Jimmy_Crouch
Ken Catchpole (46)
Article just says they understand the importance of that tier and they are working through different options hopefully for 2022 but more likely 2023.
Where to for Super Rugby?
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Article just says they understand the importance of that tier and they are working through different options hopefully for 2022 but more likely 2023.
Derpus
George Gregan (70)
Great news. I just hope we can afford it.....
Jimmy_Crouch
Ken Catchpole (46)
Usually I wouldn't copy and paste an article but f*ck News and what they have done.
Rugby Australia boss Andy Marinos believes the country is falling behind its traditional rivals New Zealand and South Africa because of the absence of a strong second-tier competition and is hoping to get one up and running for 2022.
“New Zealand has done it well with the ITM Cup and South Africa’s done it really well with the Currie Cup and there’s no surprise that there’s always a factory of players coming through the system,” Marinos said.
The National Rugby Championship was cut, in large part, because of cost-cutting measures following the COVID pandemic. But its demise denied emerging players – and coaches – an opportunity to bridge the gap between club and Super Rugby.
The Waratahs were always likely to be lambs to the slaughter in 2021 because, having lost 800 caps of Test experience over the past two years, they desperately need their next generation to spend more time on the field, learning their craft and building combinations.
While the Reds and Brumbies are benefiting from prioritising the NRC, they are anxious about the future now that it is gone.
It’s why Reds coach Brad Thorn put the governing body on notice last week by issuing a passionate plea to bring the NRC back.
“We had (Queensland) Country and (Brisbane) City and if you look at all our players who have come through that middle ground between club and Super; so not having that (NRC), to me, it’s a tough one,” he said. “Something has to be done.
“You’ve got the Currie Cup (South Africa), you’ve got the Bunnings Cup (New Zealand), you’ve got the Championship in England, everyone’s got (a second tier). Your Test players go away (after Super Rugby) and that’s awesome, but you’ve got to have that middle ground for guys to cut their teeth, even coaches as well.”
Marinos, who has been in the role since February, agrees and says getting a second-tier competition under way is paramount for Rugby Australia’s strategy of building the game up.
“He’s (Thorn) not wrong, he’s not wrong,” Marinos told foxsports.com.au. “If you look at any great structure in the world, there are those competitions and it’s a part of what I’ve been saying since I’ve come in. We’ve got to have a bottom-up approach, not a top-down approach to the game in this country if we’re going to be sustainable.
“As we start embarking on a new strategic plan and a new strategic direction, the competition structure of having a second-tier competition – for want of a better word – that underpins what’s happening at Super Rugby level is going to become even more important because we have a group of players who play Super Rugby and can drop back into the Shute Shield and Hospital Cup but then after those competitions finish there’s very little rugby for them.
There are a multitude of reasons why the NRC failed to ever get serious buy-in from all five Super Rugby clubs and the populace at large.
But in essence, it struggled because as the fed-up public abandoned the professional arm of the game, they instead cast their interests towards club rugby, which has since had a major resurgence.
Additionally, unlike the ITM Cup and Currie Cup, the NRC lacked history and the public struggled to feel a connection to the made-up teams to go along with meaningless Super Rugby names across multiple continents.
Marinos said it was too early to determine what structure the competition would take.
“At this point in time, we’re busy working on what that structure is going to look like,” he said.
“To start pre-empting what it’s going to look like is a little bit premature. But what it will be is a holistic program that will underpin the high-performance and provide opportunity for the next generation of players to come through and hopefully through that earn selection for the Wallabies.
Marinos added he hoped a competition will be up and running by 2022 but admitted it could take until 2023.
“I’d like to look at getting a second-tier structure underway in 2022 at least, so we can start building momentum.
“It’s also going to tie back to where we position ourselves from a World Cup perspective and the beginning of that sustainability plan and legacy plan around the World Cup. If we can have that by the time we have the World Cup in 2027 and we have a flourishing first, second and third-tier domestic rugby competition structure, I think that would be a really big statement for the game.”
Rugby Australia boss Andy Marinos believes the country is falling behind its traditional rivals New Zealand and South Africa because of the absence of a strong second-tier competition and is hoping to get one up and running for 2022.
“New Zealand has done it well with the ITM Cup and South Africa’s done it really well with the Currie Cup and there’s no surprise that there’s always a factory of players coming through the system,” Marinos said.
