Rugby world cup 2011

[Parihaka]

Are northern hemisphere teams getting a cut from the gate in this world cup?

No. The IRB takes the money and 'uses it to sponsor Rugby in developing nations'. The NZRB is making a loss of about 30m on the RWC which the NZ government is covering.

[Parihaka]

Sounds like piss and wind, and poor form to boot. The NZRU is a not for profit organisation with the objective of promoting Rugby in NZ, just like the other unions are. Not every activity is supposed to make a profit and whinging about $10m every 4 years, which isn't much in the context of the NZ rugby industry, is ridiculous. It is the biggest event in Rugby and there is no way the AB's wouldn't show. Playing these games during your own tournament, which NZ begged to get, smacks of arrogence. Do they think that others aren't challenged in funding thier world cup participation? Anyway, if they don't go but Australia and SA do, they lose Tri Nations revenue anyway and risk damaging thier brand. Nobody likes petulant spoilsports. I hope the ARU doesn't try to follow suit with this tactic.

Australian rugby boss John O'Neill backs a stand by his New Zealand counterpart on a possible boycott of the 2015 Rugby World Cup because of cost.

New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Steve Tew says the All Blacks may skip the 2015 tournament unless the International Rugby Board changes the rules on sponsorship.

Last night Australian Rugby Union chief executive O'Neill said leading nations faced cumulative losses of almost $100 million in cup years.

"The current economic model is unsustainable and unacceptable."

The Australian union was A$16 million ($20 million) worse off because the Rugby World Cup caused "massive disruption" because of "no inbound tests from Northern Hemisphere teams and a curtailed Tri-Nations season".

Tew said the New Zealand union was set to take a $13.2 million hit from the current tournament because of regulations which did not allow teams to have any association with their sponsors during the six-week event.

The All Blacks are sponsored by Steinlager, but because the World Cup is backed by Heineken the team cannot be seen with a Steinlager logo.

Tew told the English newspaper the Guardian that this rule "cannot carry on".

"But frankly the prospects of us going to England in 2015 under the current model are very slim. We cannot sign on for an event that costs us so much money."

Keven Mealamu said it would be "devastating" if the All Blacks were unable to go to the tournament in four years.

"The country and the players would be devastated if the All Blacks weren't at the World Cup," the hooker said.

Both the NZRU and the IRB, when contacted by the Herald, were quick to point out that the issue of the IRB's sponsor rules was not new and that Tew was a member of the ruling body's executive council.

The IRB declined to comment on Tew's comments about the All Blacks being pulled from the 2015 tournament.

But it said an already planned review of the Rugby World Cup commercial model would go ahead after this year's tournament.

"The IRB is already driving forward that process and is committed to working in collaboration with member unions to ensure a model that continues to balance the strategic needs of unions with the ability to provide the IRB with the financial platform for the development of a sport that has witnessed an 18 per cent growth in participation since the last Rugby World Cup in France," it said.

Former All Black coach Laurie Mains backed Tew's stance on Radio Sport: "I think the IRB has a responsibility to listen to those major unions because they are actually what make the World Cup tick. It's not your minnows, who are getting all the money, that make it tick - it is the Big Five."

It's a concerted effort by SANZAR, expect the Sth Africans to weigh in soon.
We understand that it has to be played at this time to suit northern hemisphere timetables because of television rights but to be asked to forgo sponsor revenue as well as game and tournament revenue is ridiculous. There's going to be a push on refereeing standards post event as well. The players standards have again lifted but the refs if anything are going backward.

[Aussiegunner]

It's a concerted effort by SANZAR, expect the Sth Africans to weigh in soon.
We understand that it has to be played at this time to suit northern hemisphere timetables because of television rights but to be asked to forgo sponsor revenue as well as game and tournament revenue is ridiculous. There's going to be a push on refereeing standards post event as well. The players standards have again lifted but the refs if anything are going backward.

