Going t!ts-up down under?

Following its southerly trend in the 4Ns and the World rankings, it appears Australian RU despite being hard-wired into the IRB rule makers still can't keep up the game's popularity on their patch.

Performance payments are now the order of the day it seems.
http://www.espn.co.uk/australia/rugby/story/202683.html

Need...tiny..violin...smilie...

this bit caught my eye...

"ARU...years of over-expenditure, largely with executive salaries."

Union control not working out so well in a country with bigger, more professional alternative sports. Sad, but cant say its surprising.

On the flipside, at least we'll get to see more of the top Aus players over here in club rugby going forwards  

On the flipside, at least we'll get to see more of the top Aus players over here in club rugby going forwards .

Taking the spots of young English / British lads...erm no thanks! They can keep them! or go to British Bulldog...sorry League.

quinsforever wrote:this bit caught my eye...

"ARU...years of over-expenditure, largely with executive salaries."

Union control not working out so well in a country with bigger, more professional alternative sports. Sad, but cant say its surprising.

On the flipside, at least we'll get to see more of the top Aus players over here in club rugby going forwards  

I enjoyed that little quip from Martin Bayfield on last night's Rugby Tonight programme when he suggested that all of the potential England players would be bought by Sarries.

GeordieFalcon wrote:

On the flipside, at least we'll get to see more of the top Aus players over here in club rugby going forwards  .

Taking the spots of young English / British lads...erm no thanks! They can keep them! or go to British Bulldog...sorry League.

well i'd definitely prefer to see genuine stars over journeymen mercenaries. totally agree about need to keep young english lads coming through the system and getting top class matches. but i'd also like them to play alongside the top international players.

Funny that straight after Australian sporting administrators chase down and uncover some pretty institutionalised forms of articifially enhanced performances in some of it's more popular sports, that Australian rugby starts to slide dramatically in terms of...performance?

Is that me being just far too cynical or ......................?

Didn't get what you mean SecretFly

I doubt it as there has been absolutely no mention of union players in the whole thing. Oz rugby had a heap of retirements and unfortunately for them the replacements weren't as good.

If it applies to Rugby Union players one of two things will happen they will go League.
ORfollow the big money i.e Japan or France,as to falling apart?lets see how they go when
there injured stars are fit.Come 2014 RC they will be back in the IRB top 3 again
count on it.

5 super rugby teams must be a big drain on resources?


Also the Top 14 is having an effect. They've lost the likes of Matt Giteau and now Ioane to the riches of the Top 14 and probably has to increase wages for everyone.

Rugby is the (very) poor cousin of all other winter sports. NRL and AFL both have $billion+ tv deals (over 5 years) and the A-league is also well funded. The Aust winter sport market is the most competitive in the world - 20 NRL teams (with reserve sides and U 20's) , 20+ AFL sides (also with reserve and feeder comps) and 10 A-league sides who take the cream of the talent - maybe upwards of 1000 pro athletes all up. NRL scouts wait with cheque book in hand outside Rugby carnivals and offer 50k+ contracts to all the good prospects. Rugby, in general, gets the leftovers or players who the NRL scouts somehow miss. It's wonder the Wallabies are competitive at all, let alone ranked in the top 4.

One positive I think is Bill Pulver. He's less of a statesman than O'Neill was, but he seems smart, is attacking the right things and is not bs'ing everyone about the challenge.

He also appears to enjoy sacking people, which is not a bad thing for an institution which shows all signs of having gotten fat and ineffective in the good times, but hasn't accepted the good times have past and it's now time to battle.

I do wonder if he really knew the reality of the deck JON left him, but he's having a good crack imo.

emack2 wrote:If it applies to Rugby Union players one of two things will happen they will go League.
ORfollow the big money i.e Japan or France,as to falling apart?lets see how they go when
there injured stars are fit.Come 2014 RC they will be back in the IRB top 3 again
count on it.

It'll be interesting to see which of NZ or SA drops out of the top 3 then.

LOL

When you think AUS have players like  Cooper, Genia, Horwill, Auelua, Pocock, Mowem, Higginbottom, Ashley-Cooper, Folau, O'Connor, Mogg, Beale etc then things don't look too bad.

All teams go through rough patches, even NZ once went through a season without winning a competitive match....0 wins, 4 losses in the 3N 98 and another loss in the final BC match.

The issue for them is if the players are hit in their pockets, how many will jump ship to richer and more pleasant shores??

No one wants to stick around to play in a losing team or one that pays less then their competitors (in AUS' case, league and AFL etc)... they could lose a few of their top players which will make things more and more difficult.

Well AFL tends to suck in a different physique type of players, all hard and solid for sure but a lot of them would make good locks.
NRL meanwhile will probably benefit more from any rugby defecting players.

Am hoping the new regime will stir up the rugby again and make us back to where we were in the late 90's and be more competitive.

Spirit is one thing I think lacking in the Wallabies squad at the mo. Doesn't matter if you have class players in your squad if they're not proud of the jersey, a squad of average good players with commitments and pride will still be as, if not more, competitive.

from an outsider's perspective, it looks like the "stars" in the Aus setup are fairly disruptive. they seem to get away with silly off-field behaviour and i cant imagine that does anything for dressing room harmony. ashley-cooper, quade cooper, beale.

does the central contracting encourage the star-who-can-do-and-say-whatever-they-want mentality?

totally agree re a squad of average good players with commitments and pride will still be as, if not more, competitive. Exeter chiefs would be a prime example this season.

Slightly off subject but Mean while in the wonderful world of NH Rugby.
Toulon have decided to reject the new set up claiming it is racist.
BECAUSE they are limiting the number of overseas players in the
squads in the new setup.
Also the French are paying bonuses who have more than 55% [the average]
in French Clubs.Presumably to restore the balance which was getting out
of hand.

Get rid of the Melbourne Rebels or The Force and cut down on the number of professional players getting dragged in from league and overseas that's what I would suggest to them