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THE Western Sydney Rams are about to be resurrected as the fifth Australian Super team and based at Parramatta Stadium.
The Herald has been told that when the Super 14 competition is expanded, the fifth Australian team is set to be in Sydney, preferably in the western suburbs, with Parramatta Stadium the most obvious home ground.
It is likely the venture will involve the lucrative financial support of the Parramatta Leagues Club. This will mean the return of the Western Sydney Rams, one of the teams involved in the one and only year of the Australian Rugby Championship, which was recently disbanded by the Australian Rugby Union because of exorbitant costs.
But the new Western Sydney Rams will not be a side comprising promising players just below Wallabies level, rather a powerful provincial team with Test representatives and players from the Pacific Islands.
SANZAR officials are seriously considering revamping the Super 14 following complaints that it has become stale. The most likely outcome is extra teams, which would excite its television broadcasters because it would mean more matches. The Super season, which may involve two zones, will be longer, probably finishing in June or July rather than May. This is likely to mean Tests between the Wallabies and touring northern hemisphere sides would be played in midweek during this period.
Australia's SANZAR representatives will lobby strongly for another team, even though three of the four local provinces have struggled to make an impact in the Super tournament.
The plans for the West Sydney team are at an early stage but have the backing of leading local officials, who believe it is imperative Australian rugby protects its Sydney base.
The ARU is concerned that the three other football codes have made great inroads into its heartland, and if it is to counter AFL and rugby league, it must have a stronger presence in Australia's biggest market.
ARU officials have been told New Zealand officials are surprised that the biggest city in the Super competition has only one team and that the Kiwis have been expecting another to be introduced in the growth area of the western suburbs.
Although the fourth franchise was given to the Western Force in late 2004, the previous ARU administration showed great interest in placing the team in Sydney's West.
Well before John O'Neill was replaced as ARU chief executive officer by Gary Flowers, the ARU was in discussions with Parramatta Leagues Club chief executive Denis Fitzgerald about the fourth team being based at Parramatta Stadium.
The push gained momentum in 2001, with Parramatta Leagues Club showing interest and even Penrith leagues club officials discussing how they could become involved in a Super franchise.
The original plan was for the fourth Super 12 franchise to be a joint venture between the ARU (51 per cent) and the cashed-up leagues club or clubs (49 per cent). At the time, it was suggested that Parramatta were interested in injecting more than $8 million into the fourth team.
However, these adventurous plans were not pursued by the Flowers-led administration, with Perth winning the bid ahead of Melbourne several months later.
The Parramatta proposal is now back on the agenda, but it is bound to encounter opposition from the NSW Rugby Union, which would look upon a new franchise in its backyard as a serious threat to its spectator, marketing and sponsorship base.
But those pushing the proposal argue that Sydney is big enough for at least two high-profile provincial teams. And if they don't pursue it, rugby in Sydney will fall further behind the other three football codes.
As O'Neill said this week: "We need to expand the game. But expansion should not be at the expense of an erosion of your market share in your key areas.
"There are eight rugby league teams in Sydney, one in Newcastle, one in Canberra, and we [rugby] have NSW in Sydney and the Brumbies in Canberra. We need to protect ourselves in our own backyard, and the expansion of Super rugby in a form which is valuable needs to be explored."
"Remember lads, rugby is a team game; all 14 of you make sure you pass the ball to ..........." 
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Originally Posted by tdevil
Was the wait worth it - Ya betta baby 
"Remember lads, rugby is a team game; all 14 of you make sure you pass the ball to Giteau." 