I half expected the ARU to follow the Kiwis on this, but am disappointed never the less. I think using that money to develop rugby outside of the traditional nations is good for the game as a whole, as it gives the fans a real competition to look forward to other than the tri nations. Lets face it, Australia and New Zealand would most likely just spend it poaching all the best twelve year olds from the Pacific Islands. These clowns don't realise they are in the entertainment industry and having a few nations using commercial power to win at all costs isn't entertaining. If this happens I might boycott the tri nations and spend the money to somewhere tropical, to see the Pacific Cup. I might even use the internet to give others the same idea.

[Parihaka]

I half expected the ARU to follow the Kiwis on this, but am disappointed never the less. I think using that money to develop rugby outside of the traditional nations is good for the game as a whole, as it gives the fans a real competition to look forward to other than the tri nations. Lets face it, Australia and New Zealand would most likely just spend it poaching all the best twelve year olds from the Pacific Islands. These clowns don't realise they are in the entertainment industry and having a few nations using commercial power to win at all costs isn't entertaining. If this happens I might boycott the tri nations and spend the money to somewhere tropical, to see the Pacific Cup. I might even use the internet to give others the same idea.

What they're asking for is the rights to display sponsors outside the main event. When it's official RWC, only RWC sponsors are displayed but when it's IV's off the paddock outside of official press conferences then they can display their own sponsors. No loss to the RWCC, just a chance to pull back some of the loss the Southern hemisphere currently makes. Seems reasonable to me given SANZAR takes a $100m loss every 4 years and every Northern Hemisphere competition doesn't.

[Parihaka]

WOOT! Go Tonga

WELLINGTON: France were left reeling after a shock 19-14 defeat by Tonga in their final pool match on Saturday that nevertheless saw Les Bleus advance to the quarter-finals of the World Cup.

"Never has qualification tasted as bitter as this," blasted under-fire coach Marc Lievremont, who has all week played down allegations of rifts between management and the players in the French camp.

"What we say tonight and throughout the week will be very importan

t.

Read more: 'Bitter' qualification for France after upset

Gotta say England looked a bit average too, if the Scots had gone for tries instead they'd have taken it

[crooks]

Dang, very dissapointed for Scotland, thought they played better over the game in it's entirety, just ran out of steam in the last 10 minutes (poor defending let the try happen too).

Absolutely brilliant performance by Tonga, if anything should have won by more - fire in the belly and never looked threatened, presumably this will seriously hurt France's rankings (and possibly get them into the top 10?). Australia did the business against Russia (who've been extremely brave and impressive this tournie imo) which means Italy-Ireland tomorrow is a do or die for both teams. Nick Mallett's been talking good trash this week, it's a natural justice thing because if Ireland don't beat Italy they really don't deserve a quarter final place. I'm hopeful that they will, but it will be a tough auld slog even if they do.

[Parihaka]

Dang, very dissapointed for Scotland, thought they played better over the game in it's entirety, just ran out of steam in the last 10 minutes (poor defending let the try happen too).

Absolutely brilliant performance by Tonga, if anything should have won by more - fire in the belly and never looked threatened, presumably this will seriously hurt France's rankings (and possibly get them into the top 10?). Australia did the business against Russia (who've been extremely brave and impressive this tournie imo) which means Italy-Ireland tomorrow is a do or die for both teams. Nick Mallett's been talking good trash this week, it's a natural justice thing because if Ireland don't beat Italy they really don't deserve a quarter final place. I'm hopeful that they will, but it will be a tough auld slog even if they do.

You'll roll em no worries

[crooks]

You'll roll em no worries

I'm hoping so but have such bad memories of the last WC - granted Argentina were just starting to show what a great team they could be (and Ireland played awful the whole way through) but it makes you shy about being bullish. Italy have had a good tournie and come back well from the defeat by Australia. Ireland have been great thus far after a shaky start but you never know when the wobbles could come back. I think Ireland will be too classy and have too much firepower (both in attack and defence) for them but freakier things have happened. There's less of a skill gap between Ireland and Italy than France and Tonga say.

Also I was talking to a kiwi today, is it really (as he claims) a national tick to refer to BOD as Brian 'I almost doyed' O'Driscoll? Long memories!

