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Super Rugby 2024 General Chat

Rob42

John Solomon (38)
At least they know where they stand in the pecking order of sports tiers here in Australia and don't make direct threats to their competitors about stealing players with money they don't have.
Are you kidding? The FFA and A-leagues (and even more so their media acolytes) have an insufferable superiority complex and continually assume they're going to be the number 1 sport in Australia in the next couple of years - that's why it's OK to burn millions of PE money.
 

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
At least they know where they stand in the pecking order of sports tiers here in Australia and don't make direct threats to their competitors about stealing players with money they don't have.

I guess they did technically have the $30m that they wasted on trying to build a digital content platform.
 

Dan54

Tim Horan (67)
At least they know where they stand in the pecking order of sports tiers here in Australia and don't make direct threats to their competitors about stealing players with money they don't have.
Yep , but that's not super rugby who is doing that.
 

Derpus

George Gregan (70)
They should make some of these ANZAC week matches regular events. So always have the Brumbies + Hurricanes and Reds + Blues play each other, for e.g. Maybe Crusaders + Waratahs, and leave the others to rotate around one another.

EDIT: And Moana + Drua, ofc.
Yeah but we lose them lots though
 

Jimmy_Crouch

Ken Catchpole (46)
At the Super W final. Great atmosphere and some great tries. Lafai for the tahs has been dominate. Fijiana fullback has been real good both sides of the ball.

Drua have similar discipline issues to the men.
 

waiopehu oldboy

Stirling Mortlock (74)
SKY, who are usually super-secretive about these things, are reporting an 11% increase in viewer numbers this season on their subscription & recently-acquired FTA channels.

Biggest audience so far was Tribe v CruSadists followed by Tribe v 'canes, both well over 400K.

No breakdown viz sub v FTA but their subscriber base is fairly static so I'd guess that a lot of the growth is due to the FTA delayed "match of the week"?

Also reporting unspecified growth on their streaming platforms.

Edit: article on a different site describes the increase in digital views as "modest".

 
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Derpus

George Gregan (70)
And here we are. After a vaguely promising start to the year im firmly back in the 'throw this garbage in the bin' camp. Absolutely unwatchable tripe from the Aussies.
Loige has 3-4 games going to the wire every weekend for half a year and all we can squirt out is 5-10 close games A YEAR
 

Dan54

Tim Horan (67)
And here we are. After a vaguely promising start to the year im firmly back in the 'throw this garbage in the bin' camp. Absolutely unwatchable tripe from the Aussies.
Loige has 3-4 games going to the wire every weekend for half a year and all we can squirt out is 5-10 close games A YEAR
Interesting Derpus, don't follow league, but on another forum where a similar discussion was had this was one reply.

"Not to forget from the copyrighted "greatest sporting comp in the world" that we must always compare NZ rugby with (the NRL for anyone who didn't get the reference
1f609.png
) 60-18, 54-20, 40-0 and some close 32-18 and 34-10."

As I say, don't follow that game, but I find in almost any sport I have followed , close results are the exception rather than the rule.
 

Dctarget

John Eales (66)
This is looking like the most competitive round yet. Beyond Chiefs/MP (Moana Pasifika) every match is pretty tough to call and close on the leader board. Brumbies/'tahs the other obvious mismatch but always a good game and in Sydney should make it more intersting.

I'm actually getting excited for Super.

My picks: Chiefs, Reds, 'Canes, Crusaders, Tahs, Force
 

zer0

Jim Lenehan (48)
Crusaders hate watch: Mixed bag this week. Highlanders A+. Angus Gardner F- for letting a nonsensical looking try in at the end to improve the Crusaders mathematical chances. Force. Unclear. A Drua win would've been more straightforward, especially as they have 2/3 matches in Fiji. But you lot had now better follow up in your final three matches. A win against the Waratahs is imperative. Ideally with a BP.
 

Adam84

Nick Farr-Jones (63)
Warriors/NRL making inroads in NZ. NRL also considering 2 new teams now, not just one. Perth, PNG and 2nd NZ team are front runners.
IMG_8051.jpeg
 

waiopehu oldboy

Stirling Mortlock (74)
Yawn, I've been reading articles like that for over 30 years now, the only thing that's changed is the supposed home of the second NRL team (used to be Wellington, now Christchurch, give it a few more years it could be Hamilton or Tauranga).

Not many people know this but pre-Warriors NZRL had a Provincial comp (but they called them Districts) of up to 12 semi-pro teams. Was on FTA TV & drew decent crowds. Then the Warriors came along & sucked up pretty much every sponsor & dollar. Now the NZRL Cup has four semi-pro teams & a six-team amateur second-tier comp. No FTA & only one pay-tv game per week (that NZRL pay to have produced & btoadcast) plus I think some games are streamed by the teams themselves. Attendances are generally in the hundreds.

I've had conversations with league die-hards who are very much of the opinion that the Warriors have done more harm than good to their game here in NZ.

As I've posted a few times now, there are now more secondary school boys playing basketball than rugby. Doesn't seem to have flowed through to the adult games yet but I know NZR regard basketball as a bigger threat than league.
 
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waiopehu oldboy

Stirling Mortlock (74)
Actually the one time league could possibly have become a major threat was in the late 80's & early 90's. NZRU's obsession with maintaining contact with South Africa despite apartheid turned a lot of people off rugby & then TV2 started showing the Winfield Cup. That provided the impetus for Auckland RL to start the process that caused the Warriors to come into being. Had the Warriors been better run & rugby not gone pro when it did who knows what might have happened: articles like the one above might even reflect reality.
 

PhilClinton

Geoff Shaw (53)
Just had a look at the ladder. I am really not a fan of the top 8 finals in a 12 team competition.

In theory, I think every team is still a chance of making finals, which means we could have a situation where teams are rewarded with a chance to win the championship when they've only won 4 games all year.

And being a straight knockout finals, anything can really happen.
 
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