't fill me with enthusiasm...

[Buddha Handy]

now it is starting to sound a lot more like the IPL in the cricket. E.g. There might be a Sri Lankan team but this will be full of Australian and NZ super rugby players drawn from a pool.

I think it all sounds good. Like they said this will be tier 2 so same quality as super rugby.

NRC will be tier 3. NRC is still needed as all those players just below super rugby level need a pathway to get to super rugby. If you look at the spirit side this weekend it is pretty much the western force so you could argue that the strength of the team is prohibiting development of younger players.

Obviously the downside is that all the players that are good enough will need to find a super rugby team which isn't here for at least the next 2 years. But that will make the other 4 teams stronger especially if players come back from Europe and Japan which is what the ARU wanted. There does seem to be some method to this madness now thanks to Twiggy.

[AndyS]

Based on the latest, I'm divided. If it is done well, I think it might work - in conjunction with the NRC, give a number of local players professional salaries to train and play locally in the Pindan, then take the best and add some professionals to the mix for the IPRC while the younger/developing players come up via the NRC. Might even create a model for expanding into other areas currently being neglected by the ARU. Or it could all go South - lose sight of the real goal, become about the competition, and turn into the IPL where it only feeds off existing players in SR and elsewhere rather than developing players in WA as was originally intended. I guess we will have to see.

[yungfen]

On side, I did have a chat with someone from the Sri Lankan Rugby Football Union, he said he hadn't heard of Twiggy or the IPRC. That didn't fill me with enthusiasm...

How high up the food chain is he?
Perhaps they have been advised not to leak any info!

[palitu]

yeah, it will be interesting, but as long as there is something like a draft, and the talent gets spread as it should, it will allow for something more like the American conference systems, where teams that place in there conference, then go on to play in a combined conference.

it allows for a very broad number of clubs, from a larger area.

[Alison]

Very pleased to hear that Hodgo has joined Minderoo as Director of Sports Relations. Makes me a little bit happier to know that there is good rugby pedigree as part of the decision-making structure!

[Jules]

I think with all the brains on board it will be worked out for the best May be different to what they say now. Certainly taking heat off EARU for the moment which they don't deserve. Still devastated I won't be paying my membership fees or that our promising team is being destroyed! 🙁