Ah right, I was hoping for the NZ Heartland XV, day before the Bledisloe and all that.
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Ah right, I was hoping for the NZ Heartland XV, day before the Bledisloe and all that.
Valke have won 2 of their 5 games so far this year in the Supersport Rugby Challenge. If this is their team they are going to send, then based on that form, you would back the Force to beat them playing under GRR rules.
I cannot find any footage of the Valke playing this season. Looks like you need an account to stream their games. Perhaps some other bright person can crack this?
https://www.supersport.com/rugby/sup...challenge/logs
https://www.supersport.com/rugby/sup..._beat_Griffons
Perhaps it's the Valke of this year packed with more experienced players to show the potential of next year under GRR????
Good opportunity to promote one of the possibilities for next year.
Anyone know whether it is just the Valke, or whether there is something making them "Malaysian"? I can't say I'd see much value in simply having a SA team transplanted to Malaysia, but a strong joint venture could be interesting.
I'd personally be curious to see the various teams adopt particular national alignments in their marquee selections...maybe Hong Kong focusing on European and particularly UK professionals, Singapore continuing the Island alignment (esp. Tonga if they aren't directly involved otherwise), the two Island teams looking to repatriate top nationals, the Force obviously looking primarily to Australians, Malaysia with a strong SA influence, and the Japanese teams (fingers crossed) looking wherever but perhaps likely a NZ influence. Would add an additional point of interest for mine, not to mention a hook for overseas interest.
They have a facebook page. Maybe someone can ask? ( I would except I don't have facebook)
https://www.facebook.com/Malaysiarapidrugby/
https://i.imgur.com/uwNPtPy.jpg
That facebook page looks brand new with no posts on it yet. I have ""liked"" their page so hopefully I will get any posts etc
The 2 players in their ""Valke Malaysia"" profile picture look like Malaysians and have the Malaysian flag on their jumpers.
Valke is Falcons in Afrikaans.
It certainly appears that the Malaysian team is likely to be supported by players from the Curry Cup sides.
With what's happening with the SA sides (quotas, rugby set-up beyond 2020 etc) this could be a win-win situation with strong support for growing rugby in Malaysia.
Exciting development - esp if Malaysia is one of the sides for next year.
The 2007 World Cup winner told the Taipei Times in an interview after the dinner at the Sherwood Taipei that Global Rapid Rugby has a particular interest in club rugby in Asia.
The organization runs an international club rugby competition set up around the Western Force, who were axed from the Australian Conference of Super Rugby after the 2017 season. The competition has four other teams, Fijian Latui, Kagifa Samoa, the Hong Kong-based South China Tigers and the Singapore-based Asia Pacific Dragons.
“I’m not saying they’ve got plans for Taipei, but they are looking at the Asia market and I think this could be an area that they could target as well,” White said of Global Rapid Rugby.
Separately, Baboons player Bernie Moore told the Taipei Times that a local syndicate is interested in forming a joint venture with a Super Rugby franchise to bring a development squad to Taiwan to represent Taipei in the Global Rapid Rugby competition and develop rugby nationwide with clinics and outreach programs.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/spor.../02/2003716187
Sport: Kagifa Samoa rugby franchise plots long-term vision
Kagifa Samoa are using Global Rapid Rugby's "Pacific Showcase" as an extended job interview, with a firm eye on the proposed expanded competition in 2020.
The Samoan franchise were pipped 38-32 by the Fijian Latui in their Rapid Rugby debut in Lautoka last month before being outclassed 63-5 by the Western Force on Friday in Perth.
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CEO Richard Fale said they wanted to be competitive on the field this season, but are already thinking long-term.
"The best way to view these games that we're playing is as a job interview for 2020 and beyond," he said. "We have two franchises that will be operating in the Global Rapid Rugby competition - there's a Hawaii franchise and the Samoa franchise - so there's 70 positions that we need to fill," he said.
"We want to use these games as an opportunity to essentially interview a whole bunch of players and see how they're going to be able to not only perform on the field, which is the most important part, but on top of that we need to be able to know that their character fits with our organisation, their personalities are going to work with the staff that we are going to bring in and they definitely have the IQ to deal with the new concepts and ideas that are going to be introduced through them into rugby union."
The Fijian Latui pipped Kagifa Samoa in their Rapid Rugby opener.The Fijian Latui pipped Kagifa Samoa in their Rapid Rugby opener. Photo: Facebook/Fiji Rugby
The Pacific Showcase continues on Friday night with Kagifa Samoa hosting their first home match against the Fijian Latui in Auckland - with Apia Park currently being renovated for the upcoming Pacific Games - before wrapping up their campaign next weekend with a rematch against the Western Force in Brisbane.
Richard Fale said, while the Fijian franchise has been set up as a development programme for the Fiji national team, Kagifa Samoa does not restrict itself to fielding only players of Samoan heritage.
