S18 on its way

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

Surely no chance sarries, one of the best brands jn UK rugby, is going to leave UK rugby.
Arg would make the most sense to me.they have two XVs of quality players. BA and Mendoza

 

[p.Tah]

From The South China Morning Post

Free-to-air TV coverage is essential if Super Rugby wants to build its profile in Asia sufficiently for the continent to host a team over the next five to 10 years, the head of the ARFU has said.

With Super Rugby set to expand from 15 to 18 teams in 2016, an Asian franchise was tipped to join Argentina and a sixth team from South Africa in the competition, which also has five Australian and five New Zealand sides.

Asian Rugby Union president Trevor Gregory thinks this is unrealistic given that even the biggest stars of southern hemisphere rugby, such as All Blacks captain Richie McCaw, are virtually unknown in most of Asia.

Gregory, who also serves as chairman of the Hong Kong Rugby Union, believes that 2021 might be a better target date for an Asian team to join the SANZAR competition and truly reap the benefits.

"You have to prepare the ground so that people are chomping at the bit to see their heroes of Super 15, which anybody in the street in Asia right now probably can't name any of them," he said.

"At the moment who can watch Super Rugby for free? Only the elite of our Asian community can watch that kind of level of rugby because you have to pay and the majority of Asia are not in the elite category sadly.

"If ever there was going to be an opportunity for Asia, it is going to be in five years time ... the 2019 World Cup done and out the way and ride on the back of that.'

........

Gregory said it was still possible for an Asian side to join Super Rugby in 2016 - but only if a wealthy benefactor bankrolled what he predicted would cost US$100 million for five years.

http://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/art...coverage-hinders-asias-hopes-super-rugby-team

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

From The South China Morning Post



http://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/art...coverage-hinders-asias-hopes-super-rugby-team

A week ago I'd never heard of this guy but gotta say the more I read about where he's coming from the more I like it. So much more realistic than the BS coming out've SANZAR (& certain GAGR's) claiming there's Asian & American interests just gagging to be part of the Super Rugby circus.

Before all this Asian team nonsense started I was kicking around some formats for a 17-team, 2-conference comp, I may dig them out, finish them off & put them up for comment/ derision.

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

leads me to think super 18 is down to singapore and japan
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/...NZ-Maori-close-to-securing-three-Asia-matches

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Story on stuff.co.nz this morning:

"Singapore and Japan have submitted official bids to host Super Rugby's 18th team and the potential Asian expansion could provide a home for Pacific Island players.

"Gaining a foothold in Asia makes sense on several levels for governing body Sanzar. It allows significantly increased market exposure for sponsors through widening the broadcast, while also being seen to back-up recent strategic investment in the region and growing the game globally.

"Sanzar chief executive Greg Peters told Fairfax Media "half a dozen" expressions of interest had been received and a shortlist would be released this week.

"New Zealand Rugby Union chairman Brent Impey, who is set to play an active role with Sanzar, confirmed a Singapore or Japanese-based team was the early favourite to join a sixth South African outfit, the Port Elizabeth-based Southern Kings, and a new Argentinian side from 2016. A new team is expected to need up to $100 million over a five-year period."

 

[Omar Comin']

Having one team in Asia and one team in the Americas doesn't seem like a very good long term structure. Those teams will have a huge disadvantage. If they're going to go down this road I hope they have a plan in place to build separate conferences in these regions over the next 5 years.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Having one team in Asia and one team in the Americas doesn't seem like a very good long term structure. Those teams will have a huge disadvantage. If they're going to go down this road I hope they have a plan in place to build separate conferences in these regions over the next 5 years.

Well, I think we need to see where these 6 or so EOI's are coming from. We know two but the other 4 will be interesting. I honestly don't see an issue in admitting alk of them providing they are financially stable and source talent from outside the current talent pools.

 

[Omar Comin']

Well, I think we need to see where these 6 or so EOI's are coming from. We know two but the other 4 will be interesting. I honestly don't see an issue in admitting alk of them providing they are financially stable and source talent from outside the current talent pools.

6 EOI's but I doubt all will put in official bids.

If there are 2 or 3 excellent bids I wouldn't have a problem with them admitting them all either. But I doubt they will do that.

SANZAR should have gone through with this process before settling on a structure. They might have got more interesting proposals that way.

The Hong Kong Union guy said they wouldn't be bidding because of cost, but said it may have been different if they'd had the chance to be in an Asia-Pacific conference rather than linked with South Africa and Argentina.

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

according to the australian today it is down to two bids
one from singapore and one from japan
another non-asian bid was excluded.
my guess is there were three serious bids (above) and now narrowed to two.
apparently south africa wanted a 7th
i personally think that wouldn't have been a horrible idea if you make sure it can have argentinian players and kenyans etc. then you have south africa 7 and argentina = 8 teams playing against Aus NZ and Asia.

