Northern & Southern hemisphere rugby union: the discussion

[AzaMatt]

Actually, in South Africa the main sport is football (soccer). It's by far the most popular and also has the most teams, players and therefore also gets the most cash from government.

Rugby and Cricket is a close 2nd, with Swimming and Athletics behind them...

are the south african international team any good though?

 

[TRF_heineken]

are the south african international team any good though?

Not as good as they can be.

They are currently ranked 73rd in the world. But that's mostly because of poor coaching and fat cats pocketing out of FIFA. The whole FIFA corruption scandal is just the tip of the ice berg, and I have this sneaking suspicion that a lot of South African Football Association members are going to get reprimanded for under-the-table dealings.

But that is a discussion for another day. But if I would have to take a guess and convert the sport in SA into percentages it would look like this: Soccer 85%, Rugby 10%, Cricket 3%, athletics and others 2%

 

[AzaMatt]

Not as good as they can be.

They are currently ranked 73rd in the world. But that's mostly because of poor coaching and fat cats pocketing out of FIFA. The whole FIFA corruption scandal is just the tip of the ice berg, and I have this sneaking suspicion that a lot of South African Football Association members are going to get reprimanded for under-the-table dealings.


But that is a discussion for another day. But if I would have to take a guess and convert the sport in SA into percentages it would look like this: Soccer 85%, Rugby 10%, Cricket 3%, athletics and others 2%

okay so maybe SA rugby are much better than they should be then . Although similary the UK and Ireland rugby teams peform much better than their football teams even though footie is clearly the main sport in england. its obviously how they develop players though as if we go by numbers then the bigger populated contries would annhilate all the other teams due to the bigger pool of players to choose from. still do not understand how NZ and Aus in particular churn out world class players over and over, considering that Aussie posters on here have said that Rugby union is not that popular over there at all, the RFL and aussie rules are way more popular.

 

[TRF_heineken]

okay so maybe SA rugby are much better than they should be then . Although similary the UK and Ireland rugby teams peform much better than their football teams even though footie is clearly the main sport in england. its obviously how they develop players though as if we go by numbers then the bigger populated contries would annhilate all the other teams due to the bigger pool of players to choose from. still do not understand how NZ and Aus in particular churn out world class players over and over, considering that Aussie posters on here have said that Rugby union is not that popular over there at all, the RFL and aussie rules are way more popular.

Will Genia, Quade Cooper, David Pocock, Stephen Moore, Tevita Kuridrani, Henry Speight, Will Skelton, all imports, just like Richardt Strauss, Josh Strauss, WP Nel, Brad Barritt, Mouritz Botha...

The Difference is that Australian Scouts know how to find good classy players, whereas these NH project players were never in with a shout of playing for the Springboks...

 

[AzaMatt]

Will Genia, Quade Cooper, David Pocock, Stephen Moore, Tevita Kuridrani, Henry Speight, Will Skelton, all imports, just like Richardt Strauss, Josh Strauss, WP Nel, Brad Barritt, Mouritz Botha...

The Difference is that Australian Scouts know how to find good classy players, whereas these NH project players were never in with a shout of playing for the Springboks...

so maybe not born in the country but are drafted in from an early age i guess

 

[Wimero]

SH players are just more skilful than NH players in the basics.That's why,over the last 100 years,the home unions records against the All Blacks,Boks,and Aussies is frankly embarrassing.

 

[FrenchFan]

I'd be interested to see some SH vs NH club matchups.

I'd sign up for this too.

The 6N is a nice competition but it doesn't make the NH competitive at RWCs.

I think a NH v SH club competition would be more telling. There may also be a big demand for it.

 

[Tim Owen]

It's easy to blame our weather for lack of ball skills etc but as some people have said NZ can be very miserable to. It's only really Australia where sunshine dominates.
Saying that though moving the 6 Nations to an end of season spot would surely benefit us?
Harder grounds and warm weather would allow fast attacking rugby. The 6 Nations teams could then finish off this tournament and go straight off to the SH for the June test matches. This would lead to the home nations having been training/playing together for 6 weeks prior to SH June Tests so surely result in better performances?
Moving the 6 Nations would leave a rugby hole in Feb/March but this could easily be filled by the current domestic competitions.
To give players more rest the leagues could intoduce bye weeks. So some weekends there would be only 4 Aviva games say so players rested more but still games to go on the telly.