Just as the FIFA World Cup winds down next weekend, Tri Nations gets started. Good timing. Anyone here willing to bet against All Blacks winning again?
well the Ab's didnt set the world on fire in their first 3 tests this year granted they separeted the main squad into two and tried several players out they still havnt found a center to replace Umaga so is will be interesting..also the Tri Nation is 2 matches longer this year
well for whatever reason, SANZAR have decided to expand the tri antions this year, so each team will play each other 3 times, the tourney will now take 3 months to complete
This is going to be a very close Tri Nations I think the Wallabies have improve a lot and the Boks and All Blacks seem a little flat. Can't wait go the Wallabies!
But that becomes unsymmetrical. How do they decide which team will get to host more home matches - 2 out of 3? Or is one of the 3 matches at a neutral venue, e.g. in the third team's country? If no neutral venue, is the seeding based on last year's Tri Nations performance, or current IRB ranking? This creates an inherent unfairness in the schedule.
i believe they are rotating for example one year the boks host NZ twice, the next year it is reversed im not 100% sure how they will decide this but it does seem rather pointless, making the comp way to long
Yes, I agree that this seems pointless. Also, this rotation in future years is bogus, as it doesn't address inherent schedule unfairness in a specific year. There are 2 other major leagues which have highly unbalanced schedules: NFL (in the US for American Football) and AFL (in Australia for Australian Football). AFL schedule is calculated by some super-secret software, and very few people actually understand how it works. It sounds like Rugby Union is entering this unbalanced schedule territory.
in other news... Mulianina is to be the All Black center for the tri nations, Henry tried 3 centers in the preparation tests, none convinced him and he is going for Mils Macdonald will play at fullback
I'm sure this has been brought up before, but what about expanding the competition? I understand that the distances are quite vast, but I'd be more interested in seeing Argentina or a Pacific Island side (similar to a few years ago) than have NZ, AUS, and SA play each other another time.
I guess it's SANZAR being short-sighted and greedy, wanting to fill their coffers with assured TV rights, instead of doing what would be good for the sport. Does IRB have any say to SANZAR about how a competition like this should be structured? If yes, IRB should be pushing for inclusion of Argentina and Pacific Islanders.
i do feel the Argies should be included in the Tri Nations its no different flying to Sa to flying to Argentina to be fair to NZ they have helped to set up a pacific tourney which includes Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Japan and the Junior All Blacks(the players not good enough to be all blacks) it finished 2 or 3 weeks ago and the Junior AB's won
In the AFL, the simplified explanation is that more often than not, each team plays a given opponent three times over a two-year period. But insofar as this series goes, there's a chance I'll be at Olympic Park in Melbourne on the night of July 22 for the Wallabies match against Fiji (although this isn't a Tri Nations match). Of course, that'll entail me working there for it.
Chandu ,According to media reports the AFL have now acquired this year the same software that the US NFL use in their fixturing. It said they can now delay the release of the schedule until October each year for the next year. ie October 2006 release of 2007 fixtures. Do you consider the US NFL fixturing to be poor or even crap in past seasons based on this information. Was this the right move by the AFL. The AFL may be considered a "provincial" league and a "made up game" by the likes of Gus Hiddink ex Socceroos coach (His ignorance was unbelievable) but they are the most professional football code by a country mile in Australia. Sport in Australia occupies a very high place in the culture.
Hmm. NFL has idiosyncracies like conferences, divisions which aren't applicable for AFL. So, I don't understand how the software could be directly applied there. I don't pay much attention to NFL. But whatever little attention I do, I know their scheduling is very strange. For example one year, every team in NFC central would play every team in AFC north, and next year it could be NFC east and so on. I have no idea how it rotates. Maybe babytiger could answer better, as he follows NFL as well. Yes, I'm very well aware of that.
We're delving off-topic, but ever since the NFL became a 32-team league with eight divisions of four teams each, that made for more reasonable team allocations -- for eons, it always seemed ridiculous to have the Atlanta Falcons and the New Orleans Saints in the NFC West, for instance. It has also made for a more balanced schedule over time -- it's a four-year cycle that has any given team from one particular AFC or NFC division playing against teams from an entire division in the opposite conference. However, going further off-topic, it'll be interesting to see how the AFL applies the NFL's scheduling software to its advantage. Also, has anyone got a good source for the entire Tri Nations schedule for this year?
Excellent source. As far as upcoming matches this weekend go, Australia plays South Africa in Brisbane on Saturday.
Is it on TV over here? I remember Fox Sports World showed it in the past. The expanded format is stupid.
What a joke, the Australia vs. South Africa match was!! Anyone who watched it willing to make a comment on such a farcical contest?
Ther Saffas were really awful. All aspects of their game seemed not to work. Perhaps they sent the wrong team over for this game. God help them if they play like that against the AB's.