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หัวดิ๊ก
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
re-education camp for you,my boy!
We always knew Rob Clarke was thick with the Rebels but the quote from Rebels CEO in this piece is still chilling....
Melbourne Rebels Chief Executive Baden Stephenson is "extremely confident" they will feature in whatever competition emerges from the remains of Super Rugby amid criticism that their sub-par performances and crowd numbers do not merit inclusion.
The broader Super Rugby season, which also featured teams from New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina and Japan, was suspended in March due to travel restrictions to curb the spread of COVID-19 and the future of the competition is still in doubt.
New Zealand have committed to launching a professional competition involving eight to 10 teams, with guaranteed slots for their five Super Rugby sides and a potential place for a Pacific islands outfit.
Australia wants its four Super Rugby teams plus the Perth-based Western Force involved, despite concerns about the depth of the domestic game.
After a winless start in Australia's Super Rugby AU, pundits have been questioning whether the Rebels deserve a spot in the proposed tournament.
They have never qualified for the playoffs since joining Super Rugby in 2011 and generate little profile in a city where Australian Rules football is king, with former Wallabies loose forward Stephen Hoiles saying on Friday they had not "justified being in the competition" in terms of performance or crowds.
However, Stephenson said the only opinion that counted was that of Rugby Australia's interim CEO Rob Clarke, who was also the former boss at the Rebels and the Brumbies.
"I've got a particularly strong relationship with Rob Clarke and ultimately it's his opinion and his decisions which we would be focused on," Stephenson told Reuters on Monday.
"I'm extremely confident that the Rebels and the other existing Super Rugby teams will all have a spot in whatever the competition holds next year."
The Rebels enjoyed a major infusion of talent at the end of 2017 when many of Western Force's top players moved to Melbourne after the Perth side were axed from Super Rugby, but they have been inconsistent under coach Dave Wessels.
"While we've just missed the finals the last two years, it's interesting to note we have been the second-best performing Australian Super Rugby team," said Stephenson.
"I know we certainly haven't achieved what we've wanted to but we've put a lot of the building blocks in place to be sustainable and successful."
Discussions over the potential competition have been far from smooth.
Rugby Australia has complained New Zealand had taken a "master-servant" approach to planning, while All Blacks coach Ian Foster said the competition should not be a "charity" for struggling Australian sides.
Stephenson shrugged off the talk as "posturing" from both sides and said, in the end, Australia and New Zealand "probably" needed each other.
"For me personally, down in Melbourne, we know historically our biggest drawcard games are the Kiwi games," he said.
"Without doubt, from the Rebels perspective, (New Zealand) add value and they're the best in the world."
https://www.espn.co.uk/rugby/story/_...team-disbanded
Proudly Western Australian; Proudly supporting Western Australian rugby
Groundhog Day
Can you believe the brazen bastards?
Mind you it might not help their cause playing the special relationship card,
as that was the trigger for all the previous turmoil
And will Likely alienate everyone else now
Baden Stephenson also doesn’t seem to quite get that Clarke is just the CEO, not the Chairman. Unless Clarke and McLennon also have a “special relationship”, Clarke does NOT have the last say.
Proudly Western Australian; Proudly supporting Western Australian rugby
"While we've just missed the finals the last two years, it's interesting to note we have been the second-best Australian Super Rugby team," said Stephenson
That didn’t mean $&1& when the Force were cut!
May the FORCE be with you!
Will they go or will they stay now?
RA has Plan B if trans-Tasman series falls over
WAYNE SMITH
SENIOR SPORT WRITER
July 27, 2020
Rugby Australia is ready on Wednesday to sit down with New Zealand Rugby and map out a 2021 trans-Tasman competition but, conversely, it is also moving to create an alternate domestic series in line with hints of interest from broadcasters.
NZR and RA had a cathartic blowout earlier this month, with current and former All Black coaches venting their spleen over spats that went back, in some cases, almost 20 years, while Australia responded with unexpected vigour, effectively telling the Kiwis that if they could not negotiate with them as equals, they would quite happily go it alone.
“That’s happening now, that’s in train now,” said RA interim chief executive Rob Clarke.
“We believe in our market and with the commercial support we have a sustainable domestic competition with the potential to expand in time is a relevant one to pursue.
“That said, we are keen if the New Zealanders are more open-minded to a partnership approach to explore with them what a trans-Tasman competition might look like. And I believe me might be able to resolve some of the concerns they have if we are able to sit around a table and talk it all through.”
Both countries will be forced to play a heavily domestic-based competition next season if they cannot reach a compromise. Super Rugby Aotearoa has been brilliant to watch but it must be taking a heavy toll of NZ players at its current ferocious level of intensity.
What must be addressed is the current imbalance in standard between NZ and Australian teams if the competition was to proceed with five franchises apiece.
