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The decline of Australian rugby. Is there a way out?
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<blockquote data-quote="McTallshort" data-source="post: 1164207" data-attributes="member: 53362"><p>Australia peaked in 1999 when they won their second world cup and apart from beating a depleted Lions team in 2001 have done nothing really of note but then you could say that about most teams apart from NZ and South Africa and I suppose Ireland. Much of that success was built on their at the time very modern Rugby League style defence that would suffocate teams. After that their smaller player pool particularly in the front row always put them at a disadvantage.</p><p></p><p>From memory Australia were always pushing for rule changes in the 00s, mainly around the scrum and breakdown to make the game as they put it "more attractive with more tries" which was ironic given their success was built on a very defensive game with lots of kicking.</p><p></p><p>The reason they pushed for this was because Australia is a small place in terms of population and Aussie Rules and Rugby League were always more popular. So the solution at the time was "let's change all the rules to make it more like league so people from league will watch it" It was deeply flawed and they absolutely didn't get buy in from anyone else.</p><p></p><p>At some point you have to accept where you are in life and with the exception of New Zealand and maybe South Africa, Rugby Union in a minority sport and in Australia it's even further down the pecking order. Had the ARFU put more into marketing than rule changing back in the 00s things might have been different but it is what it is.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="McTallshort, post: 1164207, member: 53362"] Australia peaked in 1999 when they won their second world cup and apart from beating a depleted Lions team in 2001 have done nothing really of note but then you could say that about most teams apart from NZ and South Africa and I suppose Ireland. Much of that success was built on their at the time very modern Rugby League style defence that would suffocate teams. After that their smaller player pool particularly in the front row always put them at a disadvantage. From memory Australia were always pushing for rule changes in the 00s, mainly around the scrum and breakdown to make the game as they put it "more attractive with more tries" which was ironic given their success was built on a very defensive game with lots of kicking. The reason they pushed for this was because Australia is a small place in terms of population and Aussie Rules and Rugby League were always more popular. So the solution at the time was "let's change all the rules to make it more like league so people from league will watch it" It was deeply flawed and they absolutely didn't get buy in from anyone else. At some point you have to accept where you are in life and with the exception of New Zealand and maybe South Africa, Rugby Union in a minority sport and in Australia it's even further down the pecking order. Had the ARFU put more into marketing than rule changing back in the 00s things might have been different but it is what it is. [/QUOTE]
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The decline of Australian rugby. Is there a way out?
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