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Why the loss of the Western Force would be a tragedy for Australian rugby
Jim Tucker - Courier Mail
THE “Save the Western Force” cry isn’t just coming from Wallaby giant Adam Coleman and his teammates but two budding sevens starlets who are proof that the girls game is soaring in Perth as well.
Langley Sesega, 17, didn’t even have a rugby team to play for three years ago until the foresight in the west created a sevens pathway that has taken her to the gold medal game at the Commonwealth Youth Games in the Bahamas.
Everywhere you look, it seems, the Force is ticking the boxes it was created to achieve in 2006 ... Perth-reared Wallabies like Dane Haylett-Petty, polishing Sydney-born recruits like Australian Under-20s prop Shambeckler Vui and producing Australian Schoolboy Carlo Tizzano.
Now girls from Perth are aspiring to continue the Olympic gold medal glow in sevens that Charlotte Caslick and co generated with their wonderful deeds in Rio last year.
When the Aussie girls were leading 17-5 in today’s biggest pool game in steamy heat, it was Sesega who steamrolled over a Canadian defender and sent classy playmaker Page McGregor veering away for the clinching try.
Sesega was a ball girl at Force home games this season and the idea of her favourite team being cut from Super Rugby doesn’t even enter her language.
“The Force should definitely be playing Super Rugby next year and they deserve to,” Sesega said.
“I wouldn’t be in this Australian team but for the Force starting a girls program and my school coach (Dwayne Grace) getting it started at my school.
“There are lots of Under-15s girls coming up behind me at school now ... sevens just has a lot of girls in Perth interested.”
Sesega, of Samoan and Australian heritage, is in Year 12 at Aranmore Catholic College which is also where forward Kennedy Cherrington, 18, advanced her game to reach the Bahamas. Cherrington left school last year.
Layne Morgan of Australia on her way to the tryline during the match between Fiji and Australia in the Girls Rugby Sevens on day 2 of the 2017 Youth Commonwealth Games.
Layne Morgan of Australia on her way to the tryline during the match between Fiji and Australia in the Girls Rugby Sevens on day 2 of the 2017 Youth Commonwealth Games.Source:AFP
The Aussie girls shut-out the Canadians 24-17 but were given a late fright that will benefit their focus when the two teams meet again in tomorrow’s gold medal game.
The Aussies finished with just five players on the field because of two late yellow cards.
Arabella McKenzie was whistled for a ruck infringement and Abby Holmes was shown her card when too aggressively challenging a Canadian tryscorer as she dotted down on full-time.
That last infringement gave the Canadians an extra possession and try against depleted defence.
Newcastle’s Hannah Southwell scored a strong opening try and her experience was invaluable after the unbeaten stroll by Bermuda (60-0), Trinidad and Tobaga (62-0), Fiji (41-5) and Wales (26-0) earlier in pool play.
Narooma-bred winger Lilly-Rose Bennett’s hat-trick against Trinidad and Tobago showed all the speed that her genes suggest because father Justin was a champion beach sprinter.
“I was most pleased with our defence against a strong Canadian side but you don’t want to let your guard down because finishing with five on the field was not ideal,” Australian girls sevens coach Dale Roberson said.
“It will be a tough battle against Canada in the final, they always are.
“This youth tournament is a great chance to expose players to international competition and have them push for further honours in our national development team and Australian team.”
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
I know it has been discussed to death...but I don't mind this idea of a division based system.
http://www.punditarena.com/rugby/rdu...-not-contract/
I know the kiwis won't like it because this year they would have a lot of teams in first division playing each other, but its not the case every year.
Surely if we win arbitration and there is 16 teams they would have to consider such a comp (3 doesn't go into sixteen very well). And with the Cheetahs and Kings going to Europe and talk of the other SA teams being interested, every nation in SANZAAR will need to consider their requirements (playing SA team, derbies, home finals) to ensure the survival of super rugby!
As a lowly punter I don't mind seeing the Force playing in Div 2 against the "lower" teams (makes for interesting games) and making div 2 finals (it would be a first) and it gives us the goal\excitement of making Div 1.
3 mightn't go into 16, but 2 does.
Do conferences properly, top team from each of 2 conferences play in the final. How each conference decides who that is doesn't matter, put 2 kiwi teams in one conference and 3 in the other play whatever works for each conference and finals however you want.
It makes more sense than 3 groups of 6.
SANZAaR are bound to bugger it up though
C'mon the
There was a version of Super Rugby I saw on youtube, whereby the teams only play in their own conference in the initial stages, then the top 2, middle 2 and bottom 2 qualify for premiership cup, bowl and shield round, followed by the finals...
I suppose the other way to apply this system, would be rather than have Super Rugby conferences, they could just qualify from the Currie Cup, Mitre 10 and Australian Provincial Championship/NRC.
Still, I think with some tweaks, it could be worth looking into.
Japan and the Pacific Islands for Aussie Super 9's!
Let's have one of these in WA! Click this link: Saitama Super Arena - New Perth Stadium?
Makes me think that perhaps SANZAR are thinking of covering their arses in the case of the ARU unable to sort the problem.
SANZAAR tells the Sunwolves to lift their game in 2018
Japan’s Sunwolves celebrate a rare win, this time over the Auckland Blues in Tokyo last month.
