'Super Rugby' 2021
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@Rapido said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
@Crucial said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
a Blues supporter
Who did you support in the Lomu and Vidiri Blues years? Genuinely curious.
I'm not sure how many times I have explained this. Usually it is after the usual derision for changing allegiance.
When Super first started I only took a passing interest. It was a gimmick based in the big towns.
You are correct that, in theory I should have been a Blues supporter and while I watched them to see those two players the underlying feeling was that the AUCKLAND Blues didn't give a rats about genuinely selecting from Counties. Players were overlooked in favour of average Aucklanders. I felt very little connection. I viewed these new teams as just companies. They didn't warrant my support just by being.
A little later I was living in Wellington with a young son keen on going to matches with his mates. He was playing for a local club and getting all the promotional stuff. When you have Jonah, Cully and Tana all playing it was pretty hard to not go to games and therefore I 'followed' the Canes more than being a supporter but over the years they were the team I cheered for.
That all changed when the Hammatuer decided he could change the whole culture of the team and along with it the exciting style that was fun to watch. I got sick of that clown quite quickly. It coincided with the change to the NPC and the way players were being selected. CM players finally had a proper pathway and I got to watch many of them play at the next level in the Chiefs. Chiefs have my support because generally they select and develop more CM players than other franchises. -
@Machpants said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
@Snowy QFT
Quoted For Truth
nah I just fucked up, don't even know what I was typing in there when I got interupted
Still in the top 50% of posts
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@antipodean said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
@Machpants said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
@Snowy QFT
Quoted For Truth
nah I just fucked up, don't even know what I was typing in there when I got interupted
Still in the top 50% of posts
Harsh.
@Machpants said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
nah I just fucked up, don't even know what I was typing in there
That is one of the greatest posts . Top 3%.
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@mikey07 said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
I struggle to see how the Force can be included they were the whipping boys for the Aussie teams how are they going to go having to come over and play in NZ
That's easy to answer: "Something, something, Twiggy, 20 year plan."
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@Rapido said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
@mariner4life said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
@Rapido said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
BOP: gain East Coast and Poverty Bay (just tokenism really, can't be a single province franchise. But trying to add another largish NPC union like Hawkes Bay would just create another Frankenstein, BOP is where the growth is)
did you see the BOP team on the weekend? What would that do v the Crusaders?
Get thrashed, Crusaders got thrashed repeatedly in 1996. But getting thrashed is only temporary if the structure of the competition doesn't entrench it.
Although the thread is Super Rugby 2021, my proposals are for a permanent structure not a one-off quick fix.
Lots of teams will get thrashed in 2021 by the Crusaders in the likely format. 3 of the Australians plus the Pasifika team will get reamed by them. But, worse, that will probably be a permanent state of affairs. Pasifika because of money and Australian franchises because they're trying to create 5 teams outs of 3 teams worth of talent, hamstringing themselves with players needing to be Australian qualified or potentially qualified, in a comp that includes another country creating only 5 teams but out of 6 teams worth of talent.
So your solution is to dilute NZ's talent and have 8 teams??
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@Machpants said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
Now watch them ignore those recommendations and add a “pacific” team aka NZ number 6.
They will be rubbish and then the whinging will start about the NZRU sabotaging them by not allowing them to sign players who are contracted to other franchises already.
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However, sources have confirmed to Stuff that the Aratipu Report, led by Blues chairman Don Mackinnon, concluded that player depth would be a serious hurdle for a sixth New Zealand franchise.
Those who took part in the report already believe the current Super Rugby franchises are struggling to find adequate replacements when injuries test their depth, making it unlikely that a new Kiwi franchise could find a squad of 38 Super Rugby-quality players without cannibalising the Blues, Crusaders, Chiefs, Hurricanes and Highlanders.
Stuff understands that Sky would only support a sixth team if it is competitive from the outset, and the success of Super Rugby Aotearoa encouraged the broadcaster to pivot away from quantity towards quality, with the emphasis on fan engagement.
Sources have also told Stuff that an underplayed part of the Aratipu Report was its focus on the franchise/club calendar as a whole, with serious thought going into a season that would eventually allow the top New Zealand sides to compete against teams such as Owen Farrell’s Saracens or heavyweight Irish province Leinster.
Those ambitions have not been shelved, despite the ravages of Covid-19, and there is genuine and ongoing interest in both hemispheres at club/franchise level about making those clashes happen, even if they are not annual fixtures.
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The NZRPA is behind a Pasifika team.
