Rugby Australia to target top NRL talent

[Llangennech]

Shwmae!

Even more so here in Wales with just 2 Welsh RU players called up and the focus on the in-fighting with the WRU and it's teams which will likely come down from 4 to 3 and possibly 2 not before the decade is out.

That's not to say it won't get a level of coverage and make money for the ARU, but the northern summer's sporting 'event' schedule is more full than normal with the women's football Euros and FIFA's wanktastic Club World Cup taking more eyeballs. The Lions Tour will still have it's niche but it is getting crowded out, and I think the tour lengths will get smaller too over time.

Itha da.

Lions tours are ridiculous for the number of matches played, they're only used nowadays to help balance the budgets of the ARU and NZRU.

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

And to think, way back, it was the RL version of the Lions going to Aus that had the crowds and so on, even around the start of the Barmy army.

 

[JamesRustle]

That would be a win for the knights

 

[T to the T]

Itha da.

Lions tours are ridiculous for the number of matches played, they're only used nowadays to help balance the budgets of the ARU and NZRU.

The tours will decrease in length to the point they will play 1 or 2 warm-up matches in the UK, keeping the money up here, then just play a 3 match series. I don't think Australia RU warrants a series, could be used as a warm-up game for NZ.

 

[Wb1234]

 

[taste2taste]

Masakini will be playing next Thursday night on the wing for NSWU19

He was one of the Jnr wallabies best in last years series against the Jnr All Blacks. It was a rare series win for the Jnr wallabies. The day after they won the series Makasini signed with the Tigers. It pissed off a lot of the Raras because they have a policy of not selecting players that are signed to NRL clubs and they were keen to keep him.

 

[Mother Nature's Son]

Masakini will be playing next Thursday night on the wing for NSWU19

He was one of the Jnr wallabies best in last years series against the Jnr All Blacks. It was a rare series win for the Jnr wallabies. The day after they won the series Makasini signed with the Tigers. It pissed off a lot of the Raras because they have a policy of not selecting players that are signed to NRL clubs and they were keen to keep him.

The kid`s 17 weighs 108kg`s and he`s a back. Certainly one to watch out for.

 

[T to the T]

All this wank about snubbing rugby union, any chance of RL being played at the private schools and ending this nonsense narrative that RL are 'poaching' players?

 

[wgd]

All this wank about snubbing rugby union, any chance of RL being played at the private schools and ending this nonsense narrative that RL are 'poaching' players?

AIC in Brisbane started playing RL in 2019. They are the 2nd strongest private school sporting competition up in Brisbane.

I would say it is a matter of time until RL is played at GPS schools.

 

[shadowformz]

Perhaps a little off topic, but interesting all the same.

Leinster players join Melbourne Storm in ground-breaking exchange

Melbourne Storm has recently hosted two of Leinster Rugby’s most promising academy talents in a unique player exchange program at AAMI Park.

www.melbournestorm.com.au

 

[Wb1234]

“Top 14” is elite

Supposedly the strongest union club comp in the world

 

[T-Boon]

AIC in Brisbane started playing RL in 2019. They are the 2nd strongest private school sporting competition up in Brisbane.

I would say it is a matter of time until RL is played at GPS schools.

The GPS schools offer a "pathway" to Australian Schoolboys selection in league (or maybe that is more the RL ensuring there is one rather than the schools themselves).
I would say it is best to leave those 6 or 7 GPS schools to their rugby and not try to bring league in. However the NRL should get a good rugby league comp going in schools like Oakhill, Stanislau, Waverley and whatever other schools there are outside those GPS schools and also get a strong university comp going.

 

[T to the T]

Another 2 tries for Nawaqanitawase

 

[BODISGOD]

That's not to say it won't get a level of coverage and make money for the ARU, but the northern summer's sporting 'event' schedule is more full than normal with the women's football Euros and FIFA's wanktastic Club World Cup taking more eyeballs. The Lions Tour will still have it's niche but it is getting crowded out, and I think the tour lengths will get smaller too over time.

2005 wants its narrative back. The Lions makes an absolute fortune, it is not changing. The minimum ticket price for the Friday night fixture just gone was $320 AUD with 30,000 travelling for it and Sky with wall to wall coverage. Keep on giving lads here what they want to hear though...

 

[Vlad59]

2005 wants its narrative back. The Lions makes an absolute fortune, it is not changing. The minimum ticket price for the Friday night fixture just gone was $320 AUD with 30,000 travelling for it and Sky with wall to wall coverage. Keep on giving lads here what they want to hear though...

I’m sure it makes a lot of money but the level of interest here is at best minimal. But keep up the self serving narrative laddy.

 

[Wb1234]

2005 wants its narrative back. The Lions makes an absolute fortune, it is not changing. The minimum ticket price for the Friday night fixture just gone was $320 AUD with 30,000 travelling for it and Sky with wall to wall coverage. Keep on giving lads here what they want to hear though...

Shame not many people in Australia will actually be watching it

 

[Munky]

While I like to shit on union.

The Lions concept is fantastic, a tour every four years and once every twelve to each country.

Surprised it hasn't changed and been milked to death.

I won't be watching though.

 

[newc18]

While I like to shit on union.

The Lions concept is fantastic, a tour every four years and once every twelve to each country.

Surprised it hasn't changed and been milked to death.

I won't be watching though.

I believe they have overestimated the interest from the Australian public but 40,000 Lions fans coming to Australia is always good for the economy. I don't really care about it either but hopefully it's a success for them.

 

[Kurt Angle]

The minimum ticket price for the Friday night fixture just gone was $320 AUD

Maybe they're spending all their money on plane tickets. They're not selling here for Origin prices that's for sure

 

[Kurt Angle]

40,000 Lions fans coming to Australia is always good for the economy.

I remember the 2003 tour, hookers were calling into talk back radio saying they (Lions fans) were consistently asking to be pegged. They came with a reputation indeed...

The players?

"Marked by severe drinking bouts, riotous behaviour at hotels and nightclubs. They left broken hotel doors, broken glasses by the dozen, unpaid liquor debts and girls in tears because of outright rudeness."

In New Zealand in 1977 the local girls were crying again, out of boredom rather than rudeness. That was the tour when the infamous "Wanda from Wanganui" told the press that she had slept with four of the tourists and found them to be "lousy lovers, boring, self-centred..."

A history of Lions tours: 'Drinking bouts, unpaid debts, girls in tears'

Today's Lions may be professional and play better, faster rugby, but they are not a patch on the colourful legends of tours gone by

www.theguardian.com