Spirit, Vikings favourites for ARC: Turinui

[travelling_gerry]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...08/1999510.htm


Former Wallabies centre Morgan Turinui says the Perth Spirit and the Canberra Vikings should be considered as the favourites to win the inaugural Australian Rugby Championship (ARC).

The eight-team competition kicks off this week with Turinui appearing at outside centre for the Sydney Fleet in their opening encounter against the Central Coast Rays at North Sydney Oval on Friday night.

The Fleet and the Rays are two of the New South Wales clubs competing in the ARC, with the Western Sydney Rams also included.

Turinui, who will play for Queensland in next season's Super 14, said he was confident the Fleet could qualify for the semi-finals.

However, he said the fact New South Wales' player roster was stretched to cater for three clubs meant the Spirit and Vikings were most likely to challenge for the ARC title.

"I think we're a semi-final team," he said.

"I think the hard teams to beat will be Canberra and Perth because they have the advantage of not splitting their resources, as the three New South Wales teams have to do.

"They've been together a bit longer because they're autonomous on their own province and they have a lot more Super 14 players."

The Spirit open their account against the Rams in Perth on Friday night while the Vikings face the Melbourne Rebels at Manuka Oval on Saturday.

The two Queensland-based clubs, the Ballymore Tornadoes and the East Coast Aces, face off at Carrara Stadium on Saturday.



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[goony]

Least morgan turinui knows how to "keep it real"...

[zimeric]

He makes a valid point though. Sydneys S14 squad has been diluted more.
It might be prudent for a ruling to be made in a couple of seasons to restrict selection based on that years super14 rosters.
eg if a player plays more than 4 full games for a S14 that year he becomes ineligable for selection in the ARC competition?

thoughts?

[AndyS]

Welcome Zimeric.

The whole point is to get all the best players outside the national squad playing at a level that is at least semi-professional. Personally, I am sort of hoping that there will be some blending out over time, where a player might be a Force or Reds player but still plays for whatever ARC he was picked up from. The S14 teams might get a bit restive about that though.

Actually, if diluting the Waratahs is an issue for the NSW teams, doesn't that just emphasis the point that all those players from the club scene are a long way off the pace and implicitly mean that any sort of elite club model would be of a lower standard?

[frontrow]

I am with Andy on this one, we need to keep a good mix of both professional and amatuer in the ARC, so the up and coming players can mix it with the proven talent, and rise to the challenge....There shouldn't be limitations on wether you play super14 or not, everyone should be equal...There are more than enough teams to blood new players into, and with test duties or tours on at the end of the super14 season some players, (probably a lot actually), will be unavailable for selection therefore giving even more opportunities for the new faces to perform in the third tier level...

[.X.]

Yeah I gotta agree, blended has to be the preferred option - Rookies can only benefit from having the more experienced guys around them.