ABs vs Kangaroos?
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(A 60-second "shot clock"...?)
The All Blacks could face the Kangaroos in a cross-code clash
November 09, 2017
The All Blacks could face the Kangaroos in a cross-code "clash of the world champions" encounter that could generate up to A$50 million, according to a report.
Sydney's Daily Telegraph is reporting top-level plans are advancing for the All Blacks to take on the Australian Rugby League team in Tokyo, Japan with each team set to receive an unprecedented $10 million or almost $600,000 per player.
The Telegraph says the All Blacks and Australian Rugby League have both shown interest in the concept - claiming and that the match could take place "two to four weeks" after the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
According to the report, ARLC chairman John Grant "has been informed of the proposed match" and emails obtained by the Telegraph "clearly show New Zealand's interest in the concept".
Hybrid Rugby chairman Phil Franks has reportedly met with NZR chief strategy and operations officer, Nigel Cass, in Wellington to discuss the proposal while Franks and Hybrid director and former player Mark Ella plan to visit Japan next month to try and secure further funding for the match.
"I had a formal discussion with the New Zealand Rugby Union and they were really interested," Franks told the Telegraph.
"They stipulated they wanted to see an elite-class game.
"They are the first to give us a window and a time as to when they want to do it. That window was two weeks to a month after the 2019 World Cup final in Tokyo [on November 2].
"We are absolutely confident we can put it together. This game will be worth $50m. It will be just as big as the final of the World Cup.
"There hasn't been any formal agreement at this stage but you know and I know it's going to happen."
Franks says he's met with NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg and that talks with the NRL are ongoing.
Organisers are already trying to sell the idea of global superstars like Sonny Bill Williams and Josh Dugan, Beauden Barrett and Michael Morgan, Aaron Smith and Cooper Cronk, and coaches Steve Hansen and Mal Meninga squaring off, the report claims.
According to the report, the match could be played by 13 players on a side, with a try worth five points and a shot clock restricting the attacking side to 60 seconds of possession in each half of the field.
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@salacious-crumb I call bullshit,
That's an "article about an article about hearsay" - and the source article looks like Looigue-fanboy wishful thinking. -
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What draw if any would the Kangaroos be in Tokyo? Unless the rights fees for NZ, UK and Australia are out of this world I don't see how this is more viable than playing Japan in Japan at XVs?
Also would be tricky to market World Champion ABs vs Losing Finalist Kangaroos on the marquee.
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It sounds like Okker bovine excrement that dumb-dumb newspaper believed serious enough to grift readers for clicks.
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In a statement issued last night, NZR chief executive Steve Tew immediately put a line through the proposed match.
"We get asked to consider a large number of proposals regularly, and in this case, we were approached over a year ago about the possibility of a hybrid game," Tew said. "Other than that initial conversation, there have been no other discussions and this is definitely not something we are pursuing."
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen, speaking ahead of the test against France in Paris, was similarly dismissive.
"$50 million? Yeah, I chuckle at a lot of the media reports I read," Hansen said. "I haven't heard anything about it."
(#FakeNews #VeryFakeNews)
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Herald fell for it hair-on-fire hard at first...
BREAKING - this could change the face of the trans-Tasman rivalry forever
Yet after the nosestretcher is exposed, they haven't updated twitter headline, they're still enjoying the clickbait hiding their correction behind the same uncorrected headline they posted 8 hours ago...
The update
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I went on facebook last night and this shit was everywhere on my newsfeed ,
People were buying it too, it was being debated who was going to win
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It's more likely the ABs will play a sevens or tens game v the Wallabies than a union-league hybrid v the Kangaroos, and even that I don't see happening.
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Given the level of care Aussies have for the international game, our packed calendar and desire to field a full strength team for a festival match....is ain't gonna happen
I think they be better trying to get something between the Maori and Kangaroos, be more workable IMO.
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They could always find 50-million reasons to change their mind... (if your read the inference in Shag's "denial"...)
