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O'Neill sets up Super 15 for 2010
By Jon Geddes
September 10, 2008 12:00am
ARU general manager John O'Neill has unveiled plans for a major shake-up of the rugby landscape in 2010 - including a fifth Australian side to take part in an expanded Super 15 competition.
O'Neill revealed details of the exciting blueprint for the future as guest speaker at a sellout luncheon at The Rugby Club in the city. "I think in 2010 we'll have Super 15 and with an extra team in Australia - I don't know where yet,'' he said.
The Super tournament is set to be expanded from its current 15 weeks to between 24 and...Read More Here.
I'd really like to see the format. They currently have 16 weeks (not 15), so with another team and an extra final week, it would be 18. Assume a second bye week and it would be 19, with four more games for the domestic conference taking it to 23. So what are the extras that push it out to 24-26 weeks?
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
i think they should wait another couple of years. australian rugby is still recovering from the start of the force, with already-wallabies and future wallabies over west other s14 teams have suffered a bit. one aussie team has made one grand final since the start of the force and im not sure every s14 club will be ready for their players to all disappear by 2010.
maybe 2011 or 2012...
A kick in this game is like a rather nasty alcoholic shooter, only as good as it's chaser...
Courtesy of quality South African commentry
Ah, we knew all of this already... I want to know where the new team's actually going!
In an ideal world you would delay the expansion til 2011, when the new tv deal comes in, but the threat from Europe has become too great. As it is, the Super 14 teams don't generate enough money to keep all of the top players here and there is no top-level rugby after May for those players not in the Wallabies.
Like the final line of the article says: "It means for the Tahs, the Brumbies, the Reds, the Force and wherever the fifth team goes, they will all have a home-and-away against each other so they can become more viable financially.''
I agree, Andy S - I really like the format but I also came up with 23 weeks![]()
What a moron ONeil is
Exile
Port Macquarie
"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! Now if you know what you’re worth then go out and get what you’re worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain’t you! You’re better than that!" - Rocky Balboa
Six team finals sets up a possibility of more than one more week for the finals series (ie preliminary, qualifying, semi, grand) or something even more convoluted!
ps Beige, I reckon putting all this in place before the TV deal is renewed could work in our favour. It'll still increase the revenue of the teams already playing through increased takings, It'll add another team to the comp which will either be a PI team at no cost to us or a team with a funding model like the's which will be pretty self-sufficient. Either way, the money's pretty much taken care of and the negotiators can point to a significant upturn in gates to push for a better TV deal. It might just work out better than negotiating on the promise of doing it all.
The risk is that we spend all the money and gate takings fall....then the TV deal will be no better than what we've got!
C'mon the![]()
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That is my guess too - six weeks of finals to bore the tits off everyone.
we dont do it every time though BLR.
jargs has a legitimate point. one which has been raised by more people than just him before.
Jo'Burg isnt something the wallabies do every tour. while we may not always win away games. we certainley dont get flogged like we did against the saffas. we just had a bad game. we might have lost last night but we sure as hell played truckloads better than we did in africa.
Funny, I didnt know we played touring Northern Nations in Jo'Burg?? Which was the point of the post
That was a Tri-Nations game against a strong opponent. As opposed to playing the likes of 3rd String Welsh, English, French etc sides who usually lose quite convincingly
I don't remember mentioning the 3N at all...................![]()
New Coach new tactics, who knows if Dingo will rest players like he did in Jo'Burg more often. The NH teams have a much more complicated club scene so often the unions hands are tied, Dingo fielded alot of players not good enough simply because he wanted to. The comparison is pretty apt.
We shipped in and shipped out 5 players for the game, and went from a competitive win to a abysmal loss due to the lack of quality....sounds familiar.,,