By Paul Cully
Legal experts will weigh up the merits of the Rebels’ decision to sue Rugby Australia for $30 million in damages, but the bigger question for the Rebels’ directors is this: What competition do you suppose you’ll be playing if you win? It won’t be Super Rugby, because a Rugby Australia minus $30m won’t have the ability to fund five teams. Unless the Rebels backers are sitting on at least $20 million a year to fund not only themselves but the other four teams, a successful legal action would put them on course to achieve the greatest Pyrrhic victory of all time. And in the court of public opinion, arguably as important in the current climate, the Rebels are very unlikely to secure any sort of win among a rugby public worn down by negative headlines. They are likely to see the legal action as opportunistic, rather than for the greater good of the game.
Wallaroos make a statement
The WXV competition over the past month has confirmed that the women’s game has one dominant team – England – and a chasing pack that is growing and extraordinarily competitive. As a result, the Wallaroos third straight win against Scotland overnight to claim the WXV2 crown is a major step forward. The Scots are no mugs, and have been fairly miserly defensively, so the Wallaroos’ 31 points is a welcome sign their attack in particular is moving in the right direction. Australia are not the only team on the up – Canada and Ireland have shown some good signs in the WXV1 competition – but it does look like the Rugby World Cup won’t be just about the big three of England, New Zealand and France next year.
The pangs for a third tier
Everyone understands that RA is financially constrained at the moment (see item No 1) but it’s that time of the year when the absence of an NPC/Currie Cup competition is most keenly felt. The Kiwis are in playoff mode – Brumby Ben O’Donnell’s campaign ended with a loss on Saturday – and they are finding out a lot about their next tier of players in those encounters, good and bad. New Zealand Rugby also had the luxury of throwing 14 All Blacks into the NPC over the weekend, giving them some much-needed game time before the end-of-year tour. But, just as importantly, an Australian equivalent in the same window would give Australian rugby some content when the NRL and AFL is done and dusted.
Samu Kerevi makes a break for the Wallabies.Credit: Getty
Those overseas Wallabies
How many does Joe Schmidt pick for the Wallabies’ tour? It depends if you agree with the premise that there are a lot of players capable of influencing the Lions series next year. I don’t. For example, Tolu Latu, Kane Douglas and Will Skelton played for La Rochelle at the weekend – they were flogged 37-7 by Bayonne – but only Skelton has a realistic chance of being part of Schmidt’s plans. And, even that comes with a caveat. The Top 14 final next year is on June 28, the same weekend the Force are hosting the Lions to start the tour, and three weeks before the first Test. Any player coming out of a tough French season, combined with their European duties, is invariably carrying any number of niggles – especially if they are tight five forwards. Take a look at the current Springboks squad – very few players in France, or England, any more. They understand that playing in South Africa, or Japan, is the more manageable situation. With that in mind, the door shouldn’t be entirely closed on Samu Kerevi.
Argentina’s Lions threat
The timing of Argentine rugby’s pitch to host the British and Irish Lions – via an interview with the president of South America rugby in an interview with the British press this week – wasn’t exactly subtle, coming off Los Pumas’ strong Rugby Championship and shellacking of the Wallabies in Sante Fe. But it is not without merit and puts even more importance on the tour in Australia next year. The Wallabies, and the Super Rugby franchises, have to be competitive. As much as the tour is likely to be a commercial success, and a perfect destination for the thousands of travelling fans, if the rugby is one-sided the Lions might start kicking the tyres of that South America bid. It would be catastrophic for Australian rugby.
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