The National Rugby Championship was cut, in large part, because of cost-cutting measures following the COVID pandemic. But its demise denied emerging players – and coaches – an opportunity to bridge the gap between club and Super Rugby.
The Waratahs were always likely to be lambs to the slaughter in 2021 because, having lost 800 caps of Test experience over the past two years, they desperately need their next generation to spend more time on the field, learning their craft and building combinations.
While the Reds and Brumbies are benefiting from prioritising the NRC, they are anxious about the future now that it is gone.
It’s why Reds coach Brad Thorn put the governing body on notice last week by issuing a passionate plea to bring the NRC back.
“We had (Queensland) Country and (Brisbane) City and if you look at all our players who have come through that middle ground between club and Super; so not having that (NRC), to me, it’s a tough one,” he said. “Something has to be done.
“You’ve got the Currie Cup (South Africa), you’ve got the Bunnings Cup (New Zealand), you’ve got the Championship in England, everyone’s got (a second tier). Your Test players go away (after Super Rugby) and that’s awesome, but you’ve got to have that middle ground for guys to cut their teeth, even coaches as well.”
Marinos, who has been in the role since February, agrees and says getting a second-tier competition under way is paramount for Rugby Australia’s strategy of building the game up.
“He’s (Thorn) not wrong, he’s not wrong,” Marinos told foxsports.com.au. “If you look at any great structure in the world, there are those competitions and it’s a part of what I’ve been saying since I’ve come in. We’ve got to have a bottom-up approach, not a top-down approach to the game in this country if we’re going to be sustainable.
“As we start embarking on a new strategic plan and a new strategic direction, the competition structure of having a second-tier competition – for want of a better word – that underpins what’s happening at Super Rugby level is going to become even more important because we have a group of players who play Super Rugby and can drop back into the Shute Shield and Hospital Cup but then after those competitions finish there’s very little rugby for them.
There are a multitude of reasons why the NRC failed to ever get serious buy-in from all five Super Rugby clubs and the populace at large.
But in essence, it struggled because as the fed-up public abandoned the professional arm of the game, they instead cast their interests towards club rugby, which has since had a major resurgence.
Additionally, unlike the ITM Cup and Currie Cup, the NRC lacked history and the public struggled to feel a connection to the made-up teams to go along with meaningless Super Rugby names across multiple continents.
Marinos said it was too early to determine what structure the competition would take.
“At this point in time, we’re busy working on what that structure is going to look like,” he said.
“To start pre-empting what it’s going to look like is a little bit premature. But what it will be is a holistic program that will underpin the high-performance and provide opportunity for the next generation of players to come through and hopefully through that earn selection for the Wallabies.
Marinos added he hoped a competition will be up and running by 2022 but admitted it could take until 2023.
“I’d like to look at getting a second-tier structure underway in 2022 at least, so we can start building momentum.
“It’s also going to tie back to where we position ourselves from a World Cup perspective and the beginning of that sustainability plan and legacy plan around the World Cup. If we can have that by the time we have the World Cup in 2027 and we have a flourishing first, second and third-tier domestic rugby competition structure, I think that would be a really big statement for the game.”
Rugbynutter39
Michael Lynagh (62)
That is great news and definitely one part of developing our players and providing better pathways..
WorkingClassRugger
David Codey (61)
One of Melbourne based guys (I can't recall exactly who) highlighted what was going on behind the scenes a couple of weeks back. Good to see it come out of the CEO's mouth.
Sheepie
Sydney Middleton (9)
Hopefully a rejuvinated NRC gets supported properly by Stan and Rugby Australia too.
NRC you had to go out of your way to find anything about it. Half the time it wasn't in the Foxtel guide, I had to surf the Foxtel channels at times I knew games were meant to be playing if I wanted to watch it. Couldn't find replays on Foxtel Now or Kayo (most matches were at times I had other stuff on). The video quality was worse than what we're currently getting for Shute Shield / Hospital Cup. I had to go out and search for scores after the weekend.
The ARC to me felt like it had decent promotion & coverage from launch. I was disappointed when it didn't get the crowd support & the sponsors pulled out, killing it. NRC always felt like "Oh yeah, there's also that thing ... over there ..."
