Ra threatens to walk away from Super Rugby

[shasta]

Twiggy, broadcaster back Australia in Super stoush with New Zealand

Rugby Australia has received the backing of its broadcaster and billionaire mining magnate Andrew Forrest to go it alone in Super Rugby next year.

https://www.watoday.com.au/sport/rug...17-p5b28v.html

An interesting statement in this piece was...........

Stan Sport boss Ben Kimber also backed Australia’s willingness to canvas a domestic competition with, for example, two teams from the nursery states NSW and Queensland.

The concept was met with dismay from large sections of the rugby fan base, with many seeing value in Australian clubs playing their New Zealand rivals in Super Rugby.

I wonder if GRob is "going rogue" here considering her employer is the 9/Stan/Fairfax group.? The "large sections of the Rugby fan base" who are dismayed links to the below article where it seems this "large section" is only composed of Dave Rennie and JON

https://www.watoday.com.au/sport/rug...22-p5avtm.html

[.X.]

By G Rob

Rugby Australia has received the backing of its broadcaster and billionaire mining magnate Andrew Forrest to go it alone in Super Rugby next year.

As New Zealand Rugby called an emergency meeting with under-fire All Blacks coach, Ian Foster, RA was boosted by comments from Stan Sport and Forrest, whose company Tattarang funds the Western Force, encouraging it to do what’s right for the game in Australia.

RA and NZR are renegotiating their agreement to play in Super Rugby together beyond next season, with Australia after a bigger share of the broadcast rights revenue. As it stands, Sky pays NZR $89 million and Nine, the owner of Stan, pays RA $33 million per year.

New Zealand authorities have so far taken a sceptical view of Australia’s posturing, but it appears RA chairman Hamish McLennan has been marshalling support, with RA’s broadcast partner and Forrest both lining up behind his position.

“I always carry the oranges out for Australia so I completely support it,” Forrest said. “I had a very good experience with Global Rapid Rugby where we had other teams included when we looked north into Asia. We were able to have rule changes, so that made the game faster and more entertaining and a lot less stop-start, with more time in play. So I’m not concerned that it doesn’t have a lot of options if it decided to go it alone.”

Stan Sport boss Ben Kimber also backed Australia’s willingness to canvas a domestic competition with, for example, two teams from the nursery states NSW and Queensland.

The concept was met with dismay from large sections of the rugby fan base, with many seeing value in Australian clubs playing their New Zealand rivals in Super Rugby.

But Kimber said Stan Sport valued innovation and was prepared to look at anything RA thought merited attention. Rugby has been a strong performer for Stan and its parent company Nine, which broadcast a Saturday night game live on free-to-air. The recent England Test series was also a strong performer for Nine, with Saturday’s decider topping the night in the non-news offerings.

“We’ve shown over the last 18 months or so that we’ve got a fantastic, innovative partnership with Rugby Australia, and we’re constantly working with them to drive further growth for the game,” Kimber said.

“So we’re happy to sit down and consider any strategic options Rugby Australia develop to continue the upward trend we’re already seeing in the game here. ”

McLennan has framed his bombshell move as due diligence ahead of a likely private equity deal, telling Fox Sports last month: “The RA Board doesn’t want to prejudice the PE/debt process with any competitions presented as a fait accompli. Some board members have strong opinions that a domestic only competition like the AFL and NRL would generate more money for the game and that is fair comment.”

Australia will host a British and Irish Lions tour in 2025, then the men’s Rugby World Cup in 2027 and the women’s tournament in 2029. McLennan feels Australia’s commercial outlook is strong and gives RA some leverage with their trans-Tasman partners, despite bringing a much smaller sum to the table and no domestic third tier competition.

Forrest said he recognised the high performance and cultural contribution of New Zealand rugby to the 25-year-old Super Rugby competition, but thought Australia was right to stand up for its commercial interests.


“It’s common sense,” he said. “New Zealand is the best sporting team in the history of the game and there’s no question that part of that is the natural loyalty and spirit and talent that comes from there. But also a chunk of that is money and they’ve been able to invest in their game and their fans. Australia has to have the same opportunity if it is to really grow on an equal footing.

“I’m a person who relies on fairness in any business judgment I make and I’m also a person who loves New Zealand, but I run the oranges out for Australia.”

[chibi]

And now a word from the Betoota Advocate...

New Zealand Threatens To Join Breakaway Australian Rugby Comp From The Side

WENDELL HUSSEY | Cadet | CONTACT

Our neighbors across the ditch have today responded to some very undiplomatic threats.

