World Series Rugby not a failure, not yet a success
When Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest – affectionately known as Twiggy – announced World Series Rugby in early 2018, it was touted as a potentially revolutionary new competition which could have a major impact on world rugby and keep the game alive in Western Australia.
The need for change in Super Rugby following the 2017 season resulted in the Western Force being ejected from the competition for 2018 and beyond, so the WSR has given WA fans plenty of rugby to enjoy over the last season.
Whilst there’s certainly plenty of room in the world rugby environment for outspoken entrepreneurs such as Twiggy, whether or not the World Series has actually achieved the original aims of the competition is still very much up in the air.
In 2006, both the Western Force and the Cheetahs were added to Super Rugby – the first teams introduced to the competition since its inception in 1996. Neither team saw immediate success. The Force finished last in the 2006 season (with their only win coming against the Cheetahs) and propped up the competition ladder for many of the years prior to their expulsion, managing to finish in the top half of the table only once.
Still, the Force were removed at the expense of another seriously underperforming Australian team: the Melbourne Rebels. The Rebels entered Super Rugby in 2010 and were given ample support (both abstract and financial) from the Australian Rugby Union. When it came time to decide who to cut from Australia, the ARU unsurprisingly favoured their Victorian lovechild, even though the Force had an arguably stronger case for staying.
The Rebels had reasonable success this year, finishing one spot outside of qualifying for the finals – which has encouraged some people to suggest that the ARU made the right decision – but this fails to take into consideration that the Rebels absorbed half of the Force’s team from 2017 – including their coach, David Wessels. Regardless of what the ‘right’ choice was, Western Australia were stricken of their only first-class rugby team and suddenly the pathway to professionalism became a lot more clouded for young rugby players in Perth and the surrounding areas.
Then came Twiggy’s World Series Rugby – a seven match series pitting the Western Force against various teams from around the world – including the aforementioned Rebels, Super Rugby’s most successful team, the Crusaders, and the Top League’s Wild Knights. All of a sudden, professionalism in WA was resuscitated from the dead and the vocal Force supporters had a team to cheer for once more.
In fact, when the Force were evicted from Super Rugby, their supporters turned out in large numbers to show how disgruntled they were with the situation. It’s not a huge surprise that a significant crowd showed up at NIB Stadium for the first match of the series, against Fiji A.
Crowd sizes on their own have been given as evidence that WSR has been a great success – but supporter numbers in the first year of a team’s creation or revival do not give an accurate prediction of future numbers.
Almost 20,000 people were at NIB Stadium for the Force’s 24-14 victory of Fiji A – but attendance figures have been trending downwards for each subsequent game, showing that a big part of the success of the series was the freshness of it. As is often the case for many newer competitions and many newer teams, staleness has already started to set in. It’s certainly too early to write off the series, but whether long term success is on the cards for Western Australia in the future, and the competition can financially maintain itself is yet to be determined.
Excluding Western Australia fans for a moment, when Twiggy revealed his ambitious plans for the World Series, he promised a fresh new spin on rugby that would get crowds more involved and potentially revolutionise the game. In practice, this simply meant brighter lights at stadiums and making some borderline arbitrary law changes.
Rolling subs, a hallmark of rugby league, were introduced to ensure that fresh legs were on offer at all times – especially important given the new 9-point tries, which could only be earned if a team broke out and scored the try from inside their own 22. This fairly bizarre rule only came in to play once in the whole series – when the Force fell to the Crusaders 8-44. More frequently applied were rules designed to speed up the downtime of the game – rules which may have increased the overall time the ball was in motion for, but didn’t actually improve the quality of the games at all.
Arguably, the biggest achievement for Twiggy’s World Series is simply the variety of competitors that have been involved. Teams from around the world have faced off against the Western Force, creating an international feel to the competition – how many professional rugby clubs or franchises have been involved in matches with teams from Fiji, Samoa, Japan, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Tonga in the same season?
Every year, fans around the world love to discuss who would win in a playoff between the European champions and the Super Rugby champions – there’s always a healthy debate about the merits of both Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere rugby competitions, but there’s very little opportunity to actually see teams from the different hemispheres on the field at the same time. 2018’s iteration of World Series Rugby, whilst not necessarily offering up the best against the best, has at least gone some way towards scratching this itch.
Whilst the rugby itself has not necessarily lived up to the hype, the World Series has certainly given us some fresh, interesting matchups – something which no other competition has really achieved in the last few years, bar perhaps the European Championship.
Again, rugby as a professional sport has plenty to gain from outspoken, influential individuals like Twiggy – the sport is still relatively young and there’s always going to be room for improvement with regards to how the game is managed and developed. All that being said, however, the jury is still out on World Series Rugby – it’s much too early to say it’s been a great success, but it would also be foolish to write it off as a failure just yet.
Perhaps the World Series hasn’t been the revolution that was initially promised – but it’s a step in the right direction.
