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No brainer - Japan. If they go with Melbourne, the ARU might as well bring in the liquidators now. Melbourne people will not support rugby - simple. Melbourne people call the Storm, a rugby team - they don't have a clue about the difference. As for the crowds for rugby tests in Melbourne, don't be fooled, a BIG % are fly in/fly out spectators.
There should be no consideration of another Australian team for many, many years. The introduction of the Force created a very big drain in depth. The result has been to weaken provinces like ACT and Qld with the Reds only starting to now rebuild their depth - this has had an obviously devastating affect on crowd averages that are now down to around 20000.
We must give the four Australian teams a lot of time to recoup/consolidate. Whilst the Force have been very pleasing these past two years, they also need time to consolidate - particularly if there are some key player losses in the next two years.