Where to for Super Rugby?

[Slim 293]

The idea isn’t without merit, but it’s also easier for the AFL to schedule those regular fixtures when all of the teams involved share the same home ground.........

 

[Slim 293]

I'll just add that I am in agreement that the draw has been a massive issue with Super Rugby, and has certainly contributed to the declining public interest in the comp.........

How many weeks last year were there no prime time Friday night matches for Australian viewers?

Brumbies supporters up in Canberra have to wait a month this year before they get their first home game.

It's quite likely the intern is in charge of scheduling......... I'm not sure how many people noticed during the Super 14 period that it was essentially the same two draws over five years.

 

[half]

Two home matches and one away match. Saw a bit in the paper today, lets hope the media picks up.

Date Teams Venue Kickoff time (AEDT/AEST)​

Fri Feb 23 Highlanders vs Blues Forsyth Barr Stadium 5:35 PM​

Fri Feb 23 Rebels vs Reds AAMI Park, Melbourne 7:45 PM​

Sat Feb 24 Sunwolves vs Brumbies Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium, Tokyo 3:15 PM​

Sat Feb 24 Crusaders vs Chiefs AMI Stadium, Christchurch 5:35 PM​

Sat Feb 24 Waratahs vs Stormers Allianz Stadium, Sydney 7:45 PM​

Sat Feb 24 Lions vs Jaguares Emirates Airlines Park, Johannesburg 12:05 AM​

Sun Feb 25 Bulls vs Hurricanes Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria 2:15 AM​

Bye: Sharks​

 

[TOCC]

Preferably the Super Rugby season would kick of with a Grand Final re-match... Not always possible due to the nature of the draw, in which case the next preference should be to kick the season off with historical derby matches, whether that be Tahs v Brumbies or Tahs v Reds in Australia, but it should be one of those at least purely to capture the media headlines and let the public know that Super Rugby has returned.

Waratahs vs Stormers and Brumbies vs Sunwolves are shocking decisions to start the season, Rebels vs Reds is remotely interesting but far from a traditional derby or match of the heavyweights.

 

[lou75]

Definitely Tahs v Reds as a season opener imo that leaves Brumbies v Rebels for the home derbies and Sunwolves can play NZ or some one else

 

[Omar Comin']

Preferably the Super Rugby season would kick of with a Grand Final re-match. Not always possible due to the nature of the draw, in which case the next preference should be to kick the season off with historical derby matches, whether that be Tahs v Brumbies or Tahs v Reds in Australia, but it should be one of those at least purely to capture the media headlines and let the public know that Super Rugby has returned.

Waratahs vs Stormers and Brumbies vs Sunwolves are shocking decisions to start the season, Rebels vs Reds is remotely interesting but far from a traditional derby or match of the heavyweights.

Maybe a softer opening to the season is worth trying. Round 1 matches are not always the best spectacles, teams aren't in the groove of playing, combinations are new or rusty etc. You want the bigger, more popular matches (ones that attract a lot more casual fans) to be good spectacles and I think that's more likely after the first couple of rounds, certainly after the first.

That said, Waratahs vs Stormers and Brumbies vs Sunwolves are probably too soft an opening.

 

[James Pettifer]

Maybe a softer opening to the season is worth trying. Round 1 matches are not always the best spectacles, teams aren't in the groove of playing, combinations are new or rusty etc. You want the bigger, more popular matches (ones that attract a lot more casual fans) to be good spectacles and I think that's more likely after the first couple of rounds, certainly after the first.

That said, Waratahs vs Stormers and Brumbies vs Sunwolves are probably too soft an opening.

I think we have tried a softer opening for quite a number of years and crowds are definitely heading in the wrong direction. The AFL goes in with a big game, gets 70k attendance and everyone knows that AFL is back in town. Super Rugby just kinda stumbles in with some less interesting games and I'm pretty sure casual fans won't even know that the season is starting. Of course, we would probably then start with a bang and then a whimper as it is also almost impossible to build momentum with such large gaps at points between home games - the Brumbies only having their second home game on the 31st of March, the Reds have no home games between the games on the 11th of March and the 21st of April and also with the June internationals.

 

[Omar Comin']

Yeah I think the large gaps between home games is perhaps the biggest flaw of Super Rugby.

