Super Rugby positivity thread.

[wamberal]

Well, it looks doomed now. But I remember when it burst onto our screens, opening a whole new world of wonderful rugby.


We went from being able to watch a bit of club rugby, to basking every week in the best talent from New Zealand (in particular), South Africa as well as here at home, playing mostly open and highly attractive rugby.


Local up and comers were showcased as never before. We saw the wonderful young stars, from New Zealand in particular, on their way up.


I am always bemused when a relative handful of posters tell us that "it was doomed from the start". To the contrary, it boomed from the start.



It is a shell of its former self, unfortunately. Just about everything has a life cycle. One thing is for sure and for certain, whatever replaces it will be up against it, because the original product was so wonderful for so much of its life.



In the meantime, we really should celebrate the good things about it, and seek ways to learn positive lessons for the way ahead.

 

[Teh Other Dave]

Australia has benefited the most from Super Rugby, starting with Super 6 and 10. It meant that Qld and NSW weren't just playing each other and touring sides, but had regular, quality competition. Super 12 was an even bigger step. The ACT Brumbies suddenly meant that Canberra locals and quality players who were on the outside in Qld and NSW got a crack. Think of how many Brumbies were in the 1999 and 2003 World Cup squads - many of those may never have had a look in.

Super 12 in particular had quality teams playing competitive footy in a simple format with few meaningless games. The trouble with the current format is with expansion teams in Australia (sorry Rebs supporters), the sporting and political landscape in SA, as well as a convoluted draw that's uneven and rewards mediocrity. And the local derbies have lost their scarcity - think one day cricket.

People want good quality rugby that they can become invested in.
The suggested 'fixes' or replacement options pretty much push us further away from this: letting SA go (loss of quality teams), more Australian teams (think how crap the Australian conference has been for the last 5 years, then double it), more teams from SE Asia or Pacific (another few Sunwolves, expensive/unprofitable).

Who knows what will happen with pro rugby after a COVID vaccine becomes available? If it survives, we would do well then going back to basics - quality teams in a coherent, competitive draw.

 

[wamberal]

Get the balance right: retain the best of what we have, and introduce innovations gradually, in a planned and thoughtful manner.



It is no use pretending that we can build on traditions, apart from our domestic club competitions, and the Wallabies, and to some limited extent, the NSW and Queensland state rivalry, we don't have any.



The AFL and the NRL built their national competitions on a strong base of tradition clubs and rivalries. Soccer built its on a widespread love and acceptance of the sport throughout pretty much the whole nation: even then they have struggled to come up with a genuinely popular domestic competition.

 

[Dan54]

I agree Wamberal, when it came out it was brilliant, I must admit to not being in Aus when it started, but a lot of Aus rugby mates assure me it was the saviour of Aus rugby below test level at time. It was certainly greeted well in NZ too and there were great crowds seemingly most places. I was fortunate enough to be in Palmerston North at the very first game, and was keen. It got more attention of Aus teams from NZ too as before there were mainly games where Canterbury etc came to Aus for friendlies that had no interest in NZ as they were all played here and for nothing really. Of course then we had Pacific 6 or 10 whatever, that was really just seen as a preseason jaunt, with no real interest or top players involved from NZ or even SA.
I really like both yours and TOD's posts, and agree wholeheartedly that if we can strip it back and look at introducing innovations to keep the interest up. I think maybe somehow a tie in with a World club comp where top teams very couple of years can play, not sure how it would work etc, but while everything is obviously changing perhaps we can return it to something like what it was.

 

[Rob42]

Well, it looks doomed now. But I remember when it burst onto our screens, opening a whole new world of wonderful rugby.


We went from being able to watch a bit of club rugby, to basking every week in the best talent from New Zealand (in particular), South Africa as well as here at home, playing mostly open and highly attractive rugby.


Local up and comers were showcased as never before. We saw the wonderful young stars, from New Zealand in particular, on their way up.


I am always bemused when a relative handful of posters tell us that "it was doomed from the start". To the contrary, it boomed from the start.
.

Crossing sports, much of this description reminds me of the BBL - creating a new competition that showcases a whole new layer of talent, below the international stars. Hugely popular with the public, exciting play to watch. But also a comp that sits uncomfortably with the existing domestic competitions, and already shows signs of making the same mistakes as Super Rugby: "hey, a short, intense tournament was great, let's double the number of matches so that the first half of the competition becomes pointless!"

Back to the positivity though - the early years of Super Rugby really were great - getting to see your local team play against a good chunk of All Blacks or Springboks almost every game was such a change. And its intensity - a real feeling that your team could hardly afford to drop a single match in the race to the semi-finals.