[2014 Super Rugby] Australian conference

[TRF_stormer2010]

I don't know. I don't see the current Beale as either a better 10 than Foley or a better 15 than Folau. Moving Folau to wing to make a place for Beale at the back is probably the best option to make room for all your 'name' players but I like Crawford and think Folau needs as much time as possible at 15 (putting the Wallabies ahead of the 'Tahs). I mean, it's not as if Beale won't get time seeing as SR has become a half marathon rather than a 800m run.

 

[Darwin]

Any chance of Volavola playing at 12?

Personally I'd like a Waratahs backline of

9.Phipps, 10.Foley, 11.Betham, 12.Volavola, 13.AAC, 14.Crawford, 15.Folau
20.McKibbin, 21.Beale, 22.Horne

As far as I'm aware Volavola hasn't had any experience at 12. He made a good impact at times last season from the bench with his elusive running, but struggled a bit in his sole start (vs the Brumbies). I'm not sure about him in the midfield as his defense looked a bit suspect at times last season, and I think the Waratahs need a harder running option in the midfield to bail out Beale/Foley when required. I'm not a big fan of Horne but he is a strong defender and can get his team over the advantage line. One of the problems the Waratahs have is that Beale, Foley, and Volavola all play a very similar style. They are all elusive runners but all seem to play mainly on instinct - I'm not sure any of them have the ability to control the game from the 10 jersey. Personally I think all three are better suited to fullback than 10.

If Beale is on form (a big if!) he will be a key for the Waratahs, as at his best he is world class. However over the last few years he has been very inconsistent....

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

As far as I'm aware Volavola hasn't had any experience at 12. He made a good impact at times last season from the bench with his elusive running, but struggled a bit in his sole start (vs the Brumbies). I'm not sure about him in the midfield as his defense looked a bit suspect at times last season, and I think the Waratahs need a harder running option in the midfield to bail out Beale/Foley when required. I'm not a big fan of Horne but he is a strong defender and can get his team over the advantage line. One of the problems the Waratahs have is that Beale, Foley, and Volavola all play a very similar style. They are all elusive runners but all seem to play mainly on instinct - I'm not sure any of them have the ability to control the game from the 10 jersey. Personally I think all three are better suited to fullback than 10.

If Beale is on form (a big if!) he will be a key for the Waratahs, as at his best he is world class. However over the last few years he has been very inconsistent....

Ja, I soppose there is little point in having the board stacked with elusive playmakers and not having 1 'wrecking ball' type player in there to cover the bases.

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

The Reds have named their squad for their upcoming match with the Chiefs, it's actually not far from a full strength team...

Queensland Reds: Aiden Toua, Dom Shipperley, Ben Tapuai, Mike Harris, Lachie Turner, Quade Cooper, Will Genia, Jake Schatz, Liam Gill, Eddie Quirk, James Horwill (captain), Rob Simmons, James Slipper, Saia Fainga'a, Ben Daley. Reserves: Greg Holmes, Albert Anae, Jono Owen, Ed O'Donoghue, Blake Enever, Dave McDuling, Curtis Browning, Nick Frisby, Chris Kuridrani, Samuela Kerevi, Chris Feauai-Sautia, Rod Davies, Jonah Placid.

And the Waratahs and the Blues have both announced their squads for their match. Marshall gets another go at first five for the Blues, meanwhile Folau will return via the bench for the Waratahs:

Blues: Sam Prattley, James Parsons, Angus Ta'avao, Liaki Moli, Tom Donnelly, Kane Barrett, Luke Braid, Peter Saili; Bryn Hall, Benji Marshall, Tevita Li, Jackson Willison, George Moala, Frank Halai, Albert Nikoro. Reserves: Greg Pleasants-Tate, Tom McCartney, Ofa Tu'ungafasi, William Lloyd, Patrick Tuipulotu, Jordan Manihera, Brendon O'Connor, Sonatane Takulua, Chris Noakes, Simon Hickey, Francis Saili, Lolagi Visinia, Baden Kerr, Charles Piutau.

