How Twiggy will run his rebel rugby comp

[SNOB]

I hate to say it but I'm going to have to wait and see with the whole thing. Right at this moment I've seen and read nothing that makes me sit up and say this is going to be great and where do I send my membership money!
If it's just a team of ARU/Wallaby rejects will it generate the interest? If it's run during the Test window will it get the following?
I'm trying not to be a kill joy but I will have to wait and see.

[Alison]

I hate to say it but I'm going to have to wait and see with the whole thing. Right at this moment I've seen and read nothing that makes me sit up and say this is going to be great and where do I send my membership money!
If it's just a team of ARU/Wallaby rejects will it generate the interest? If it's run during the Test window will it get the following?
I'm trying not to be a kill joy but I will have to wait and see.

I'm in the same boat SNOB. Need to see a lot more detail and find out who is going to be playing and coaching...

Right now, everything I'm seeing is a win for the ARU....

[sandgroperrugby]

I for one support my new rugby overlords.

All jest aside I will support this comp and the team from Perth because it is from Perth. It is also being set up by people that seem to have the best interest of the WA rugby public in mind. I will not support any other super team with any dollars. I will still watch with interest those players that have showed so much faith in the Force by their actions and comments both on and off the field.

[chibi]

I must say, I'm a bit envious of the folks in Port Elizabeth and Free State now, they get a full season of Pro 14 in the summer and a full season in the Currie Cup as well. And in-between that, they get the 2nd tier Vodacom Cup / SuperSport Rugby Challenge* for their development teams.

Here in WA, we have jack shit; with an ARU cutting us from Super Rugby and hell bent on cutting us out of the NRC.

Bloody joke.

*I reckon RugbyWA should make an enquiry about inclusion in this competition also, we'd have to play all our games in South Africa, just like the Argentine Pampas XV did, but at least it's another pathway option.

[beige]

I must say, I'm a bit envious of the folks in Port Elizabeth and Free State now, they get a full season of Pro 14 in the summer and a full season in the Currie Cup as well.

The second half of the Currie Cup actually overlaps the Pro 14 so I don't know how that works.

[blueandblack]

The second half of the Currie Cup actually overlaps the Pro 14 so I don't know how that works.

which will become pro15 next year with the addition of a us team

[SNOB]

It's just the 10 week comp that gets me. Who's going to want to coach a team for 10 weeks? Some has been or some newbie? It won't be another Dave Wessels! Will we just be flying in players for the 10 week window? Where will their loyaltys lie?What are we going to do for the rest of the year? I won't watch S15 that's already dead to me. The FUARU has lost me from the Wallabies.
I like others will follow the careers of our players and wish them all the best. I just hope that nearer the time I feel the buzz!

[chibi]

Well, hopefully we can find a "two-comp solution" as it were, to give Western Australians something to both watch, and to play for.

[Jules]

I am putting my trust in these guys! They are Rugby men and will understand what the situation is. Let's give them time to work out the details but it's so crap nothing till August but if the EARU had there way we would have bugger all!

[blueandblack]

I am putting my trust in these guys! They are Rugby men and will understand what the situation is. Let's give them time to work out the details but it's so crap nothing till August but if the EARU had there way we would have bugger all!

Yes there is! The local Pindan-sponsored comp.

[Jules]

Yes there is! The local Pindan-sponsored comp.

True sorry! I think I will need to look into my closest team? Palmyra? I'm in bull creek.

[Alison]

I am putting my trust in these guys! They are Rugby men and will understand what the situation is. Let's give them time to work out the details but it's so crap nothing till August but if the EARU had there way we would have bugger all!

Yeah I'm not so sure about the 'rugby men' bit. The statements this morning have come from 'Minderoo people' who aren't from rugby at all. I would like to know what input RugbyWA, Sinderberry, Welborne and Stooke are ACTUALLY having. I don't want this to become just another business venture. I need someone like Hodgo to come out and tell me this really will be getting elite rugby back into the WA rugby picture and I should be bubbling over with excitement!

As I keep saying, so far I can see benefits for Australian rugby but not so much for WESTERN Australian rugby except as a breeding ground for talent that will end up on the other side of the country.

[yungfen]

Yes there is! The local Pindan-sponsored comp.

And the entry is free and has full strength beers and some places have great burgers!

[MI5_Dog]

http://www.rugby.com.au/news/2017/09...chat-conf-call


The architects behind the Indo-Pacific Rugby Championship are confident of getting the competition on free-to-air television in Australia, broadening the reach of the game.

The absence of Super Rugby on FTA television has long been a gripe of many devout rugby fans, who often point to that as part of the reason the popularity gap is widening between rugby and the other major football codes in this country.

But IPRC chief strategist and legal director Eugenie Buckley said there had already been interests from several broadcasters, including free-to-air stations.

