Super Rugby Axes 3 !!

[Puja]

A very good win for Cheetahs again. Their defence is something shocking, but they've outscored Ospreys. They're certainly making hay from their home fixtures and it is nice to see them competitive.

Puja

[zer0]

Coming from a collection of islands where the largest "mountain" is nought more than a glorified hill, Shirley the altitude is going to be killing the visiting UK sides?

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Coming from a collection of islands where the largest "mountain" is nought more than a glorified hill, Shirley the altitude is going to be killing the visiting UK sides?

Apparently not.

[rowan]

A sad year for rugby, IMHO:

Sydney - The parent body of Australia's Western Force went into voluntary administration on Friday over "financial constraints" after its vain attempt to save the team from being axed from Super Rugby.

Despite strong opposition, the Force were culled in August as part of the drive to reduce the southern hemisphere competition from 18 to 15 teams.

Parent body RugbyWA sued the Australian Rugby Union in April, but the case was dismissed by a Sydney court and the Perth-based franchise was dumped.

KordaMentha, an advisory and investment firm, said it was appointed as voluntary administrator by RugbyWA "because of concerns of the future solvency of the business".

"This concern was due to the financial constraints on RugbyWA from the Western Force's elimination from Super Rugby Competition and Australian Rugby Union pursuing RugbyWA for its legal costs," KordaMentha partner Scott Langdon said in a statement.

Langdon said RugbyWA planned to continue managing competitions in Western Australia, as well as the sport's development in the state.

The first creditors' meeting will be held in a week, with the second about a month after.

A parliamentary inquiry released on Wednesday found that the ARU made the decision to axe the Force - rather than the Melbourne Rebels, who were also on the chopping block - months before a review process was completed.

Force appears set to join a six-team Indo Pacific Rugby Championship announced by its billionaire supporter, mining magnate Andrew Forrest, who was angered by the team's axing.

The new league could be up and running by late next year.

https://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/rugbywa ... g-20171117

[rowan]

Aussie promo for 2018 Super 15 - still refers to it as a Southern Hemisphere championship:

[rowan]

How about this for a good laugh

[rowan]

Basically the Super Rugby clubs should all be in the top 20, with the exception of the Kings & Sunwolves, who are a joke. & then mixed in with your Euro clubs should be the first division teams from both the Currie Cup and Mitre 10 Cup, because that's about the right level. A few of the top Aussie and Argie domestic teams would figure too, plus Fiji's Drua, ahead of the Russian clubs, impressive as Enisei and Krasny Yar have been in basically 3rd tier European club competition. I'm not even sure they'd be superior to the Japanese top league teams, the best sides in North American and Samoan domestic competition, the Welwitschias provincial side and Zimbabwe's Old Georgians - who were surprisingly competitive in last year's South African club championships. I guess we'll need a World Club Championship some day to settle all this . . .

How about this for a good laugh

[rowan]

Interesting story on the highly active Zimbabwe Rugby Forum Facebook page (unsure of original source):

Cape Town - Eastern Province Rugby Union president Andre Rademan has shed more light on Stade Francais owner Hans-Peter Wild’s visit to Port Elizabeth last weekend.

The owner of the French Top 14 club was accompanied by Rademan which started rumours that the German billionaire was keen to buy the Southern Kings franchise.

However, Rademan insists talks of buying the Kings are premature.

Rademan told Netwerk24 that Wild flew to Port Elizabeth with his own private plane and landed on Saturday morning.

The EP president said he accompanied Wild as they attended the Nelson Mandela Bay University’s sport centre before having lunch together.

Wild was then a guest at the PRO14 match between the Kings and Cheetahs at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, before leaving Port Elizabeth after the game.

Rademan did not confirm whether Wild was interested in buying the Kings franchise.’

It’s no secret that EP Rugby and the Kings are struggling financially, following the liquidation of the union in 2016.

It forced SA Rugby to take control of the Kings franchise which competed in Super Rugby.

The Kings lost their Super Rugby status last year and they, along with the Cheetahs, were added to Europe’s PRO14.

The Kings, however, have struggled in their debut season, losing all 12 of their fixtures to date.