Waratahs: Kurtley Beale, Matthew Carraro, Rob Horne, Jono Lance, Peter Betham, Bernard Foley, Nick Phipps, Wycliff Palu, Pat McCutcheon, Dave Dennis (captain), Will Skelton, Kane Douglas, Paddy Ryan, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Benn Robinson. Reserves: Michael Hooper, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Israel Folau (others TBC).

 

[Darwin]

Interesting to see Kurtley Beale was given the 2nd half of the last trial match for the Waratahs at 12 (outside Foley). Personally I'm not convinced about this option, but it seems they are giving the 'dual-playmaker' option serious consideration.....

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Interesting to see Kurtley Beale was given the 2nd half of the last trial match for the Waratahs at 12 (outside Foley). Personally I'm not convinced about this option, but it seems they are giving the 'dual-playmaker' option serious consideration.....

It might give them 2 more tries in an open game where they would probably already be winning. I do think however that the more... serious teams would be licking their lips at the prospect of attacking a 10 Foley, 12 Beale combination all day long and though Folau has been amazing in adapting to Union I still think a clever team can capitalize on his ineperience at 15 positionally.

 

[flying tiger]

The financial malaise plaguing Aussie rugby Roar Guru By Yousef Teclab, 13 Feb 2014 Yousef Teclab is a Roar Guru

Tagged: Australian Rugby Union, Bill Pulver, National Rugby Championship, Rugby Union, Super Rugby
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In just a few days the 2014 Super Rugby season kicks off as the South African conference gets underway, with last season's surprise packets the Cheetahs facing this season's newcomers, the Lions.

Meanwhile, the Australian conference kicks off on February 22 with a crunch clash between the Reds and Brumbies in Canberra, with the New Zealand conference also starting that day.

But with the arrival of a new season in the Southern Hemisphere there is worry within Australian club rugby about the state of the game – most notably when it comes to finances.

In terms of 2013 the Australian Rugby Union gained $100 million in revenue for the year but merely received a turnover of $10 million.

That is despite the Lions tour which, although ending in defeat for the Wallabies, was a success financially with travelling Lions fans generating an estimated $150 million for the Australian economy.

Current chief executive of the ARU Bill Pulver does not hide the fact that their financial situation "would have been very precarious" were it not for the Lions tour.

Moreover, at the provincial level the five franchises that make up Australia's contingent within Super Rugby aren't doing well financially. Of the five franchises, only the Reds posted a profit last year.

The other four Australian teams are haemorrhaging money, though the Brumbies' surprise and heroic run to the final has left them better off than the other three Australian franchises.

Melbourne Rebels have struggled despite funding from the ARU since their founding in 2010, while the Western Force have lost their main sponsor Emirates leaving up to a $1 million hole in their budget.

The Waratahs' poor attendances are hurting them financially, as is losing HSBC as their main sponsor. Waratahs chief executive Jason Allen said the impact of losing HSBC's sponsorship has led them to be "50 percent worse off" than they were this time last year.

Adding to the gloom Bill Pulver has admitted 2014 could be tough and this season's Super Rugby season will run at a financial loss.

So just why are the ARU in such financial strife?

"Poor results plus poor rugby by both the Wallabies and Australian Super Rugby teams hasn't helped," journalist John Davidson explains. "The Force and Rebels have been poor for years while the Waratahs have under performed. The only teams to have done well in recent years are the Reds and Brumbies.

"But sport is a very competitive market in Australia with rugby union struggling, particularly with the rise of the A-League. Player salaries are high with many Wallabies overpaid. Rugby needs to grow its fan-base, better engage with them and better market its game."

Davidson is certainly right when it comes to the salaries of players. Quade Cooper's deal with the ARU, which reportedly runs out at the end of this year, is worth $800,000 per season.

The ARU noted just how high the salaries are and acted upon it in October. As part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (to last 10 years) between the ARU, the rugby union Players' Association and the five Australian Super Rugby franchises, the Wallabies Test match payments given to centrally contracted players is cut for the next two years from $13,100 to $10,000 per Test match.

But in a difficult environment where rugby union is competing with a multitude of sports in Australia, the game has found it difficult to fend off other competitions like the NRL, A-League and AFL.