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@salacious-crumb that's a lot of coin, but can't see it being near that much, plus I'd still expect a team similar to last weekends starting 15 even if it went forward.
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These sort of bullshit stories raise their head every year.
Usually some Aussie on one side or other of the league-rugby divide eyes up the market on the other side, spouts some idea to try and create interest and eventually Randwick plays the Newtown Jets in a game that resembles league more than rugby. Because Straya.
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@salacious-crumb said in ABs vs Kangaroos?:
Organisers are already trying to sell the idea of global superstars like Sonny Bill Williams and Josh Dugan, Beauden Barrett and Michael Morgan, Aaron Smith and Cooper Cronk, and coaches Steve Hansen and Mal Meninga squaring off, the report claims.
"Global superstar Josh Dugan" made me laugh.
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The window was apparently two weeks to a month after the RWC. Yeah OK. Win, lose or draw there's no fucking way the abs would want to play a game like that right after the RWC.
I don't mind if club teams or even a select group of players do something like this, but not the abs. No way.
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I decided to click on one of the articles on Stuff and the hybrid game sounds farking ridiculous!
There would be 13 players per team (plus seven reserves), there would be lineouts but no lifting and the team in possession would have 60 seconds to cross the halfway line playing league rules, at which point, the referees would call change of play to rugby union laws.
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I used to like watching the crossover games that the UK club champs for league and rugby played way back when.
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This hybrid league nonsense raises its head occasionally. It's all about league trying to get some international relevance and some rugby following Australians trying to get the level of support league does in the delusion that this would make them rugby superpowers. Like England.
Add to that a healthy dose of used car salesmen looking for that one big break to catapult them into that middle ground between miners and mine owning bogans, the whole thing is an immense pile of shit.
The Daily Telegraph themselves must have been laughing as they wrote it: Kieran Read v Wade Graham, Boyd Cordner v Samuel Whitelock - giving away 22 cm and 32 kilos in just two forwards.
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@act-crusader at least they were a half of league and a half of rugby, this 'hybrid game' sounds stupid.
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Ah. Must mean the Melbourne Cup is over, and the ratings figures for the Rugby League World Cup
of Sydney Playersare in. -
I remember watching the Wigan-Bath clashes in 1996. They were full games of each code.
Wiki says Wigan won the RL game 82-6 and Bath won the rugby game 44-19. Wigan was very good back then and were much fitter than their rugby counterparts.
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@bovidae said in ABs vs Kangaroos?:
I remember watching the Wigan-Bath clashes in 1996. They were full games of each code.
Wiki says Wigan won the RL game 82-6 and Bath won the rugby game 44-19. Wigan was very good back then and were much fitter than their rugby counterparts.
Inga played flanker for Wigan.
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Who wouldn't want to watch this?!! I don't care if you are a purist or not, there would not be a NZ man, women, cat, dog or amoeba that would not take a passing interest in this.
Of course its not going to happen but whats wrong with talking about who would win? We would only need to play our backs with Ardie, Read and Coles. No locks, no props. And we'd win. SWB, Laumape, c'mon, you already know.
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@raznomore said in ABs vs Kangaroos?:
Who wouldn't want to watch this?!! I don't care if you are a purist or not, there would not be a NZ man, women, cat, dog or amoeba that would not take a passing interest in this.
Of course its not going to happen but whats wrong with talking about who would win? We would only need to play our backs with Ardie, Read and Coles. No locks, no props. And we'd win. SWB, Laumape, c'mon, you already know.
No Cane? He'd be great as a tackling machine.
I'd prefer a one game of each than any of this hybrid shit. And I guess the Kangaroos would win the league and the ABs would pummel them in the rugby.
Funnily enough, although he's departing, I think the TKB would be the best bet to play dummy half, good at running from the base and strong defence.
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@raznomore said in ABs vs Kangaroos?:
No locks, no props.
If there are scrums and rucks I'd want locks and props. It would quickly become a game of 13 vs 7.