[Parihaka]

I'm hoping so but have such bad memories of the last WC - granted Argentina were just starting to show what a great team they could be (and Ireland played awful the whole way through) but it makes you shy about being bullish. Italy have had a good tournie and come back well from the defeat by Australia. Ireland have been great thus far after a shaky start but you never know when the wobbles could come back. I think Ireland will be too classy and have too much firepower (both in attack and defence) for them but freakier things have happened. There's less of a skill gap between Ireland and Italy than France and Tonga say.

Also I was talking to a kiwi today, is it really (as he claims) a national tick to refer to BOD as Brian 'I almost doyed' O'Driscoll? Long memories!

Long memories? You Irish have the bible, we have the Rugby Almanac.

We can forgive him for going off, after all his shoulder was dislocated and he is from the northern hemisphere but to besmirch Saint Tana of Lower Hutt doth be beyond the pale.

[Parihaka]

Ooohhh, watching the Baby Blacks in their first run out, vs Canada.

Extra interest because of Slade needing to step up with Carter out, they look a bit feckless but still, happy parihaka, very happy.

[Parihaka]

I'm hopeful that they will, but it will be a tough auld slog even if they do.

Told ya! Gotta say that TMO decision 'no interference in in-goal area' was a shocker. If tackling a man without the ball when he's going in to score the try isn't foul play, what the hell is.....

[bigross86]

That Welsh side has some great kids playing for them. I wouldn't be surprised to see them go all the way through to the finals

[Aussiegunner]

What they're asking for is the rights to display sponsors outside the main event. When it's official RWC, only RWC sponsors are displayed but when it's IV's off the paddock outside of official press conferences then they can display their own sponsors. No loss to the RWCC, just a chance to pull back some of the loss the Southern hemisphere currently makes. Seems reasonable to me given SANZAR takes a $100m loss every 4 years and every Northern Hemisphere competition doesn't.

I don't have a problem with them asking for review of the commercial arrangements, in particular I think the ban on using footage for news reporting off Fox is ridiculous and counter productive to the game. However, I do have a big problem with them threatening to leave. It has the whole "we are such a big drawcard that you should do what we want, or else" attitude to it. It is just arrogent.

What SANZAR need to remember is that the World Cup started before this sport even became professional. I would suggest that without the premier event it would never have reached the popularity that it has now and they wouldn't be collecting the big dollars. You can't "lose" what you never would have made.

As for whinging about it clipping the Tri Nations, remember that it also completely wipes out the Southern Hemisphere spring tours of the North. Somebody here has already stated how much the Northern Nations make out of this, so that is a big amount of revenue for them to forego.

NZ also needs to remember that while the NZ government might have had to stump up $30m for the tournement, you have had a lot of visitors as a result spending a hell of a lot of money in the NZ tourism industry. It is also an opportunity to showcase NZ to the World and get return or word of mouth visits. These sort of statements leave a sour taste amongst foriegners which is likely to be counterproductive to that. Not very smart.

[Aussiegunner]

I hope so, I've got $10 on it and another $10 on an Australia/Wales final. Up to a $245 profit if it comes off the way I plan :-).

[crooks]

Told ya! Gotta say that TMO decision 'no interference in in-goal area' was a shocker. If tackling a man without the ball when he's going in to score the try isn't foul play, what the hell is.....

Yeah, I'll have to bow to your superior predictor gland, that said Irish are big against tempting fate by boasting...beforehand! Was a great second half performance, the tries (the above ticked me off as did the fact that Bowe's other one wasn't knocked forward) were great, loved Keith Earls finish in the last one, could really see it meant something to him. That video had me in stitches btw, Pat Kenny 'our next guest is lucky to be here...' - it was dirty beyond belief but the melodrama post game made it much worse for him imo.

All in all Ireland are playing great and getting better with every game. Wales have serious form but I think we can take them - there's a great balance of leadership (O'Driscoll, O'Connell et al) and gifted yoof (O'Brien and Murray spring to mind). Ireland are very familiar with their gameplan (and their manager, who still holds a major grudge - they couldn't stop the grandslam in 2009, would be nice to beat them again just to see his post-mortem). Either way should be a great game, If Wales win I'll be rooting for them big time, would be nice to see a Celt lifing the cup!