Exclusive: Rugby Australia tells NZ it will walk in bombshell move set to tear Super Rugby apart
https://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/w...cb72c14760a63b
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Exclusive: Rugby Australia tells NZ it will walk in bombshell move set to tear Super Rugby apart
https://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/w...cb72c14760a63b
"NZR is being paid $91m by broadcast partners Sky, which dwarfs the $29m figure RA is receiving a year"
That is a massive difference. To be equal partners originally in the old Super Rugby to now. If NZ are only going to look after themselves then fair enough Australia does the same
Playing devils advocate, if RA walks away does Stan pay the same $$$ for a domestic competition???
Just asking
.... and careful what you wish for.
I personally don't think there's any intention of walking away, they're threatening to take their bat n ball and go home, just like South Africa would.
I don't know how much the NZ broadcast deal relies on out of country content, so I can't be sure they'll care, but Stan Sport would likely pay as much for content that people will watch. I know once the Kiwi games started up, I suddenly lost my appetite to watch much more than Force games, so the ratings calculation would probably be pretty good for an Oz-only comp.
Assuming Stan Sport have no interest in developing the game and building teams that will win and are only focused on the bottom line in the short term. Since Fox Sports had exactly that focus I wouldn't be surprised.
I have thought, quite a few times, about how much I've enjoyed the Aus derby matches for the past few years. It has obviously not been detrimental to our competitiveness either. I'll plead ignorance of the financial implications. But at face value ATM, I would not be exactly devastated if this came to pass.
I'd say so. They mention additional Aus teams and Japan involvement.
I don't wish to break from NZ at all. But to share a competition and have such disparity, it's obvious that there is not a for the greater good mentality. So if RA can secure more cash by going it's own who can blame them. NZR certainly don't have any concern and before anyone says why should they. I'd say for the Rugby Championship,
Interesting that the non rights holder (Doran Via Fox Sports) gets the exclusive ?
I'm suprised that the URC and Super Rugby Pacific aren't already two conferences of the same competition. A Play-off Grand Final between the two winners to finish off the season.
But I wouldn't have a problem with an Australian-only competition.
I wonder if McLennan and Marinos have the balls to do what is really required to get Super Rugby on a competitive level with NRL,AFL, URC, Top 14, Top League etc and that is form an independent entity running a commercial competition with free flow of players between teams and allowing public or private ownership.
Personally I believe NZRU and RA's focus on the national teams and how that drives the player protectionism in each country and the super rugby teams is a a large part of the inability of Super Rugby to really grow and be competitive. How many other club competitions in the world talk about country vs country instead of team vs team? The Oz vs NZ narrative is supposed to be at the test match level, not the club level
Obvious downsides are the lack of cohesion when it comes to players selected for international duties and player development oversight/control etc.
Great call Daz, the other thing that separates those codes from rugby is an abiding commitment to maintaining competitiveness between teams.
AFL have thrown mountains of money and resources at their expansion sides and bought them up to standard quickly, NRL seem to share their players around better, but I don't know enough to know whether it's a draft etc.
What do we think about a team having to name 15 players at the end of every season who are untouchable, but every other player in the organisation is open to be bought by another team? That would seem to address one of Australia's biggest problem which is the warehousing of talent by NSW and act
It is a pity there seems to be no ongoing commitment to the GRR. With all the current posturing, imagine the interest that would have been generated if right after the England tour, the Force squad started playing weekly rugby again. Even more so if it featured some of the Japanese teams. Aside from the obvious development opportunity that would have everyone looking closely next year, I bet the recruiting would look a bit different.
Wallabies coach Dave Rennie has thrown his support behind a continued Super Rugby Pacific and admitted surprise at Hamish McLennan's trans-Tasman threat to walk away.
Provocative Rugby Australia chairman McLennan lobbed what Tim Horan called a "hand grenade" across the ditch last week by threatening to revert to a domestic competition after the two-season SRP contract ends next year.
Rennie, a New Zealander, told reporters on Monday that his position hadn't changed.
Australia was not represented in Saturday's SRP final, won by the Crusaders.
"I think I've made it pretty clear in the past, I think it's good for both countries that we play trans-Tasman footy," Rennie said.
"I think the competition's been excellent this year and our sides have certainly been more competitive. I think it's good for them, it's good for us. I'd like to see that continue."
Asked if McLennan's threat had come out of the blue, Rennie replied "yes".
"I understand Hamish is an innovative thinker and I guess from a commercial point of view we want a bigger slice of the pie. So I understand his thinking.
"I'm not going to crystal ball gaze the situation. I think what a lot of New Zealand types will think too – that us playing trans-Tasman games is good for us.
"We've just got to make sure that financially it's beneficial as well. So I'm supportive of the competition continuing but that's not my call... they've got some of the best players in the world, as we've seen, so you want to be playing the best players. It's how we'll get better and be challenged. It's important."
On the other side of the Tasman, Sir John Kirwan, Mils Muliaina and Jeff Wilson put the boot into McLennan for the timing and the nature of his threat.
In a move widely seen as a tactic to extract more money from NZ Rugby, McLennan said last week that "all bets were off".
That provoked an angry response from the trio of former All Blacks on The Breakdown on Sunday, who saw it as a cynical and unnecessary bargaining tactic that would put stress on SRP newcomers Moana Pasifika and Fijian Drua.
"I think it's all talk. I'm disappointed too," Muliaina said.
"Purely for that fact that we spoke about Moana and the Drua... they finally get into a competition and Hamish comes out and says we're going to leave them. He's the only one who thinks it's going to happen. Even the Australian players. We need each other.
"This competition has been so great and to hear stuff like that come out in the week of the final. That is just crap."
Kirwan said leaving Super Rugby would be "the dumbest political decision they could make", and he was strongly in favour of Australian sides in the competition.
Wilson said that New Zealand and Australia "needed each other" to build Super Rugby Pacific into a strong competition, but could not hide his frustration at McLennan's comments.
"I think this is just a pure power play, in terms of trying to negotiate more funds for Australian rugby," Wilson said.
"I'm bitterly disappointed to hear him talking like that.
"When you commit to something for a couple of years, you commit to the Moana Pasifika and Fijian Drua sides... how do you think they feel right now Hamish?
"In regards to the fact you've opened a door for them, and you're thinking about, 'We're going to walk away from them now because it's in the best interests of us, or we think it is?' I'll give you an example. Australian netball is in the hole for $4 million. They walked away from the trans-Tasman competition with New Zealand, and they have been worse off financially.
"There's a danger if you walk away. To be fair though, we also need them, and I do get where they are coming from... we've created something, they've committed to it, and now they're talking about walking away?
"I'm really disappointed in this because this tells me about our relationship."
From here
I'd be happy to take MP and the Drua into a domestic comp. The issue is equitable distribution of revenue. Play fair.
NZ'ers whining about RA acting in their own interests. The hypocrisy is almost hilarious. Almost.
Here are the actual quotes from Jeff Wilson, Mils Muliaina, and Sir John Kirwan
Video has been queued up for your convenience
https://youtu.be/FHSmSE1uCOw?t=1280
Would love to see a return of GRR or the NRC. Truth be told, for a long time I thought the Force/Spirit home games in the NRC were the highlight of the season. And on a side note, speaking of Japan, if either the GRR or NRC doesn't re-emerge -or we get the arse from Super Rugby again once the pandemic is over- I'd love to see WA (as the Perth Gold, Spirit or Force Gold) playing in the new Japanese league. We wouldn't have to be SuperRugby level to be competitive, we could field a lot of local talent and compete.
That's not a bad idea, the Drua were already an NRC team, so adding a Polynesian team wouldn't hurt