Lions reach profit-sharing agreement with players

In simple terms: French rugby is unique. They do it their way, and they always will. Just because their model, culture and decisions are different and don’t suit others doesn’t mean they’re wrong. Or that they will change…

The key is unlocking Japan, so let’s hope nz have learned some humility for their approach to these negotiations coz the Japanese are holding the flush hand. Cash is king!

If Japan won't let a couple of OZ teams and 5 NZ teams join their comp....which I suspect they won't, something else innovative should be tried.

My idea is 2 Oz teams (North and South for simplicity) + 5 NZ teams + 2 Pacific teams playing in a high quality comp called the "All Black Zone".....ABZ.

Have carefully chosen time slots/dates and matches sold to USA, Japan the rest of Asia, Australia, NZ and the Pacific.

Base Moana Pacifika in Hawaii.

Do a deal with Japan so televised matches don't clash with theirs. Have a Champions Cup with the Japanese comp, and accept Australians playing in Japan as "home" based players.

Get $$ from broadcast deals (streaming) + sugar daddies.

Imagination not nostalgia

Fwiw I don't agree that narrowness of wins is much of a signal of luck. There are good examples of top players consistently raising their games by just enough to beat the opponent in front of them. For example, Bjorn Borg was regularly taken to five sets in early rounds of Wimbledon, by very low-seeded players, but would raise his game in each round (including the final) by just enough to win the championship. He won five Wimbledon titles, of course.

In rugby, single score wins are often about mental strength. The dying minutes of a close game can often be about which team can maintain their defensive structures, maintain their discipline, and find a way to get that crucial maul try, penalty, dropped goal, or line break. Some teams rise to that challenge better than others. In fact some teams consistently keep the scores close until the last 20 minutes, and then raise their games to win the arm wrestle by a few points.

The other observation about luck is that fans tend to ignore probability distributions when considering an incident. For example, a "lucky bounce" can result in a winger collecting a ball and scoring in the last minute of the game. The opposing fans will double click on the win being lucky, but a statistician might consider how many times that team had a bad bounce during the game. There may have been five or ten times during that game when a better bounce would have resulted in a try. In that context the story is not about the "lucky bounce", but about what would have happened if they had not been so unfortunate with so many "unlucky bounces".

They shouldn't have been surprised. NZ themselves have sometimes used a team lacking all of their stars. In fact (like Australia) they do so at the moment via their no OS rules.

I think that the combined (or individual) thinking of OZ and NZ continues to miss modern thinking when it comes to organising, scheduling, coaching, tactics, selecting and money. Less so than Australia, but it’s there.

Somehow it feels very 20th century.

Sticking to an SR competition that clearly doesn't work on a number of fronts, but most notably on quality, competitiveness, public support and money stuns me.

I was also surprised by the NZ continuation of some elements of outmoded coaching from a new young wiz-bang coach. Selecting om 2023 form instead of 2024 form indicates to me that everything is just a little bit behind.

I know SR for 2025 is "locked in", but more of the same beyond then will finish off the game in Oz and seriously damage it in NZ

As for nz, they’ve already started kicking off, running to mummy in Dublin complaining about the big boys being unfair to them. They really didn’t give a fcuk when the boot was on the other foot for the Boks in sr, did they? What goes around, comes around…

Ireland turned up in 2022 and won a series. How is that relationship doing now? After last match in 2023 NZ players shouted c**t at the Irish captain, similar to the Irish vice captain and abused the Irish crowd. Clearly consideration for such relationships is one way only.

The All Blacks always did what suited the All Blacks and their Brand. I think they have been sheltered and entitled in their time as the dominant force. The French don't believe it is worth their while to send their strongest team to NZ. They are perfectly entitled to take that position and owe NZ nothing. The rugby world owes NZ nothing.