The New Zealand Rugby Union has revealed that they will refuse to take any rebel Australian rugby competition lying down, promising to strike back if it were to arise.

This comes after Rugby Australia last week dropped a bombshell admission that they were thinking about letting the Kiwis play amongst themselves, seeing as they are just so good.

RA has promised to honour its commitments for 2023, but has floated the idea of peeling off and starting its own comp where the Australian win rate might tick over 50%.

That claim has angered our friends from the land of the long whine, who despite continually whinging about how shit and uncompetitive the comp is, are furious that they might be left to their own devices.

Richie McCaw, one of the spokespeople for the nation confirmed that he and his countrymen would flood any attempt to splinter off and get their hands on the ball by any means necessary.

“That’s the All Blacks and Crusaders mentality. We’ll be finding a way to come up with the ball and the referees will be convinced that we did it legally because of the subconscious big team bias that exists,” explained McCaw.

“So don’t you Aussies think that you can just peel off and do your own thing, because you need us to teach you how to play rugby,” he laughed.

While a few more Australian teams paired with the Fijian Drua and a couple of Japanese teams has been floated as an alternative, Richie said Australian rugby would die without relentless floggings at the hands of the Kiwi teams every week.

“The game in Australia needs you to be losing every single week, month and year,” he said.

“Otherwise you’ll become irrelevant,” said the former captain of a nation who likes to play B string tier-two sides whenever they can.

“You need us.”

More to come.

[shasta]

What a difference a few losses make.............

John Kirwan (referencing how ZA was not wanted in SR - among other things) "This Championship is a strong competition. Isn't that what we wanted? I love it when we beat ZA. They're our strongest foe. I love it when Australia is strong. They're our people."

Jeff Wilson. "Super Rugby has no future after 2023........... we have not put ourselves in a position where our relationships are strong enough to do what is best, not just for our game, but for world Rugby...."

I'm too tech illiterate to put the video in the message body as X does. Best I can do below. Seems to work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnbAy35Evc8

[GIGS20]

What a difference a few losses make.............

John Kirwan (referencing how ZA was not wanted in SR - among other things) "This Championship is a strong competition. Isn't that what we wanted? I love it when we beat ZA. They're our strongest foe. I love it when Australia is strong. They're our people."

Jeff Wilson. "Super Rugby has no future after 2023........... we have not put ourselves in a position where our relationships are strong enough to do what is best, not just for our game, but for world Rugby...."

I'm too tech illiterate to put the video in the message body as X does. Best I can do below. Seems to work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnbAy35Evc8

That's all cool, but Kirwan and Wilson are NZR's version of a breakfast radio Shock Jock. they only say what will get them air time and reaction, they don't necessarily believe anything and if the air time/reaction requires it they will passionately argue against their own statements.

[shasta]

That's all cool, but Kirwan and Wilson are NZR's version of a breakfast radio Shock Jock. they only say what will get them air time and reaction, they don't necessarily believe anything and if the air time/reaction requires it they will passionately argue against their own statements.

Well I think those 2 + Mils are held in pretty (deservedly) high regard over there so I doub't they need to generate hype. But they do seem to have toned down the outrage at Hamish McLennans stance and are now saying the wheels have fallen off since Steve Tew, Steve Hansen & Graham Henry all departed.

[.X.]

What a difference a few losses make.............

John Kirwan (referencing how ZA was not wanted in SR - among other things) "This Championship is a strong competition. Isn't that what we wanted? I love it when we beat ZA. They're our strongest foe. I love it when Australia is strong. They're our people."

Jeff Wilson. "Super Rugby has no future after 2023........... we have not put ourselves in a position where our relationships are strong enough to do what is best, not just for our game, but for world Rugby...."

I'm too tech illiterate to put the video in the message body as X does. Best I can do below. Seems to work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnbAy35Evc8

Like this

[shasta]

Like this

Ah, not exactly. I've noticed that your method ends up showing an empty panel on mobile devices. A URL works on those and PC. Sometimes the simplest way works - one for the old farts.

[.X.]

Ah, not exactly. I've noticed that your method ends up showing an empty panel on mobile devices. A URL works on those and PC. Sometimes the simplest way works - one for the old farts.

I didn't know that. My apologies to all.

I just use the buttons on the website

[Leo86]

I didn't know that. My apologies to all.

I just use the buttons on the website

Works good for me... although I have my TWF tab set as Desktop view