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The Tight Five - Handpicked Stories From The World Of Rugby


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Here’s five great rugby reads from around the globe.

Head to head: Are England worthy of claiming NZ record for consecutive wins? Read story.

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Will there still be room in 2018 for the Western Force, Southern Kings, and the Cheetahs when SANZAAR meet to decide the future of Super Rugby? Read story.

With an all-important SANZAAR meeting scheduled this week to determine the future of Super Rugby, we break down the pros and cons of cutting each Australian franchise. Read story.

England vs Scotland match-ups are key to Lions selection, says Warren Gatland. Read story.

The Championship has become a “naughty boys corner” for relegated Premiership sides, according to the Cornish Pirates chairman, after the scrapping of play-offs from the second tier. Read story.

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P
PC 24 minutes ago
Is the magic thread of Super Rugby in need of a new pattern?

An Eight team NPC is the perfect size domestic competition for NZ. The problem Australia faces is a problem that it has faced for all of its modern history. The tyranny of distance. The tyranny of distance makes professional rugby an expensive proposition. The tyranny of distance has meant that whilst NSW and Qld were the traditional powerhouses of Rugby in Australia the rest of the country broadly speaking played another sport entirely. Super Rugby ever since its inception has been trying to square this circle. The old fashioned state based system, a by product of the colonial era might suit cricket but it doesn’t suit a football code trying to grow a national footprint. As I see it. Rugby needs to mirror NZ’s NPC. Create a national competition based not around some historic happenstance but where Rugby’s market actually exists or seeks to be. An Eight team based competition featuring 2 Sydney based teams, North and South of the Harbour. 2 Brisbane based teams and 4 others.

Rugby could then supplement this concept with cross tasman fixtures, state of origin fixtures etc as needs or the market dictates. There would be no shortage of product to sell to the media but the biggest selling point in any negotiations surely would have to be the concept of a national competition full of rivalry’s, tribalism etc scheduled at a time and a place that suits its market and not someone else’s. Cross Tasman fixtures would be the icing on the cake not the cake itself.



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