Davidson lays the reasons why that is the case in a social but also geographical context.

"Rugby remains a private school, middle to upper class game, mainly restricted to New South Wales and Queensland," he says. "Both the NRL and AFL have grown massively in the past few years, gaining bumper TV deals.

"Regarding the A-League it is starting to grow, heading towards an upward curve, backed by soccer being the biggest participation of sport in the country. Worryingly from the four codes mentioned above it is rugby union that is smallest of those codes."

The TV deals for the three codes battling rugby union are extensive. The NRL in August 2012 announced a five-year TV deal with free-to-air broadcaster Channel Nine and pay subscription channel Fox Sports worth $1.025 billion dollars.

For the AFL, their five-year TV deal announced in 2011 goes even higher – worth $1.253 billion and lasts until the 2016 season– and represents a 24 percent increase from its previous deal. The broadcasters are a mix of subscription-based channels (Foxtel) and free-to-air networks (Seven) along with digital content provider Telstra.

The A-League pales in comparison with the AFL and NRL television rights deal, but its four-year deal lasting until 2016 is worth $160 million and includes games broadcast primarily on Foxtel but also shown on free-to-air television (SBS) for the first time.

Super Rugby's five-year TV deal lasts until the end of the 2015 season and when it was negotiated with the SANZAR nations of South Africa, New Zealand and Australia is worth $437 million overall.

Super Rugby in Australia is exclusively shown on Fox Sports – more of a hindrance than a positive. When the new TV rights are up for negotiation come 2015, the outcome is vital for Australian rugby.

"The ARU needs an increase from what it currently receives and also has to find a way to get Super Rugby on free-to-air television," Davidson says. "That is a must, even if it is just one game per week. Being just on pay TV restricts the audience massively."

When comparing with the AFL, NRL and A-League it is likelier for the average sports fan to watch a sport being broadcast live on free-to-air TV than a sport solely exclusive to pay TV. At least Bill Pulver has recognised this, leading him to harbour hopes that one day Super Rugby games involving at least the Australian franchises will be on free-to-air television.

One small respite for the ARU is the possible expansion of Super Rugby in 2016 to Argentina, opening up the market to the Americas.

Asia has been mooted as a possible route of expansion but it is more likely an Argentine team will be admitted, plus a seventh South African franchise – probably the Southern Kings.

Though an Argentine team in Super Rugby could prove to be a logistical challenge in itself, the value of the new Super Rugby TV deal when up for negotiation in 2015 can increase when factoring in Argentina.

Ever since Argentina entered the Rugby Championship in 2012 their revenue has skyrocketed making profits of 100 million pesos ($14.1 million) in two years. It's an impressive result for a country whose game is amateur, only now trying to move to professionalism while using the amateur game as a means to finding and developing young talent.

Added to that, several sponsors such as Renault, Nike, Samsung, Dove, Deloitte and Visa (the latter being their shirt sponsor) have signed deals with the Pumas merely increasing their revenue.

UAR board member and legendary scrum half Agustin Pichot has indicated that an Argentine Super Rugby franchise would be 51 percent funded by the UAR and the rest by private investors.

That means income will be generated via sponsorship deals at an increasing rate, boosting the coffers of the UAR.

It is a far cry from Australia where Bill Pulver has recently implemented a levy of $200 on every club team in Australia, including junior clubs, in a bid to stop the game going broke.

This move by Pulver has been lambasted, leading to many rugby clubs in New South Wales refusing to pay the levy.

Former Wallaby coach John Connolly aired his disapproval for the levy: "If you compromise the development of your juniors at some point you will pay for it."

In its attempt to improve the country's depth of players and unearth young talent, the ARU has launched the National Rugby Championship. Kicking off in August, it is Australia's version of New Zealand's ITM Cup and South Africa's Currie Cup.

Pulver has pointed to the fact it is Fox Sports and Foxtel that will cover the costs of the competition via a two-year sponsorship deal, shielding it from any potential losses.

The ARU hope to generate some sort of profit from this (or at the very least no financial losses) but also improve the level of depth within Australian rugby.