Australia has proposed to make positions available in its five teams to excess Super Rugby-standard players from NZ, in the hope that the NZR relaxes All Blacks eligibility rules to enable all Kiwis to be considered for selection, irrespective of where they are based.
“It’s a concept we have already floated with them but so far we have not had a formal response,” said Clarke.
The NZR initially announced its intention to run an 8-10 team competition, with between two and four places reserved for Australia, with teams required to lodge “expressions of interest” which the Kiwis would then vet.
That did not sit well with Australia, given the relative strengths of the two economies and the fact the two countries have enjoyed a longstanding equal relationship pre-dating the creation of SANZAR in 1995. Relations were also strained by NZ making a grand production of creating room for a Pasifika side in its proposed competition, despite the idea also being strongly supported by Australia.
Still, that all falls into the “let bygones be bygones” category as far as RA is concerned, although its preference is for the Pasifika team, and perhaps a Japanese franchise to delay their entry until 2022.
While Australia is planning for talks with its Anzac partner, preparations are proceeding in parallel for an extension of the Super Rugby AU competition next season.
Fox Sports have released the audience numbers from the third round which showed that a total of 75,000 people watched the Waratahs-Brumbies while another 65,000 tuned in for the Reds-Force. Fox also revealed their streaming numbers, indicating 32,000 viewers overall watching on Foxtel Now, Go or Kayo.
The figures are down five per cent on last year, a relatively modest fall given that the SRAU competition was launched with zero fanfare, reduced live audiences and in the midst of a global pandemic. Certainly it suggests a 2021 domestic competition could have some appeal to broadcasters.
Meanwhile, news that Waratahs captain Rob Simmons is in advanced negotiations with London Irish has prompted RA to press ahead on possible reforms to the Giteau Law. As a 100-cap Test veteran, Simmons is already eligible for selection from abroad.
Wayne Smith
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...4d1f84d296b8f4
I should imagine the Tahs are hopefully that Simmons gets the gig at Irish and if the Wallabies want him back that will say nothing for the new coaches plans for Australian rugby! IMO
May the FORCE be with you!
Wallabies coach backs trans-Tasman concept
Ed Jackson
AAP
Fri, 7 August 2020 9:34AM
Wallabies coach Dave Rennie is all in for a proposed trans-Tasman Super Rugby competition.
Rugby Australia is set to rebuff a proposal by its New Zealand counterpart for an eight-team competition featuring just two Australian teams.
But Rennie is confident a solution will be brokered between the two nations and he's eager for as much Australian involvement as possible.
"It certainly won't be two," Rennie said.
"The trans-Tasman competition is important, and important for both countries.
"There's talk about potentially four sides from here or maybe five sides from here and the thing I like about having five teams from an Aussie perspective is it's a great opportunity for our young kids to get involved in professional footy and get that experience.
"The less teams we have, the less opportunities for those guys.
"You could argue when Australia were really successful they only had three sides and you end up with three really strong teams but I think if we're looking long term ... we need to provide opportunities for guys to stay here and play professional rugby."
New Zealander Rennie has completed his move to the Gold Coast where he will live during his time at the helm of the Wallabies.
It has been a timely shift with the Western Force relocating to southeast Queensland ahead of Super Rugby AU matches against the NSW Waratahs and Queensland Reds at CBUS Super Stadium.
Rennie will attend both matches before picking his squad for this year's Bledisloe Cup Tests, which are scheduled for October.
Those matches against the All Blacks will be Rennie's first since his appointment in November last year with the COVID-19 pandemic playing havoc with the 2020 international rugby schedule.
"There's been a lot of plans and every week a plan goes in the bin." the New Zealander said.
"We've done a million Zoom calls, trying to stay connected. We've had chances for Wisey and Tatsey (Scott Wisemantel and Matt Taylor) to get around the Super Rugby clubs but of course that's stopped now as well.
"It's just great that the boys are back playing rugby. We're trying to work in with the Super Rugby coaches, chip in and help out and then hopefully we get some international footy come October."
Rennie also confirmed he is doing all he can to bring South African scrum guru Petrus du Plessis on his staff but nothing had been finalised.
"If we can get it across the line, there's more than just the Wallabies, it's getting around the country working with all national sides and so on but he'd be a great get if we can get it over the line."
https://thewest.com.au/sport/rugby-union/wallabies-coach-backs-trans-tasman-concept-ng-s-2024127
Enlightened thinking at last on the dark side. Just took a kiwi! #strongerasfive
Yep, a derr moment for those of us who have been pushing the five team barrow up a steep hill for the past nearly four years!!!
Proudly Western Australian; Proudly supporting Western Australian rugby
Well our most famous sports administrators in Rugby, John O'Neill and Gary Flowers were CEO's and not chairman. I think you underestimate how much influence the CEO has over the board. Raelene was a bad example as she acted like a puppet, but the true CEO's run things, Rob Clarke coyld very well have more influence than you realise.