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SA bluffing on Euro threat: O'Neill
May 11, 2009
Australian Rugby Union chief executive John O'Neill says South Africa's threat to defect to northern hemisphere competitions remains a bluff.
O'Neill and his Sanzar counterparts are trying to thrash out an agreement on a new-look Super rugby competition but have been stonewalled by South African demands in recent months.
The Sanzar board meet in Dublin this week and need to come up with a 2011 competition proposal for a new broadcasting deal to News Ltd and SuperSport by June 30.
O'Neill says he can't see how South Africa could "escape" to the north and it was more likely Australia and New Zealand would form their own trans-Tasman competition if the impasse continues.
"That's been a long-held bluff, in my view. From all the enquiries we've made, we believe there isn't an exit for them in the north," O'Neill said.
"What has happened is Australia and New Zealand, out of pure frustration, have worked on a trans-Tasman competition which does work, with five or six teams from Australia and five or six from New Zealand.
"It's a Super 10 or Super 12, played over two rounds, and bringing in Japan in a couple of years time. It's a pretty elegant solution.
"The roles have changed in that we have a plan B and I'm not sure South Africa do."
O'Neill said the future of the southern hemisphere's premier rugby competition remains up in the air.
"On a couple of occasions we thought we'd had an agreement but the South Africans have changed their minds. They're very unpredictable," O'Neill said.
"We don't want South Africa to drop out of Super rugby, we want them to stay in, but the conditions they're attaching to their participation are, in our view, unreasonable."
AAP
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/print/0,22451,25460225-23217,00.html
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You know, I really don't care anymore. Yarpies, if you're going to go - GO.
It'd make for a better competition in my mind anyway, I rarely see the games from South Africa so effectively there'd be more games at better times for me, and a longer season which would be great.
The expansion to Super 15 is also a sh*tstorm apparently. The ARU want Melbourne, a conference based 18 week system where you play your own countries teams twice and the others once, whilst the South African Rugby Union want Port Elizabeth and for everyone else to get f**ked.
Serious failure to strike while the iron is hot here....
May 11, 2009
Australian Rugby Union chief executive John O'Neill says South Africa's threat to defect to northern hemisphere competitions remains a bluff.
O'Neill and his Sanzar counterparts are trying to thrash out an agreement on a new-look Super rugby competition but have been stonewalled by South African demands in recent months.
The Sanzar board meet in Dublin this week and need to come up with a 2011 competition proposal for a new broadcasting deal to News Ltd and SuperSport by June 30.
O'Neill says he can't see how South Africa could "escape" to the north and it was more likely Australia and New Zealand would form their own trans-Tasman competition if the impasse continues.
"That's been a long-held bluff, in my view. From all the enquiries we've made, we believe there isn't an exit for them in the north," O'Neill said.
"What has happened is Australia and New Zealand, out of pure frustration, have worked on a trans-Tasman competition which does work, with five or six teams from Australia and five or six from New Zealand.
"It's a Super 10 or Super 12, played over two rounds, and bringing in Japan in a couple of years time. It's a pretty elegant solution.
"The roles have changed in that we have a plan B and I'm not sure South Africa do."
O'Neill said the future of the southern hemisphere's premier rugby competition remains up in the air.
"On a couple of occasions we thought we'd had an agreement but the South Africans have changed their minds. They're very unpredictable," O'Neill said.
"We don't want South Africa to drop out of Super rugby, we want them to stay in, but the conditions they're attaching to their participation are, in our view, unreasonable."
AAP
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/print/0,22451,25460225-23217,00.html
----------------------------------
You know, I really don't care anymore. Yarpies, if you're going to go - GO.
It'd make for a better competition in my mind anyway, I rarely see the games from South Africa so effectively there'd be more games at better times for me, and a longer season which would be great.
The expansion to Super 15 is also a sh*tstorm apparently. The ARU want Melbourne, a conference based 18 week system where you play your own countries teams twice and the others once, whilst the South African Rugby Union want Port Elizabeth and for everyone else to get f**ked.
Serious failure to strike while the iron is hot here....
