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Support reportedly growing for Australia option as Lions officials set to discuss finer details

By Sam Smith
(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

British and Irish Lions officials will meet on Thursday to discuss for the first time the proposal from Rugby Australia to host the series versus South Africa. The Australian idea was met with a tepid response when it initially emerged last month, but support for bringing the tour to the home of the Wallabies has since reportedly grown.  

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With it increasingly likely that matches in South Africa would have to be played behind closed doors and amid the ongoing uncertainty that crowds could attend if the Lions tour was held in the UK and Ireland, the Australia alternative has now gained momentum.

With an offer from the United Arab Emirates the only other hosting invitation that has been received, the Australian proposal is poised to be reviewed in detail and the potential for sell-out crowds attending matches will be viewed as hugely attractive for a tour where the Lions and the Springboks would operate out of hubs, most likely based in Sydney or Perth.   

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Wales boss Wayne Pivac on Louis Rees-Zammit and the prospect of facing England in round three

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Wales boss Wayne Pivac on Louis Rees-Zammit and the prospect of facing England in round three

Speaking in an interview with The Telegraph, Hamish McLennan, the chairman of Rugby Australia, said: “If we sold out Sydney or Perth, which is achievable if we are allowed to have full crowds, it would just be mind-blowing for the players. I know lockdown in the UK has been tough but in Sydney life is relatively normal. We can successfully host this.

“The New South Wales government is committed to hosting and running sports of all types and are probably the best at doing it in the world. The players would really enjoy it and I’m confident we could also deliver a really decent cheque back to South Africa and the Lions. We will get it sorted if we are told by April.

“It is an evolving situation but if you look at what we did with New Zealand and Argentina last year, we created ‘bubbles’ where they were able to train and quarantine and we would do the same for the Lions and South Africa.

“There was no diminishment in their training capabilities. Take Argentina, they knocked off the All Blacks for the first time ever and everyone had a great time. We just need a commitment and then we can get it organised.”

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Jon 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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