The UAFC

Tighter End wrote:Fake news. How could this be done for next season?

justinr73 wrote:Will we get any more notice as to when the matches are actually going to take place?!

I've already got tantalising trips to the likes of Hull Ionians and Darlington Mowden Park pencilled in for next February and March.

justinr73 wrote:Will we get any more notice as to when the matches are actually going to take place?!

I've already got tantalising trips to the likes of Hull Ionians and Darlington Mowden Park pencilled in for next February and March.

UlsterNo9 wrote:Will the additional matches be covered in my season ticket?

pg106 wrote:

UlsterNo9 wrote:Will the additional matches be covered in my season ticket?

Is there not a chance that it could be played in conferences, so there will likely be a similar number of games in the season?


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Eggs wrote:

pg106 wrote:

UlsterNo9 wrote:Will the additional matches be covered in my season ticket?

Is there not a chance that it could be played in conferences, so there will likely be a similar number of games in the season?


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That would be awful

pg106 wrote:

UlsterNo9 wrote:Will the additional matches be covered in my season ticket?

Is there not a chance that it could be played in conferences, so there will likely be a similar number of games in the season?


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Embattled Australian Super Rugby clubs may yet win a ­reprieve and compete in next year’s streamlined competition and beyond.

Reports from South Africa suggest that not only will the Southern Kings and the Cheetahs leave Super Rugby to join Britain’s Pro12 competition but that a third team from the republic wants to join them, giving Australia a lifeline.

Writing for Alloutrugby.com, journalist Craig Ray reported that not only were the Kings and Cheetahs prepared to leave Super Rugby in response to SANZAAR’s plan to cut the 18-team competition down to 15, but they are in fact happy about the arrangement.

Not only will they be admitted to the Pro12 competition — shortly to be Pro14 or even Pro15 — but they have negotiated an equal split of the broadcast rights. Payment will be made in pounds sterling, which obviously are far less volatile than the rand. Moreover, all of their travel would be within the same time zone.

So good do the arrangements sound that Ray claimed a third South African side — the Lions, Bulls, Stormers and Sharks are the only ones left — is also toying with the idea of abandoning SANZAAR and heading directly north.

If this scenario is true, it could be the forerunner of the break-up of SANZAAR, at least as far as provincial rugby is concerned, which in turn would lead by accident to Australia’s preferred rugby option, a trans-Tasman or possibly trans-Pacific series.

In the short term, however, there also could be massive ramifications for the Australian Rugby Union, which is caught in a bind as it tries to cull either the Western Force or the Melbourne Rebels from the competition. Both are vigorously resisting eviction and even if the ARU wins the decision against the Force when their battle goes to arbitration in the WA courts, the matter is certain to drag on at least until August.

But if the six South African teams are whittled back to three, then SANZAAR would have its preferred 15-team model without shedding any blood. The only difference is that the Sunwolves of Japan, who presently are a member of one of the two African conferences, would have to stay put there instead of transferring across to the Australian conference. The remaining fifth team in the ­African conference would be the Jaguares of Argentina.

“The fissures in SANZAAR are quickly developing into a cavernous void,” Ray wrote. “South African franchises are coming round to the idea that they might be better served in a different competition, happy to leave New Zealand and Australia to entertain each other.”

That is precisely what Australia would prefer, though the Kiwis have opposed the idea. But there is no appetite in Australia to stage matches against the South African teams, which traditionally draw poorly. While a trans-Tasman competition would generate a much smaller broadcast rights deal, there would be compensations. The travel budget, for one, would be halved.

The ARU disputed elements of Ray’s story, notably his claim that SANZAAR held an emergency meeting last week (via conference call) to try to unscramble the egg that is the culling of three teams, mainly to humour Australia. The ARU insisted there was a scheduled phone hook-up but in no way was it an emergency meeting.

Yet it would be safe to say there was considerable interest in Ray’s assertion that South Africa finally is turning its attention to Europe. In a sense, it would get the ARU off the hook with SANZAAR if three South African teams headed into the Pro12. While it would not solve the problem of Australia lacking the financial capacity to sustain five teams, there is no question a trans-Tasman competition would be much cheaper to run than Super Rugby.

In that event, five teams becomes doable, especially if the WA and Victorian governments press ahead with the aid they promised the Super Rugby franchises in their states. As the Own the Force campaign to sell shares in the Perth club to its fans showed, the one benefit of this whole exercise in cutting Australia’s Super Rugby presence from five teams to four is that it has energised parts of the market that had never before been tapped.

Dave wrote:Looks weak