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Has any thought been given to the idea of a Australian Super 14 Provincial reserves competition? I would have thought that having a reserves team for each of the four Aussie S14 provinces would then add up to eight professional teams, just like the ARC, and we could get a high standard curtain raiser to all our games while bridging the gap further between club and S14 level. I know we would only have four teams in this comp, but the teams could play each other twice each -home and away- resulting in six round robin matches and a final. (May not even need the final.)
Also, couldn't the highest placed Australian team in the Super 14 proper be named Australian Provincial Champion?
Then we could get on with consolidating the Australian Rugby Shield, adding an amateur Brisbane team and possibly NSW Subbies while re-introducing the Perth Gold. At the end of the season why couldn't the Shield Champion play against the winners of the Sydney and Brisbane Premierships in a very small tri-angular National Premier's Championship? We would then have a national champion for sub-provincial level. In addition to this an Australian Rugby Shield XV could be picked with possible games against Australian Universities or Services XV's, even games against the S14 Reserves. It could be seen as a direct pathway to professional rugby for stand-out amateur players from outside the Sydney and Brisbane Premiership heartlands.
The final piece would be to revive the Super 8 concept, having the four Australian S14 provinces playing against Tonga, Fiji, Samoa and Japan. I know this was vetoed by New Zealand originally, but so was WA's involvement in the Super 12 and we finally got that didn't we? After all, the IRB says it wants to give these teams consistent competition, so let's see them back up their words and support what could be the world's most exciting rugby competition.
At the very least, Australia would not have to worry anymore about being baited (usually by New Zealand) into establishing a costly national championship. The above-mentioned structure will yield at least five different national champions, all worthy of the title, throughout different levels of rugby.
Cheers,
Matty