Australia A - Back on the Cards

[Wilson]

The question is obviously $$$

Absolutely, but we do need to be spending money right now to fix our problems and moving forward. I'm hopeful there is World Rugby money to take advantage of here as they need to be better funding the developing rugby nations if they're going to silo off the top teams in a world league, otherwise the gap at the world cup will widen.

I also think there is a vibe to take advantage of here and games in Spain and Portugal could actually be money spinners, particularly if they were timed well in the year to take advantage of traveling and ex-pat Aussies.

 

[PhilClinton]

I also think there is a vibe to take advantage of here and games in Spain and Portugal could actually be money spinners, particularly if they were timed well in the year to take advantage of traveling and ex-pat Aussies.

Hate to be cynical but the notion that travelling Aussies would go out of their way to attend a rugby game featuring Australia’s second side is surely one of the more far fetched things posted on these forums.

 

[Wilson]

Hate to be cynical but the notion that travelling Aussies would go out of their way to attend a rugby game featuring Australia’s second side is surely one of the more far fetched things posted on these forums.

When I lived in London I would've been all over Australia A playing in Spain or Portugal and know plenty of others who would've been the same. There's a decent latent supporter base of expats over there that can be tapped into, it's part of why the Wallabies still draw significant appearance fees for tests outside of the window. Beyond that Australians will absolutely travel - Australia has provided the second largest number of travelling fans at this world cup, only beaten by the UK. Certainly timing plays a role but catching the tail end of that annual migration for European summer could work well.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Hate to be cynical but the notion that travelling Aussies would go out of their way to attend a rugby game featuring Australia’s second side is surely one of the more far fetched things posted on these forums.

Kind of right.

I remember going to Australia A v Canada at Parramatta stadium in 2002 or early 2003 before the WC.

If you had these fixtures in Aus you try and make it something of a novelty and have them at Ballymore, Nth Sydney Oval etc that will get people wanting to go. Don't take it to Homebush or Marvel.

Off the back of some of the world cup performances I'd love to see proper Australia A tours of tier 2 nations bedded in going forward. Do a rotating model through the world cup cycle hitting ~3 teams from one of Americas (Uruguay, Chile, USA and Canada), Africa (Namibia and probably South Africa A or South African pro sides at this stage) and Europe (Spain, Portugal, Georgia, etc.) each year. These could potentially be run in concert with Wallabies tours in these regions to help off set costs and link the squads. Aside from supporting these countries development the standard is clearly lifting and the varieties of tactics and game style should help develop that next rung down of players and coaches. Without South Africa and Argentina in super rugby our players are getting significantly less experience playing away and touring so this will help bridge that gap as an added bonus. This would be in combination with some form of yearly tournament in the Pacific and assumes that Japan and Fiji are elevated to the Rugby Championship, otherwise they're the first places we should be engaging with. Now is the time to move on this, with World Rugby trying to get the league of nations over the line they'll hopefully be looking for a way to offer the tier 2 sides excluded from that something, which may see them contribute financially to a proposal like this.

Similarly I wouldn't mind seeing our super rugby sides look to book in games against tier 2 opposition as part of their desire for more off season rugby, but that may be a bit more difficult logistically and financially.

Edit: Forgot to mention I'd like to see this coupled with more full Wallabies tests against these nations, possibly a part of this could be a commitment to play a Wallabies test against any nation that beats Australia A within a few years of their victory.

Think the Pacific Nations Cup is a good place to start. The Tier 1 nations in the southern hemisphere should be encouraged to play Portugal, Spain, Romania whenever they go on the Spring tours.