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I think that rugby in Australia has some things going for it. The JGC is a very good program and has league in the Illawarra worried. However it is played at the wrong time of year, isn't marketed hard enough and goes no where. The districts (city and country) can pull together some very good...

Down here in the Illawarra the sequence plays out differently (I'm sure its the same for other regions). At about 13 the boys start talking about how they have to get a private school scholarship to in order to make it in rugby (even though they don't exist). At this point a lot are playing...

My view is that it is the perception that needs to be addressed as a high priority. The private schools can't be stopped, they are very big, wealth and powerful businesses with very strong connections. It is the club system that need to be brought up to the same level. For instance the ARU could...

Harv, you are exactly right and have summed it up well. The only outstanding question is "how painful does it have to get before the ARU moves?" My guess is that we haven't exceeded the "pain threshold" of the ARU yet and so it's going to get worse before it gets better.

They did sub but I didn't pay any attention who. They didn't sub any front rowers, and neither did SD so both front rows had a big day at the office. For all the talk about the points system I didn't think there was much difference between the players ability or fitness (which made it a great...

Where I was thinking with the front row replacement and points thing, is that "uncontested" is purely a safety issue and is not available as a player points management tool. ie you have to sub a front rower if you have one. If that takes you over the points limit, so be it, that's down to player...

In yesterdays SD vs Easts Colts 1 game SD were pushing Easts line hard in the 2nd half when the Easts hooker was yellow carded for "repeated". Scrum 5m out in front of the posts. SD had the dominant scrum and now Easts are down to 7 (pushover time), noooooo, Easts call "uncontested". I could...

Given the number of boys in the Sydney team that are really Country boys, perhaps the game should be renamed Sydney/Country combined U19s vs Country Colts.

I want to float this idea, not wedded to it. What if we allowed the Loose head prop to put his hand on the ground, once the ball was fed. The defending LHP could have his hand on the ground from the "set". This would substantially stiffen up the scrum front row from a structural engineering...

I likewise don't see it as a problem prima faci but a symptom. The boys gets 18 very high level games, played at speed with and against players who are mostly better players than they are. Couple this with good coaching and you have the recipe for good development of the boy's rugby. The boys...

Colts 1 Southern Districts 17 Manly 15 Game finished early due to concerns about lightening strikes. Very close game with S.D dominating up front and Manly dominating out wide.

"As I've mentioned elsewhere, I have lived in the Penrith area on and off for 25 years, probably 30 now I think of it. The sad reality is that except for a few dedicated rugby heads, the public couldn't give a crap about rugby out here. Penrith has the 2 biggest junior rugby league clubs on the...

The reason none of these suggestions, about points and forcing players to move etc., doesn't make any sense is that it is ignoring the route cause of the problem (shuffling the deck chairs whilst SS Australian Rugby sinks). The problem is that NSWRU has completely failed to develop the game in...

I watched all 3 Colts games last Saturday, and my son played in the engine room for S.D 1st. I wouldn't like us to give up on Penrith, the area is too important to the growth and future of rugby in Australia. Here are some of my observations: The 3rd and 2nd were not a prelude to what happened...

When I last looked the ARU has $600,000- budgeted for Schoolboys. Whilst I think that this is of itself a worthwhile thing to do, Is it the very best way to spend this money? I think not. I would like to see this money swung over to promoting rugby in non traditional rugby schools, for both boys...

I'm a big fan of pay for performance. I've long felt that the ARU should contract the districts and zones to undertake the development work that it (NSWRU or Sydney/country) seems unable to do itself . This could take the form of: local schools competitions 7s gala days junior marketing etc...

Now that Gail Kelly has announced her resignation as CEO of Westpac and is looking for something else to do, I think we should try to get her to Chair the ARU. She has a number of key strengths that I think would make her ideal for the job: She didn't go to a GPS school. She's not a male rugby...

I've always felt that Rugby should not compete with AFL, NRL and football at all but should carve out its' own segment where scrumaging, lineouts, rucks/mauls etc. are appreciated and admired. Whilst we try to enter AFL, NRL, Football in the "simple is best" market then we are going to fail...

Tahdan, I think you're absolutely right here, the ARU's inability to promote the game is cronic and is the difference between enthusiastic rugby elites and professional sports management. The other area you didn't cover (I'm sure because you wanted to keep it shorter) was the inability to...

Adding complexity to this. My observation (over a number of years) is that the role for a player changes dramatically from club level through district to state level. At a club level a lot of missed tackles have to be covered up, a lot of hit ups can be done to gain good ground, the ball is...