A big sign the Rugby Championship doesn't work

[User1245]

I have genuine fears that serious mismanagement, in-fighting and parochialism have done irreversible damage to Australian Rugby.

RA and all the state unions are losing lots of money every year, stadiums are empty, etc.

People just turn to a sport that isn't malfunctioning, and there are plenty available in Aus.

It's only been 10 months but what has Raelene Castle done so far?

 

[Kiwiwomble]

i can say profile in Melbourne is almost non existent, i know it is completely a AFL town but you cant right off 4.5m potential fans

 

[Steeler]

that seems a bit boring, only get really excited about something every four years?

how about the Raeburn Shield / TRF Shield, would people get excited if it was a real thing? The Ranfurly Shield adds some excitement to games that might otherwise be a dead rubber

could make the RC every 2 years

like in soccer they have the European championship between the world cups

would make the comp more interesting to win

 

[Steeler]

that seems a bit boring, only get really excited about something every four years?

how about the Raeburn Shield / TRF Shield, would people get excited if it was a real thing? The Ranfurly Shield adds some excitement to games that might otherwise be a dead rubber

could make the RC every 2 years

like in soccer they have the European championship between the world cups

would make the comp more interesting/rare to win

then fill the rest of the other seasons with test series

 

[Oliver Madden]

I think one of the main problems with the rugby championship is the schedule. its boring. my schedule would be:
R1 - Arg v NZ, Aus v SA
R2 - NZ v Aus, SA v Arg
R3 - SA v NZ, Arg v Aus
R4 - NZ v SA, Aus v Arg
R5 - NZ v Arg, SA v Aus
R6 - Aus v NZ, Arg v SA

I know this would be tough on Argentina starting at home to NZ but I think that would be their best chance of running NZ close. that schedule doesn't seem as unfavourable to Argentina and South Africa as the current one. I don't mind the double-header format but I think it should be in rounds 3 and 4 and not 1 and 2. I think this schedule would give the Boks in particular a better chance of challenging the All Blacks more. going back to whether the RC or 6N is better, personally, as a follower of NH rugby I love the passion, intensity and history of the 6 nations. However I would say that some of the quality of rugby in the RC is far beyond what the 6 nations can offer. the two NZ v SA games this year are prime examples. some of this is down to the weather in the NH but more of it In my view is down to the superior skillset of the Southern Hemisphere teams.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

if im reading that correctly

RSA finish the comp away in nz...home for arg and then away again to Arg

and Nz starts

away to arg...home to Aus and then away to RSA

cant see how that better than the current of Nz and Aus doing Arg and RSA away on one trip...

 

[TRF_heineken]

if im reading that correctly

RSA finish the comp away in nz...home for arg and then away again to Arg

and Nz starts

away to arg...home to Aus and then away to RSA

cant see how that better than the current of Nz and Aus doing Arg and RSA away on one trip...

Yeah, that makes absolutely no sense. The travelling alone would make it extra gruesome on all the teams. There is no way RSA would abide with that schedule, especially if they have to travel twice to and from Australasia.

 

[Steeler]

with SA improving i think the comp is going to start getting beter anyway, SA were pretty close this year to winning, just two bad games vs Aus and Arg spoiled it for them

aus on their day can give us a game too in Sydney, dnt think the comps completely dead, i still enjoy it

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

One of the reasons that I only ever dip in and out of the RC is that the home and away structure makes it overly repetitious. Forget the relative strengths for the moment, but Aus vs NZ ought to be an eagerly anticipated "local" tear up in any sport. But since the start of the millennium they have played 54 times - how boring is that?

Eng v Wales, my favourite NH bust up has been played just 26 times in the same period and 4 of those were RWC warm ups so don't really count.

I know there are geographical and other factors at play but 4 teams playing each other home and away isn't an appealing format to me.

The NZ dominance is an issue as it robs the tournament of the key elements of competition and uncertainty. You can't blame the ABs at all for that - the others need to up their game and the Boks, thankfully, look to be heading in the right direction after an extended period of well documented turmoil. The game in Australia is in decline, maybe terminally and given the Pumas have no domestic structure to speak of you can't really expect much more of them than the odd result - a sort of upper class Italy (they've only ever had one draw against the ABs - in 1985 and I don't see that record changing any time soon). The ABs have been rightly celebrated as the best team around for the last few years, but given what they've actually been up against, the shock would have been if they hadn't been dominant.