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Players such as Semi Radradra, Charles Piutau and Taqele Naiyaravoro are currently running rampant in England, and Nichol admitted “feelers had been put out” to Europe-based talent with a view to them returning to play in Super Rugby.LOL - they're not coming back for some South Pacific Pesos
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@antipodean Piutau would be available for AB selection, so some extra coin available if he made it, but even then, he'd still be earning much less than up there.
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@antipodean said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
Players such as Semi Radradra, Charles Piutau and Taqele Naiyaravoro are currently running rampant in England, and Nichol admitted “feelers had been put out” to Europe-based talent with a view to them returning to play in Super Rugby.LOL - they're not coming back for some South Pacific Pesos
Of course, those players will never come back as they are earning mega bucks, so I'm not sure why Cully mentioned them. Piutau isn't coming back to NZ either as he choose money over playing for the ABs.
However, there will be plenty of PI players at UK and French clubs who aren't earning that sort of coin so if the money offered by Pasifika is comparable they might be keen.
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@Bovidae There is also the chance that CV, Brexit, etc will make clubs/unions enforce tighter country of origin rules, freeing up foreign players. For Ex UK post Brexit will not have PI and SA counting as locals, France are every restricting foreign players, Ireland/Wales are losing so much money and will want to cut wages...
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@KiwiMurph said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
@Derpus said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
@KiwiMurph It's not misleading when talking about the value to Fox - which is what we are discussing.
What do Fox care about FTA figures?
I meant just in terms of overall numbers viewing - of course FFA would get broadcast $ from Free To Air too.
Regarding the A-League Grand Final ratings see below (the maths seem out by 1k though).
A Foxtel spokesman informed the Herald 151,000 people watched the match on Foxtel. Of those, 84,000 watched via the Linear box services while 66,000 watched on either Foxtel Now, Foxtel Go or their over-the-top sports streaming service, Kayo.Haven't been able to find the full numbers including streaming (Foxtel Now/Foxtel Go/Kayo) but the Super Rugby Au Final had 89,000 that watched via Linear box services (compared with 84,000 for the A-League Grand Final). Pretty decent numbers I think - about double the figures for a usual Super Rugby Au game.
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The position of SA is likely to crystalise today. From Wayne K. Smith (paywalled):
South Africa set to quit Super Rugby and head for Europe
... the general council of SA Rugby meets to vote on whether to send its four strongest franchises north into what will become the European Pro16 competition.
After threatening for so long to switch its provincial focus from SANZAAR to Europe, South Africa finally is about to do the deed, though it has taken nothing less than a global pandemic to bring about this long-predicted outcome. Certainly within South African rugby circles it is regarded as an open secret that the general council will vote to send the Sharks, Stormers, Bulls and Lions into the Pro16.
Technically speaking, this arrangement is purely for 2021, in much the same way as NZ’s Super Rugby Aotearoa and Australia’s Super Rugby AU are also only holdover competitions for next year until the coronavirus crisis passes. After that, supposedly, they will all resume the 14-team Super Rugby series that, as SANZAAR members, they have committed to through to 2025.
At least, that is how it stands at present. The expectation, however, is that the SANZAAR executive committee will decide in 2021 to recognise that South African rugby’s future lies permanently in Europe, while Australia and NZ are likely to link up in a trans- Ta$man series. Sadly, the only loser out of this will be Argentina.
... For a brief time, the Pro12 became the Pro14, following the inclusions of the two Super Rugby sides culled in 2017, the Cheetahs and the Southern Kings. But, as the pandemic descended, the expanded competition took a new hit, with the Kings going into liquidation and the Cheetahs being grounded.
It could get very messy indeed in South African rugby if the general council approves of its four senior sides taking the places of the two Super Rugby rejects in what will become the Pro16. While the Kings look like going quietly, the Cheetahs are gearing up for legal action.
As The Sunday Times pointed out, there is also considerable disgruntlement within the general rugby population in South Africa. “The traditionalists will miss regular contact with New Zealand teams,” the newspaper pointed on the weekend.
True, the South Africans have had some great contests with the five Kiwi franchises, replicating the Springbok-All Black Tests. The final Super Rugby ledger records that of the 523 games played between NZ and SA, the Kiwis won 320 of them, a winning percentage of 61.18. But the South Africans also come out behind Australia over the quarter-century of Super Rugby, with the five Australian teams winning 225 games out of 424 with SA rivals, a win ratio of 53.06. ...