NRC you had to go out of your way to find anything about it. Half the time it wasn't in the Foxtel guide, I had to surf the Foxtel channels at times I knew games were meant to be playing if I wanted to watch it. Couldn't find replays on Foxtel Now or Kayo (most matches were at times I had other stuff on). The video quality was worse than what we're currently getting for Shute Shield / Hospital Cup. I had to go out and search for scores after the weekend.
The ARC to me felt like it had decent promotion & coverage from launch. I was disappointed when it didn't get the crowd support & the sponsors pulled out, killing it. NRC always felt like "Oh yeah, there's also that thing ... over there ..."
Rugbynutter39
Michael Lynagh (62)
ARC commercial model was wrong and took a whole bunch of 2003 RWC funding winfall with it. NRC at least was commercially self funding.
It does need some investment behind it and would assume any PE investment could be opportunity to use small portion for that. But got to get structure and commercial model right which in interview Marinos said working through the structure. I am not going to comment on what a structure could look like as got a zillion past posts on that....but hopefully whatever they come up with is viable as don't think anyone would agree that we need a second tier if TT results from this year are anything to go by (and success super rugby sides like Reds have had who utlised the NRC effectively vs the Tahs who didn't).
hoggy
Trevor Allan (34)
The issue you have is to make sure an NRC type comp is not used as some sort of quasi domestic model all of a sudden justifying a full TT, you will not get growth in Australia promoting your second division.
Rebel man
Jim Lenehan (48)
But a second division is exactly what we need both the NRL and AFL have reserve grade comps. Pro players don’t go back to club footy
hoggy
Trevor Allan (34)
Thats not what I said though, totally agree with a second division to help grow the strength of the game in this country, but don't want that used as "look now we have a domestic competition".
Regardless of the level below Super rugby in Australia, first and foremost Super rugby needs to be domestic based.
Rebel man
Jim Lenehan (48)
Super Rugby AU will never succeed in the long term
Dan54
Tim Horan (67)
Halle f***ing lujah!!! The most sensible thing I have heard out of RA all year, and best thing I have read in this thread !!
Better for rugby in Australia than any ideas that are been thrown around about different comp formats for Super rugby etc, because this is waht will make Australian teams better!!
I would add would love to see RA do some work in next few years on Secondary school rugby, just reading my NZ rugby news mag, and reading about the NZ rugby secondary school manager, and what they got him doing, it a fairly new role and seems a great idea.
Better for rugby in Australia than any ideas that are been thrown around about different comp formats for Super rugby etc, because this is waht will make Australian teams better!!
I would add would love to see RA do some work in next few years on Secondary school rugby, just reading my NZ rugby news mag, and reading about the NZ rugby secondary school manager, and what they got him doing, it a fairly new role and seems a great idea.
hoggy
Trevor Allan (34)
Rugbynutter39
Michael Lynagh (62)
I personally like a foot in both camps as who knows what will be successful long term. I think that sums up why so much debate on these threads.
Only thing for certain is we need to grow interest in the game to survive and be relevant. Rugby certainly a lot less relevant in the public domain then ten years ago...
dru
Tim Horan (67)
Ah. I had missed the subtlety as well. Agree with you.
Let's face it though, Hoggy - it's not what we are going to get.
Rebel man
Jim Lenehan (48)
Because playing the same 4 sides with 2 games a week and 8 games a year is crap. I watch it because I lover my Melbourne Rebels and Australian rugby more broadly and am not going to walk away but it’s a garbage comp
dru
Tim Horan (67)
You said a SRau comp will never succeed in the long term. Your reason why is a reason against a starting point. Not the long term.
Who knows, 2 wins in 4 rounds may well be marketable? I don't know how, but whatever. Personally it tastes like, smells like, sounds like, utter disaster.
Rebels3
Jim Lenehan (48)
Love it. Add sporadic games against kiwi/Japanese teams during the season in another comp and I’ll buy my season ticket for the next couple of years in advance. Domestic flavor - tick, international flavor - tick, multiple competitions to keep engagement - tick. Just add an NRC after the season and you have the right result
Bullrush
John Hipwell (52)
Because you're not forced to give up playing for NZ by leaving one of the 5 franchises.
Playing Super Rugby in Australia still leaves the AB dream alive but could turn into a Test opportunity even if NZ doesn't want you.
And you don't have to leave your friends and family halfway around the world - particularly in these times.
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