The Australian
12:00AM August 3, 2017
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Wayne Smith
Senior sport writer
Brisbane
@WayneKeithSmith
SANZAAR has confirmed that the Sunwolves of Japan have been told to dramatically lift their performances in Super Rugby next season. But what it hasn’t confirmed are the rumours of the dire consequences that might befall them if they don’t.
The whole rationale behind SANZAAR scaling back Super Rugby from 18 teams to 15 — by culling two South African teams and an Australian side — is to improve the standard of play, while at the same time rationalising the competition and getting rid of some of the quirkier elements of the draw.
But it would be a travesty if the Western Force or the Melbourne Rebels were trimmed from the competition — along with the Southern Kings and the Cheetahs, who finished respectively 11th and 13th in this year’s 18-team series — only for the Sunwolves to continue to be a dead weight at the bottom of the ladder.
The Rebels actually finished with the wooden spoon this season but that was attributable mainly to the fact that the Blues treated their final-round trip to Tokyo as a virtual end-of-season jaunt and were beaten 48-21 by the Sunwolves. But even with a win that was almost gifted to them, the Japanese side have won only three matches of 30 in two seasons.
Until now, SANZAAR has bided its time with the Japanese, turning a blind eye to the fact that many of the country’s top players aren’t being released from their company teams to play in Super Rugby. But clearly SANZAAR’s patience is coming to an end.
It is understood that the Sunwolves have been told they must win at least five of their matches next season or suffer the consequences. It has been rumoured that they could be jettisoned immediately from Super Rugby if they fail to achieve this goal, although the official SANZAAR line is that they are confirmed starters in Super Rugby for the duration of the current broadcast deal — meaning the end of 2020.
Confirmation of Japan’s woes initially looked to raise the hopes that Australia might be permitted to continue to enter five teams in the 2017 competition. If the Sunwolves were to be jettisoned, the 16-team competition which might yet be forced on SANZAAR next year if the Force and the Rebels continue to defy the ARU might be scaled down to a more manageable 15 teams in 2018. It would be a messy solution, but certainly one that would appeal to the Force and the Rebels.
But that scenario was quickly dismissed yesterday. Even if the Cheetahs, Kings, Force or Rebels and the Sunwolves were to be evicted, the preferable outcome from SANZAAR’s perspective would be to retreat to a Super 14 competition, which is how Super Rugby was played between 2006 and 2010.
It also seems improbable that SANZAAR would strip Japan of its Super Rugby team just a year out from the 2019 World Cup, which is to be held there.
The Force, meanwhile, are sweating on the outcome of their arbitration with the Australian Rugby Union, with a judgment expected to be handed down early next week after the hearing lasted only two days in Sydney at the start of this week.
That will never happen, it looks like it has an element of fairness and sensibility to it.
I would be totally prepared to support a 16 team comp in 2018 losing the last team on the ladder for 2019. Even if that team was the Force, you couldn't argue that we weren't given an opportunity to determine our own fate.
That would of course need to include a proviso that the same amount is spent on each team (pretty sure that's only an issue in OZ though) and that the team that is jettisoned may come from any conference....Unlikely to get past SA and NZ.
C'mon the
So reading that, is Wayne Smith confirming that the current broadcast deal until 2020 is still in play? That would blow the ARUs argument of a "new or amended" broadcast deal out of the water. Even SANZAARS press release from April 9th states that the new competition would be fit into the existing broadcast deal. So whos telling porkies?
Obviously I'm not privy to legal argument or the actual text of the alliance agreement, but I thought the agreement needed to be scrapped and renegotiated for the ARU case to stand up, an amendment to the existing agreement would work in the Force's favour wouldn't it?
Anybody who has information that's relevant, please feel free to comment. (actually, comment with opinion, misquotes and half truths, it's not fair for me to stop you from doing stuff I do!)
C'mon the
http://twf.com.au/showthread.php?t=39207&page=3
First I saw it mentioned (I think) was above. So I googled the words and it also was quoted here and quite a lot of other outlets.............
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spor...7e50ddefc30579
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/spo...f?from=htc_rss
https://www.supersport.com/rugby/sup...1f536e59e93004
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
Yeah, that's what i was getting at earlier, maybe not overly eloquently though.
If a new broadcast contract has been negotiated and signed with all the broadcast partners and SANZAAR, we're fucked. (blunt but true)
If they are only going to (take the easy route) and sign a variation specifically relating to the number of teams and games in the regular season only. The current broadcast contract will remain in place until it's originally planned conclusion at the end of finals in 2020.
I included 'take the easy route' up there as the new deal was already difficult enough to get as it was; because of the new exposure into Argentina, Japan and Singapore. Plus the European component.
So a new one would have to get all these stakeholders back on side, as well as the original 3 broadcasters from previous deals.
Cant see it happening when they are already looking at the competition after 2020.
I'm more confident at the moment than i have been previously
try http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/san...ams-to-be-cut/
SANZAAR Chairman, Brent Impey stated, “The decision to revert to a 15-team format reflects a consensus view of the mandated SANZAAR Executive Committee that met in London recently. It was not the determination of any one Union or stakeholder and follows a thorough assessment and review of the tournament over the last nine months.”
“SANZAAR is delighted that its major broadcast partners have after due consideration agreed to the restructured format within the existing broadcast agreements. Our broadcast partners are an important stakeholder and their vision for Super Rugby moving forward is the same as ours.”