Really looking forward to seeing Ire vs NZ in the AIs. I've long since written off Eng's chances.

 

[Oliver Madden]

maybe the rugby championship should revert to a 6N style format whereby the teams only play each other once a year. just think the home and away games each year, especially with the same schedule, dulls the interest slightly.

 

[TRF_heineken]

maybe the rugby championship should revert to a 6N style format whereby the teams only play each other once a year. just think the home and away games each year, especially with the same schedule, dulls the interest slightly.

So just 3 weeks of rugby...

 

[Oliver Madden]

would rather 3 weeks of interesting rugby than 6 weeks of rubbish. don't think the format will change though, I still think it will be 6 rounds. hopefully if the Springboks keep improving they can seriously challenge the All Blacks every year during the next RWC cycle. on a different note does anyone know the schedule for next years RC yet? I assume it will be shortened because of the world cup?.

 

[mdaclarke]

I like the home and away format. I also like the idea of SA v NZ being the final game. Apart from that I am not bothered how it is scheduled.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

Id be happy to have less internationals games that mean very little if the AB's then played a few weeks of Mitre 10 Cup, I'd love to have Ben smith coming back for the Championship final this weekend

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Then the Rugby Championship, yes it has been won by the same team for probably too long but so what? thats what happens if you are going through a golden age. The time will come again where SA and Aus will win it again.

There is a real possibility that Australia will never win it again. I hope that doesn't happen but it really could.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

I love the clash of hemispheres,

One of my favourite things about rugby has always been how different types of team and styes of play can be competitive against each other. I think we've been doing that a bit lately, but it is still there.

 

[Derpus]

There is a real possibility that Australia will never win it again. I hope that doesn't happen but it really could.

Game has to be rebuilt from the ground up. By the time its done Soccer will be the top sport, maybe AFL. Far too late. Enjoy it while we are still top 10.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

It was kind of like that with the Tri Nations as well. The RC is just a minor competition to give us in the SH, a reason to play each other. I don't think any of the teams care too much about the cup any more than just winning their upcoming game.

I agree, i don't think anyone ever particularly cared about winning the tri nations or RC, even back at the start when it was tightly contested. people cared about the individual games but the competition didn't really mean anything. Part of this is because we already had the bledisloe cup, and regular games against South Africa was just like a second bledisloe type thing, two games against our traditional rivals. I don't remember ever caring, but if we lost one or two games against a given rival the previous year i'd be anticipating this years games all year.

I think the 6N has another advantage, in terms of the tournament, that it is just one game against each team. It's not as much about individual rivalries, it's just a case of which team is consistently the best. If it was just the top 3 nations playing each other twice, home and away, and was the same three nations every year, I don't think it would feel as much like a tournament either. That doesn't mean I'd rather be playing only one game against each of Aus and SA, just that it doesn't feel like a tournament, it just feels like separate series.

In conclusion, as a tournament the 6N is better, but in terms of rivalries, the series embedded within the RC are better. Or, at least, they were better when they weren't so one-sided.

 

[petite]

I have only watched the whole Rugby Championship (every match) during the last two competitions, previously I would catch the odd match if I wasn't busy. It's probably unfair to make a judgement off those two seasons because the All Blacks have been so dominant but having been brought up watching first the 5N and now the 6 it (TRC) definitely feels like 'something' is missing.

The first Saturday of the 6N for me (& many others) is the equivalent off waking up on Christmas morning if you're age counts in single digits. I just don't get that vibe from the players or the crowds down South. Maybe it's the one teams dominance but more likely it is the time zone issues and distance between teams. Maybe it's the fact that a team that is potentially as strong as any has had to dilute its performances through a racial quota system that in the long term will probably be a great move but short term has been painful to watch. Maybe it's the fact that the Aussies just don't care. Probably a combination of all of those facts.

all three games in argentina this year where sold out!

 

[bushytop]

all three games in argentina this year where sold out!

Good, tis the way it should be. Though I don't know how that relates to my comment specifically.