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More pertinent, a 2003 clash between a now fully professional Sale and St Helens was also played (one half of each code). Jason Robinson was playing for Sale.
Sale won the 1st half of RU 41-0 and St Helens scored 39 pts in the 2nd half of RL. Final score 41-39.
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@antipodean I think the best spectacle is to go more into the league variant. There would be no real scrums as the league boys do not have props with the right training to compete. Thus not requiring locks either.
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@raznomore said in ABs vs Kangaroos?:
@antipodean I think the best spectacle is to go more into the league variant.
Then what's the point if you remove the very thing that makes the two games different; a contest for possession? That's a spectacle like Joseph Merrick
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@antipodean which is why it'd never truly work.
As it is, the hybrid version wants to go back 30 years to pre-lifting days.
Reckon their best bet, would be to get 20 Union players to play League, just for the festival side of things, whereas finding a competent forward pack of league players in Australia purely for the safety side of things would be impossible
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@taniwharugby yip thats essentially it in a nut shell. Forget about which is the better game. We know that already, make it about which is the better athlete.
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@raznomore said in ABs vs Kangaroos?:
@taniwharugby yip thats essentially it in a nut shell. Forget about which is the better game. We know that already, make it about which is the better athlete.
A decathlon?
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@antipodean eat some ice cream do some bombs!
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@taniwharugby said in ABs vs Kangaroos?:
@antipodean eat some ice cream do some bombs!
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Mayweather v McGrethor then innit
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I reckon a game of 7s that had a mix of ABs/Kiwis vs Wallabies/Kangaroos would be fun to watch.
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@bovidae said in ABs vs Kangaroos?:
More pertinent, a 2003 clash between a now fully professional Sale and St Helens was also played (one half of each code). Jason Robinson was playing for Sale.
Sale won the 1st half of RU 41-0 and St Helens scored 39 pts in the 2nd half of RL. Final score 41-39.
That was fun to watch even though each team only scored when their code was played!
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@rancid-schnitzel said in ABs vs Kangaroos?:
The window was apparently two weeks to a month after the RWC. Yeah OK. Win, lose or draw there's no fucking way the abs would want to play a game like that right after the RWC.
I don't mind if club teams or even a select group of players do something like this, but not the abs. No way.
Win , they will be celebrating and wont want to see another football for sometime
Lose , they will be sulking and wont want to see another football for sometime
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Read some comments online from mainly (Aussie) league fans, who didn't want this because:
league is a far more intelligent game than union and they didn't want to be dragged down to union's level,
league is a far superior game to union and league players are far superior athletes than union players,
the Kangaroos would crush the ABs (the only thing they seemed to like about it).
They also said the ABs didn't want it because they were scared.Hahaha
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The Mayweather v MacGregor comparison is an interesting one... and makes me think the "hybrid" idea is farcical.
The Herald today reports Kangaroos surprised by news of a ABs v Roos clash, call it a "pipe dream," yet they welcome it.
Mel Maninga is quoted as saying, "Anything that's going to help promote both games ... playing against the All Blacks, they've got a worldwide brand. From a Kangaroos point of view that would certainly help that."
(Emphasis mine.)
He's right. ABs have a worldwide brand. Kangaroos are nowehere close. (Sorry Okkers; sorry League fans, but it's true.) ABs are the world's best rugby team. As Ric Flair sez, "If You Wanna Be the Man, You've Got To Beat The Man."
If the Floyd v Conor fight had attempted to be a hybrid "sports entertainment" event between boxing & mma it would have been an absurd mess. So kudos to the latter, who had to STEP UP into the ring to face the master at his level of expertise, and although nobody gave him a chance he acquitted himself very well.
If Roos want to prove a point, pump petrol into their brand and make a ton of cash, they should learn & practice real rugby and take the ABs on at XVs. That's something people would pay to see. Roos need to take step UP; ABs should not debase themselves stepping down to play a junk hybrid joke. To be the man, you've got to beat the man.