But will it work? Davidson highlights one problem and that is where the NRC is being broadcast.

"I hope it will be a success but doubt it will be," he says. "Its predecessor, the ARC in 2007, was a huge failure."

Davidson's assessment of the ARC being a huge failure is an understatement. The Australian Rugby Championship was scrapped after one year after the ARU made a $5 million loss on it.

It did not help that they had to pay the ABC just to broadcast the event, which is never a good sign of a competition's prospects.

But if the NRC doesn't work and just deepens the financial woes of the ARU, could the ARU be forced to bin one of its Super Rugby teams in the future to cut costs?

"I wouldn't be surprised if they do," comes Davidson's telling response.

Cutting costs in an attempt to ease the financial problems plaguing Australian rugby at the moment seems a short-term measure.

To solve the financial malaise in the game, an inquiry needs to set out permanent measures to improve the financial situation in Australia for good. That way the game in Australia can take steps forward to safeguard the future of the game.

Only time will tell if this will happen. If not there will be genuine fears for the code

 

[flying tiger]

Super Rugby 2014 : Rebels

Super RugbyFixturesWallabiesLions TourRugby Championship6 NationsRugby RSSRebels risk losing Melbourne fans By Ben Horne, 13 Feb 2014

Tagged: Rebels, Rugby Union, Super Rugby, Tony McGahan
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Melbourne coach Tony McGahan admits the Rebels risk losing their fragile hold on a Victorian supporter base if they can’t overcome the loss of several high-profile stars this Super Rugby season.

With noted disciplinarian McGahan at the helm, rival teams are predicting the Rebels to be a potential dark horse in the hotly contested Australian Conference, but the new coach has warned of the consequences if they don’t.

The Rebels are trying to establish a strong club culture in a saturated AFL market that also boasts the consistently successful NRL side, the Melbourne Storm.

Melbourne have gradually improved in their three seasons of Super Rugby, but are yet to threaten for a finals berth, and last year they were set back by negative headlines surrounding big-name players Kurtley Beale and James O’Connor.

Without the trouble-making pair, the Rebels have a chance for a fresh start, but at the same time they are forced to forge ahead without two of their most marketable and match-winning commodities.

McGahan says his focus has been on enhancing the attitude and self-belief of his team of underdogs, which starts with improving their defence.

“For us we really want to make sure we’re consistent. Winning our home games is the No.1 priority,†he told AAP.

“We know there’s not a lot of time and patience out there for any code or any team for that mater.

We have been in the competition three years and in normal circumstances we’ve got longer, but we understand the market we’re in.

“We’re under no illusions we need to get results to have a team and a style of play members can identify with. And that’s in a tough market down there with the Melbourne Storm who do exceptionally well.â€

NSW rival Michael Cheika used to come up against McGahan in European rugby clashes, and says the Rebels have appointed a coach who knows how to get consistency from his players.

Five-eighth is the great unknown for Melbourne, with youngster Bryce Hegarty expected to shoulder responsibilities at No.10.

The Rebels are undefeated in their trial matches and halfback Luke Burgess said McGahan had flicked a switch in the group.

“He’s not prepared to ask someone to do something he’s not prepared to do himself,†Burgess said.

“His work ethic is incredible, I’ve never met anyone like him in rugby. It’s pretty inspirational to hear him talk about his expectations.â€

The Western Force were the only team not properly represented at Wednesday’s Super Rugby launch in Sydney, with coach Michael Foley and captain Matt Hodgson not making the trip across.

However, other coaches and key personnel were tipping a dog-fight in the Australian Conference, with last year’s grand finalists the Brumbies and 2011 premiers Queensland to once again lead the way, with the Waratahs â€" armed with star recruits â€" to make a charge.

“e’re just hungry, we’re looking forward to it,†said Reds halfback Will Genia.

 

[flying tiger]

Injury replacement signs to train alongside locals, including Joe Kamana (pictured)

Merriman, a former Australian U20s representative and Australia A Schoolboys captain, has been a member of the Australian Rugby Union's National Academy for the last two seasons.