Tonga halfback Leon Fukofuka is among a number of international players in the Kagifa Samoa squad.Tonga halfback Leon Fukofuka is among a number of international players in the Kagifa Samoa squad. Photo: AFP
"You don't have to ethnically be Samoan to be part of the team, which is why we have a significant number of non-Samoans there (including players from Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand and the Cook Islands), because this is a professional franchise operation the same as the Blues or the Crusaders or Toulon or the Saracens," he said.
"We contribute to the development of the Samoa national team but that is not exclusively who we are and how we operate. Our goal and aim is to field the best professional rugby team on the planet."
Global Domination
A former Hawaii congressman, Richard Fale heads a consortium that previously flirted with plans to buy the New Zealand Warriors rugby league team and launch a Pacific Island Super Rugby side.
But now Fale believes Global Rapid Rugby is the way forward for the 15-a-side game.
"There are a number of challenges that rugby is facing in entering into the professional sports entertainment arena," he said. "I think it's the same age that the NFL was in the early 1940s, so there's a lot of growth that rugby union kind of needs to go through and I think they're kind of going through a number of these growing pains.
"And I think Global Rapid Rugby is probably the first organisation that is going to be taking a fresh look at the sports entertainment market and be able to solve a number of the problems that other professional rugby organisations have not been able to solve."
A consortium fronted by Richard Fale wants to base a Super Rugby franchise in Hawaii.Richard Fale wants to help rugby "crack" the US market. Photo: Facebook
A full Rapid Rugby competition was originally scheduled to begin in March this year with teams based in Fiji, Samoa, Australia, Singapore, China and Hong Kong before the inaugural season was cancelled in January, with the Asia and Pacific Showcase Series' filling the void before officials try again in 2020.
Richard Fale believes Global Rapid Rugby has the potential to become "the most successful rugby operation on the planet" but said organisers need to ensure the foundations and structure of the competition are right before pressing the launch button.
"I would definitely prefer that they take the necessary time to make sure that it's done effectively and well...rolling into 2020 and beyond there's a lot of moving parts in the world of rugby," he said.
"From our perspective we still think that the United States is the largest and most lucrative sports entertainment market on the planet, with rugby having significant potential there, and that is a primary drive and focus of our organisation is to help crack the US market in terms of professional rugby."
Fale said the plan is for both Samoan franchises to conduct their pre-season training in Hawaii ahead of the next season, with one team based on Maui and the other on Oahu, while also travelling to California and New York and spreading games between Samoa, Australia, New Zealand and the US.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/...ng-term-vision
Very interesting
"We have two franchises that will be operating in the Global Rapid Rugby competition - there's a Hawaii franchise and the Samoa franchise
Kagifa Samoa does not restrict itself to fielding only players of Samoan heritage.""
Sounds like an expensive pre-season.Quote:
"From our perspective we still think that the United States is the largest and most lucrative sports entertainment market on the planet, with rugby having significant potential there, and that is a primary drive and focus of our organisation is to help crack the US market in terms of professional rugby."
Fale said the plan is for both Samoan franchises to conduct their pre-season training in Hawaii ahead of the next season, with one team based on Maui and the other on Oahu, while also travelling to California and New York and spreading games between Samoa, Australia, New Zealand and the US.
I dunno about this Fale guy. Hawaii seems like an overreach for Rapid Rugby (before the comp even exists), let alone New York.
I just don't want to see the mistakes of Super Rugby made into "deja vu all over again"...
Exactly. Seems the usual tag of "International businessman Richard Fale" has been toned down. His profile says his only international business is the current one he is CEO of (Kagifa Samoa). And he's doing that by the Danny Devito method - other peoples money. His.... "primary drive and focus of our organisation is to help crack the US market in terms of professional rugby."......does not align with Minderoo's Asia Pacific focus either.
Would be happy if Samoa and Hawaii shared an umbrella organisation, with Samoa in GRR and Hawaii in an American comp. That could be a potentially useful link to foster given the two competitions would be both starting out and at a similar level. But just don't see how Hawaii would work in a predominantly Asian aligned GRR.
Why does he want a team in Hawaii anyway if all the games wont be played there? Seems bizarre. Surely if the team represents Hawaii then they should play there so their home fans can appreciate and support this new team. Who will really support the franchise if it only plays at home once every 4 or so weeks in Hawaii and the rest elsewhere. I doubt very many. Surely Hawaii has the population and support to play the games there. If not I dont think Rapid Rugby should expand into mainland America, it doesnt align with the IndoPacific intent of the competition and adds way too much travel.
And show's little to no awareness of Major League Rugby which has exclusive sanctioning in the US to operate a professional Rugby competition and it's participating franchises. As for it not aligning with Minderoo's Asia-Pacific focus. Which ocean surrounds Hawaii on all sides?