Blues v Brumbies
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@antipodean Not nearly as good.
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@antipodean said in Blues v Brumbies:
@ruggabee said in Blues v Brumbies:
@antipodean said in Blues v Brumbies:
I constantly criticised his coaching and selections. I think some people were just pleased it wasn't Tana or JK bad.
Maybe so, but he had the tied most talented squad in Super Rugby for his last 3 seasons (2021-2023) and still had an overwelmingly poor record against the Crusaders and Chiefs overall. Couldn't win the title in those seasons and only made the final once - the year Schmidt was orchestrating their training sessions and was the coach in all but name.
I don't know what point you're making here. I'm not disagreeing - hence why I question his involvement in the ABs.
I strongly disagreed with the sentiment that just because he's not JK or Tana level bad that fans should be content, clearly they were poor but many forget those coaches didn't have the quality of wider management staff compared to McDonald - they were not afforded the equivalent support and resources from a barely functional Blues organization at the time. Pat Lam had two assistant coaches for his entire tenure and did a pretty reasonable job.
The point is that McDonald was given a long rope compared to previous coaches and ultimately oversaw five seasons of unfulfilled potential.
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@ruggabee said in Blues v Brumbies:
@antipodean said in Blues v Brumbies:
@ruggabee said in Blues v Brumbies:
@antipodean said in Blues v Brumbies:
I constantly criticised his coaching and selections. I think some people were just pleased it wasn't Tana or JK bad.
Maybe so, but he had the tied most talented squad in Super Rugby for his last 3 seasons (2021-2023) and still had an overwelmingly poor record against the Crusaders and Chiefs overall. Couldn't win the title in those seasons and only made the final once - the year Schmidt was orchestrating their training sessions and was the coach in all but name.
I don't know what point you're making here. I'm not disagreeing - hence why I question his involvement in the ABs.
I strongly disagreed with the sentiment that just because he's not JK or Tana level bad that fans should be content, clearly they were poor but many forget those coaches didn't have the quality of wider management staff compared to McDonald - they were not afforded the equivalent support and resources from a barely functional Blues organization at the time. Pat Lam had two assistant coaches for his entire tenure and did a pretty reasonable job.
The point is that McDonald was given a long rope compared to previous coaches and ultimately oversaw five seasons of unfulfilled potential.
Ahhhh, you're @kiwi_expat lol
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A superb performance but the team on the paddock. But I'm afraid they were let down by the Blues fans. The only Super game in New Zealand this weekend and Eden Park was at least 80% empty.
It must be an enormous worry for NZR that their game day revenues for provincial rugby at the moment are so much lower than Northern Hemisphere club/provincial.
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@sparky school holidays, and foreign opposition isn't a good combination.
Pretty sure Blues attendance is the biggest in the country consistently. And that's in a city where there's proper NRL competition, and another Super team got created. Attendance issues are huge and run deeper than this game
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There really seems to be very little interest in attending rugby games below international level in NZ.
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@DaGrubster said in Blues v Brumbies:
There really seems to be very little interest in attending rugby games below international level in NZ.
Not surprising when the competitions are treated as feeder for the All Black's, not given autonomy, have a structure that resets every few years and with no urge to look after fans.
Not to mention the changing modern environment with competition for attention.
NZR are control freaks and after a while the issues that that approach start to show
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@sparky said in Blues v Brumbies:
A superb performance but the team on the paddock. But I'm afraid they were let down by the Blues fans. The only Super game in New Zealand this weekend and Eden Park was at least 80% empty.
It must be an enormous worry for NZR that their game day revenues for provincial rugby at the moment are so much lower than Northern Hemisphere club/provincial.
It was torrential rain yesterday in Auckland, that would have kept some away.
Also, the crowd numbers will be on par with other regions, it’s just a bigger stadium. Surely you don’t except 45,000 for a round robin game?
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@Kirwan
Leinster's probably the fairest comparison in terms of population/ competition from other sports etc. They fill out the 19,000 RDS Arena most weeks and they are moving to the bigger Aviva Stadium and Croke Park next year while the RDS is being renovated. -
@sparky said in Blues v Brumbies:
@Kirwan
Leinster's probably the fairest comparison in terms of population/ competition from other sports etc. They fill out the 19,000 RDS Arena most weeks and they are moving to the bigger Aviva Stadium and Croke Park next year while the RDS is being renovated.What else is there to do? I'd wager if the IRFU wasn't hell bent on ensuring Leinster's success the crowds would dwindle.