"I am very excited to be down here," Merriman said. "There are a few familiar faces here from Sydney University, such as Sam Jeffries, and I'll be staying with him and Alex Rokobaro initially before I move in with a Rebels Board Member; they'll be able to show me the ropes around Melbourne.

20 year old scrumhalf Jock Merriman has joined the RaboDirect Rebels on a six week supplementary contract. Merriman will provide competition for Luke Burgess and Ben Meehan, with scrumhalf Nic Stirzaker set to miss six weeks with an ankle injury.

Merriman is familiar with Rebels' Assistant Coach Sean Hedger, having worked with him at the National Academy, and is looking forward to again linking up with him.
I got to know Sean well in Sydney last year, and also had a few sessions with Tony McGahan when he helped us out, so it will be good to be coached by them again. Sean called and said Nic was going to have a stint on the sidelines, so obviously I jumped at the opportunity (to come down)."

Merriman is not expecting to make his Super Rugby debut whilst in Melbourne, however sees plenty of positives in the opportunity presented to him.

"Coming down here was a little unexpected, but I have come with the goal in mind of becoming a better player," he says. "It would be a bit eager of me to expect to play any Super Rugby, but if that chance came then I would definitely try and make the most of it."

Merriman meets up with the squad immediately, and will join locals Martin Naufahu and Joe Kamana in training with the Rebels. Wing Kamana impressed while playing the first half in the Club's trial win against the Waratahs in Albury, as well as featuring in the matchday squad against the Hurricanes in Geelong, while Naufahu was in the Albury matchday squad.

2013 Australian Schoolboys representative Fereti Sa'aga is also combining his training duties between the Rebels and the Victorian U20s squad, while trialist hooker Steve Faulau remains with the Club as an injury replacement for Tom Sexton who was ruled out for the 2014 Super Rugby Season with a new injury.

 

[flying tiger]

McGahan's Rebels looking for fresh start

When new coach Tony McGahan arrived at the Melbourne Rebels the first thing he did was put a broom through the Super Rugby club in all senses.

While a swag of players followed troublesome twosome James O'Connor and Kurtley Beale out the door, McGahan tasked his squad with redecorating their training headquarters.

It represented a fresh start and new high standards at the club.

The former Wallabies assistant, who won a championship coaching Irish club Munster, then set about putting the players through a pre-season many described as the toughest of their careers.

There's no question the 2014 Rebels are better prepared than ever but with the departure of backline stars O'Connor and Beale and also Wallaby halfback Nick Phipps, there's still a question of whether they will actually be better.

Because McGahan wasn't at the club during their time, he's reluctant to dwell on their contribution and instead focused on getting the best out of the players he has.

"We've really been concentrating on our fundamentals and about the way we conduct ourselves and the way we train," McGahan said.

"Now we're slowly adding our pieces to our game."

Those pieces including a heavy focus on defence, long the Rebels' weakness.

Their other target has been building a winning culture.

Last year Melbourne lost five games by seven points or less. If they can turn such close defeats into victories it will make a huge difference on their 12th place finish.

Former Test No.9 Luke Burgess replaced Phipps while other notable newcomers include props Toby Smith and Max Lahiff, former All Black centre Tamati Ellison and ex-Waratahs Tom Kingston and Lopeti Timani.

A lot will depend on the development of 21-year-old Bryce Hegarty, charged with the play-making duties in the absence of Beale and O'Connor. His combination with the experienced Burgess will be key.

Jason Woodward was one of the finds of 2013 and McGahan said he was relying on the Kiwi fullback to again shine.

"We're really eager to see Jason perform again. He certainly played some good rugby last year in his first season and he probably caught a lot of people unaware of his ability.

"This year he's really keen to take that forward and he's got a bit of scrutiny on him and expectation at the same time."

McGahan said he couldn't have asked for more from the group since his arrival and he hopes they reap the rewards come their opening match against the Cheetahs on February 28.

"I'm really impressed with their spirit and their intent to do well and be successful," he said.

They're really strong characteristics that we're going to carry forward and they're going to be what's required if we're going to be successful this year."