"With the eyeballs that the Indo-Pacific can bring, we are confident of getting some really good commercial return," Buckley said.

"We will be centralising broadcast, key merchandise, marketing, mainly to offset administration costs but also to do marketing and all the rest of it.

"We have actually been approached by a number of broadcasters and we are looking to sell those broadcast rights on a platform neutral basis.

"We can't obviously reveal the names of those broadcasters in commercial confidence."

When asked whether the goal of broadcasting the competition on free-to-air television was within reach, Buckley had a short and sharp response.

"Absolutely," she said.

Eyebrows were raised yesterday when Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest said the competition would go dollar for dollar with the level of money on offer in Europe and Japan.

Buckley explained Forrest's comments in more depth, with each IPRC contract slated to cover four months per year.

"When he (Twiggy) says toe-to-toe he is talking about the quantum of money and salaries for the players that are earned will be absolute proportionate to what is earned in those top competitions throughout Europe and Japan," she said.

"We want our players for those four months - that sacrosanct period - after that they can play wherever they like."

Where the IPRC will aid Australian rugby is the ability to match the amount of money the likes of Liam Gill, Digby Ioane and Matt Toomua are earning overseas.

If Forrest forks out the cash to match what these players earn in four months in Europe or Japan, the Super Rugby clubs and the ARU will only have to come up with two thirds of their annual salary to get back on a level playing field.

"I think one of the great bi-products of this concept is that through this contracting period we can attract that talent back and then they can get back into Super Rugby in that repatriation sense," Buckley said.
"We will be looking at retaining our best players in our region for longer and looking at repatriating players that are overseas.

"There are about 130 that are overseas and we understand that at least half of those are Super Rugby standard so we've got an existing pool."

The competition will run from August through to October, with players, at this stage, eligible to play for the Wallabies while being contracted with the IPRC.

The NRC looks as though it will suffer, though executive director Stu Taggart said the competitions were on a different level to one another.

"Our position is that these competitions co-exist," Taggart said.

"We see the IPRC as a Tier 2 competition, Super Rugby standard, supporting the elite pathways, the NRC retains its status as a Tier 3 in the Australian elite rugby pathway."

Where things will get particularly tricky is the balance of talent, as a team in China or Sri Lanka will obviously need plenty of propping up, given the shallow local talent pool in those countries.

"We will work with each of our markets on a market by market basis," Buckley said.

"What we are developing is a centralised elite talent pool and then we need to work with the locals so the teams can be supplemented by local talent.

"That talent will be distributed to teams that may need to bolster their ranks."

Those talent pools will also be bolstered by a marquee player, Buckley hinting there are already two "very high profile" players eager to get on board.

[GIGS20]

A couple of things in this lot

The absence of Super Rugby on FTA television has long been a gripe of many devout rugby fans, who often point to that as part of the reason the popularity gap is widening between rugby and the other major football codes in this country.

But IPRC chief strategist and legal director Eugenie Buckley said there had already been interests from several broadcasters, including free-to-air stations.

Getting it on Free to Air will be a big bonus to the code in WA, regardless of whether it actually generates any funds.

Eyebrows were raised yesterday when Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest said the competition would go dollar for dollar with the level of money on offer in Europe and Japan.

Buckley explained Forrest's comments in more depth, with each IPRC contract slated to cover four months per year.

That makes some sense, the way the Liam Gills of the world will see it is, this is the 4 months of supplementary income they can use to stay in Australia, earn the same amount and be eligible (but still likely not selected) for the Wallabies. Not a huge bonus admittedly, but better than being in Europe with no chance of International selection.

If Forrest forks out the cash to match what these players earn in four months in Europe or Japan, the Super Rugby clubs and the ARU will only have to come up with two thirds of their annual salary to get back on a level playing field.

Typical of the ARU, they just don't get it...Twiggy's going to pay them as much in 4 months as they earn in a season playing in Euprope, not bloody likely!

"There are about 130 that are overseas and we understand that at least half of those are Super Rugby standard so we've got an existing pool."

Shout out to Burgs again....they'll need to start quoting you there Ben.

"Our position is that these competitions co-exist," Taggart said.

"We see the IPRC as a Tier 2 competition, Super Rugby standard, supporting the elite pathways, the NRC retains its status as a Tier 3 in the Australian elite rugby pathway."

That'll be the tricky bit, how will it work? Is the NRC considered to be a feeder/reserves comp for the Aussie teams? how does it happen without competing? How can we be sure the standards are right, particularly with most NRC teams likely to thrash Sri Lanka's best side, how can we make up the discrepancy?

Those talent pools will also be bolstered by a marquee player, Buckley hinting there are already two "very high profile" players eager to get on board.

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