 

[wamberal]

Singapore? Singapore?????


What a joke. Have they ever produced a single decent rugby player, ever?

 

[Melbourne Terrace]

Singapore? Singapore?????


What a joke. Have they ever produced a single decent rugby player, ever?

This, it's an utterly niche sport there behind Basketball and Football with expat dominated clubs. Yet some people on here won't be happy until Super Rugby is played from Timbuktu to Tennessee and Tianjin.

 

[Omar Comin']

Singapore? Singapore?????

What a joke. Have they ever produced a single decent rugby player, ever?

That's largely irrelevant. You could make a similar argument against including Melbourne.

The more important question is does Singapore have 15-20,000 people that will watch a locally based super rugby team play 7 or 8 times a year?

I suspect the answer is no, but I guess if people with very deep pockets are willing to put the effort in then it might not be a terrible idea. I just think it's ridiculous to include them in a South African based conference.

Anyway, for rugby and economic reasons surely Japan is the superior option if you're only going to include 1 of them.

 

[RugbyReg]

That's largely irrelevant. You could make a similar argument against including Melbourne.

No you couldn't. Melbourne have produced many quality rugby players.

 

[It is what it is]

No you couldn't. Melbourne have produced many quality rugby players.

Including one of my favourite countrymen in Weary Dunlop.

 

[kiap]

That's largely irrelevant.

Yep. Slagging-off Singaporean players is missing the point. It'd be largely an opportunity for players from elsewhere to start with. Also simply gifting a team to Japan without evaluating alternatives is not the way to go. Let them all bid competitively.

ANZ don't have the wherewithal at the moment to do much other than stick with their existing teams and hope there'll be enough reddies to keep the game here from being hollowed out by Euros and Yen. The NZRU are near their audience limit. The ARU doesn't have the player pool to do more, or enough money to buy more.

So what can they do? Get new people in to inject extra cash and find some more people to start watching this stuff... Extra teams in SA and Arg are one thing, but workable teams in our time zone would be better for us. A Japanese side and/or a PI team with cashed-up Singapore backers can do that. Even if the Singapore option doesn't stick long term, it can buy a good number of years for the game in this region, even paving the way other options (maybe even including an Aussie one) down the track.

 

[Omar Comin']

No you couldn't. Melbourne have produced many quality rugby players.

We'll have to agree to disagree on what constitutes many. No locals currently play for the Rebels.

It was the same for the Force until recently. Now they have a trickle of local talent making their mark.

Who's to say the same can't happen in Singapore? By all reports their union is ambitious and doing good things.

 

[en_force_er]

Japan's gateway to being competitive is that they have a 14 team league. Even France doesn't have 14 good sides in their league. It's simply not the way to improve their local game.

Japan doesn't need Super Rugby, they need to run their local league better.

That being said, having a Super Rugby team certainly wouldn't hurt their improvement.

 

[Omar Comin']

Japan's gateway to being competitive is that they have a 14 team league. Even France doesn't have 14 good sides in their league. It's simply not the way to improve their local game.

Japan doesn't need Super Rugby, they need to run their local league better.

That being said, having a Super Rugby team certainly wouldn't hurt their improvement.

The 14 sides in the Japanese league wouldn't be close to the calibre of the 14 teams in the top division in France.

None of Japan's Top League teams are fully professional. The bulk of each squad is made up of employees of the company who work full time jobs and are essentially amateur rugby players. Each squad has about 12 full time players according to articles I've read - including foreigners..

Japan have benefited a lot in the last year or 2 from having 4 or 5 of their players added to super rugby squads. Their own team would hugely benefit them at test level.

Seems South Africa have a strong preference for Singapore. They'd have an 11 hour direct flight vs no direct flights and 23 hours of flight time each way! If that's true then a Japanese team surely can't work in a South African conference. It's a shame this structure is going to hold the competition back.

 

[wamberal]

That's largely irrelevant. You could make a similar argument against including Melbourne.

How much do you know about rugby in Australia? Are you aware of how many Wallabies have come from Melbourne (including the current Australian coach)?


Singapore is not now, and never ever will be, a place where rugby is played seriously as a grass-roots sport. That fact is relevant, unless I do not know the meaning of the word.

 

[Wilson]

Singapore looks to be firming as the favourite:

http://www.news.com.au/sport/rugby/...homage-to-neymar/story-fnimctwm-1226977014538

The idea of it being a Pac Islands team is interesting, but the big decider has to be that travel difference; 11 hours versus 23 to Japan (for South Africans).