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Comments on RugbyPass
Rodda will be a walk up starter at lock. Frost if you analyse his dominance has little impact and he’s a long way from being physical enough, especially when you compare to Rodda and the work he does. He was quite poor at the World Cup in his lack of physicality. Between Rodda and Skelton we would have locks who can dominate the breakdown and in contact. Frost is maybe next but Schmidt might go for a more physical lock who does their core work better like Ryan or LSL. Swain is no chance unless there’s a load of injuries. Pollard hasn’t got the scrum ability yet to be considered. Nasser dominated him when they went toe to toe and really showed him up. Picking Skelton effects who can play 6 and 8. Ideally Valetini would play 6 as that’s his best position and Wilson at 8 but that’s not ideal for lineout success. Cale isn’t physical enough yet in contact and defence but is the best backrow lineout jumper followed by Wright, Hanigan and Swinton so unfortunately Valetini probably will start at 8 with Wright or Hanigan at 6. Wilson on the bench, he’s got too much quality not to be in the squad.
8 Go to commentsWhy do people keep on picking Ardie at 7 when he's a ball in hand 8? A modern 7 is the lead tackler and ruck clearer which isn't his strength.
14 Go to commentsSly dig there at Ireland’s propensity to back a non-Irish coach. Must really want it. I’m not sure I like ROG very much. Comes off as unpleasant. But he’d gain my respect if he took a number 7 ranked team and turned them into WC winners. Not even back-to-back. Argentina? Scotland? Or how about Wales? France would be too easy, no?
1 Go to commentsA bit of sensationalism, but surprised by the comments about SBW. I’ve always thought of him as a pretty authentic person. There is nothing worse than working with a colleague you’ve seen straight through.
9 Go to comments100% agree with your comment about Touch. I’ve been playing it competitively since Covid. It’s on a Wednesday night after work. It means the weekend is free for time with my family.
1 Go to commentsRodda back is massively important for the Wallabies. Kaitu at hooker important too coz he was very good a few years ago.
1 Go to commentsThe pink cabous might be eligible this year and the Boks don’t need him
8 Go to commentsNasser and kaitu are options for hooker. Especially Nasser. You forgot Rodda who touch wood will be fit at test time and if fit he’s number one. Great partner for the great Skelton and Oz best lineout caller. Third best lock is LSL whom I’d be inclined to sub on for Skelton around 60 minutes. Probably start valetini at 8 because I like a big body back there. Cale should play 6 at the brumbies. For Wallabies definitely cale in the squad but as an apprentice. Dunno who starts at 6 seru wright Swinton hanigan with Will Harris and Harry Wilson not far away. Seru and Swinton my front runners but Swinton is going. Still if we don’t cap seru then Fiji must coz they need his lineout skills and easily compensate for his lack of weight
8 Go to commentsYeah but who was it?
9 Go to commentsThink you might have written this just before the Brumbies got thrashed last weekend
8 Go to commentsI really do believe that Billy Proctor should be selected at least in the larger squad but also it would be my choice at 13, much more a center than Ioane who can still play at wing. Roigard if fit should play, otherwise it should be Perenara or Christie. Also, Iose could deserve a spot at blindside. Of course, being a Canes supporter I’m biased but I really believe that at least Billy P is deserving a chance and being Holland one of the Selectors, I’m having a little hope he could grab it.
14 Go to commentsI would not play Swinton I’d pick Wright or Hanigan. The rest are decent starters, but can’t agree on any subs except Tupou. My take on the subs: Gibbon, Ueslese, Tupou, LSL, Wilson, White, Will Harrison, and Petaia.
8 Go to commentsSBW the biggest moron to pull on a black jersey a park footy player at best
9 Go to commentsSBW is fast becoming a laughing stock, his misplaced comments & lack of insight Is actually pretty sad.
9 Go to commentsJust well you guys are couch 🛋 potatoes selector's, picking a team of greenhorns to play England! “What are you people smoking?” The halfbacks will be Christie, Fakatava, Perenara Props; Newell, Bower, Lomax, Tunga'fasi, Hookers; Asosa Amua when fit, Taylor, Samisoni,
14 Go to commentsQuite frankly, all this is a bit pathetic. The first time Wales get the Wooden Spoon in 21 years and everyone is on the bandwagon for a ‘play-off’ game. Wales have no obligation to Georgia and no obligation to the rest of the Six Nations to play such a game. If they want Georgia in so badly then they need to include South Africa into a Northern Hemisphere competition with 2 leagues of 4 teams with the top 2 competing for the Championship. Sadly, this will end Triple Crowns and Grand Slams forever. Is this really what you want?
4 Go to commentsI think Finau to start Blackadder to come on. Poss Prokter instead of Ioane, haven't seen much from Reiko so far this year.
14 Go to commentsJoe will have had a good chat with Dave Rennie, a smart move to begin with while it’s doubtful Fast Eddie will be consulted? Plenty of Aus players hitting top form so they should go OK.
8 Go to commentsMmm. Not sure I like this article or see it as necessary.
9 Go to commentsBlackadder but no Finau! 😀 It’s Razor so you are probably right, plus Taylor at 2…
14 Go to comments