But I'd guess the choice of round 1 fixtures is well down the list of reasons why super rugby crowds are heading in the wrong direction. Most of the casual fans of rugby in Australia are predominantly fans of other sports (especially league) who might watch up to a handful of rugby games per year - and it's predictable which ones. There's at least an argument that if you stick the Reds vs Waratahs in round 1 and it's a predictably average spectacle it'll drive people further away. I feel you want to maximise the chance of those 3 or 4 biggest fixtures being good games.

I think it's a mistake starting the Rugby Championship with the first 2 Bledisloe Cup matches for the same reason.

 

[TOCC]

lack of publicity is a big reason crowds and ratings are down, the concept behind blockbuster games in round 1 is to capture capture the headlines in the major markets in the early weeks of the competition.

Otherwise it will be round 4 or 5 and you will have people not even aware the comp has started like they have in recent years.

 

[dru]

But I'd guess the choice of round 1 fixtures is well down the list of reasons why super rugby crowds are heading in the wrong direction.

It it however symptomatic.

 

[Slim 293]

I think we have tried a softer opening for quite a number of years and crowds are definitely heading in the wrong direction.

Actually, that's not true.............

Up until last year round one generally featured one blockbuster local derby in either Tahs v Reds, or Brumbies v Reds, and usually one other local derby.

 

[James Pettifer]

Actually, that's not true.....

Up until last year round one generally featured one blockbuster local derby in either Tahs v Reds, or Brumbies v Reds, and usually one other local derby.

Ah bugger ...

 

[James Pettifer]

Yeah I think the large gaps between home games is perhaps the biggest flaw of Super Rugby.

But I'd guess the choice of round 1 fixtures is well down the list of reasons why super rugby crowds are heading in the wrong direction. Most of the casual fans of rugby in Australia are predominantly fans of other sports (especially league) who might watch up to a handful of rugby games per year - and it's predictable which ones. There's at least an argument that if you stick the Reds vs Waratahs in round 1 and it's a predictably average spectacle it'll drive people further away. I feel you want to maximise the chance of those 3 or 4 biggest fixtures being good games.

I think it's a mistake starting the Rugby Championship with the first 2 Bledisloe Cup matches for the same reason.

Go back to when it was a Super12, there were 5/6 home games over a period of 12 weeks. Now there are 7/8 over 23 weeks (including week 1, the byes, the gap for the internationals).

The Rebels actually have a pretty good draw from a home crowd perspective. Only with the SA away games and the last 2 games do they not play a game every second round at home.

 

[Slim 293]

Ah bugger .

But certainly this year and last year didn't feature any big name local clashes............

I think having something like the Tahs v Reds as an opening fixture, and actually promoting the hell out of it would certainly be beneficial.

And using the AFL as an example, I wonder if having it on a Thursday night holds any benefit in terms of drawing crowds/TV audiences?

 

[Rebels3]

Thursday nights are a no go, only reason why AFL/NRL ever have them is to avoid the competition on the Friday. We fortunately do not have that issue in the first few rounds.

The competition really needs one blockbuster in each area for the first round. Reds v Tahs is our biggest, Crusaders v Blues in NZ and Stormers v Lions/Sharks might be a good one to have in SAF.

Other things that need to be sorted;

- no touring SAF team should play the earlier time slot in NZ or Aus to maximise viewers (games should kick off mid morning SAF time)
- no touring NZ team should play the earlier timeslot in SAF to maximise viewers (games should kick off at 5-5.30am NZ time)
- no touring Aus team should play the latest timeslot in SAF to maximise viewers (games should kick off at 10.30-11 Aus time)
- ANZAC Day (the weekend leading upto anyway) should consist of 4 Aus v NZ matches
- no touring SAF team should play a Friday night game in Aus or NZ (its during a work day in SAF)
- Sunday matches on a weekly basis in either AUS or NZ (although no SAF matches as its Sun night/Monday morning in Aus NZ)
- No soft starts
- Even little things like and i am not accusing the refs of bias, but last weeks 2 matches had 1 SAF ref and 1 int ref. The 2 matches involved SAF v SAF and ARG v SAF. Guess which match had the int ref and which had the SAF ref, it's just silly comical things like this that they open themselves upto. You'd think they would put the int ref in SAF v ARG and the SAF ref in SAF v SAF, but no thats just to easy

Some common sense is all that is needed.

 

[formerflanker]

Interesting message on the Super advertisements - emphasising "we're back to Super 15"

 

[dru]

Interesting message on the Super advertisements - emphasising "we're back to Super 15"

Let's see how that goes promoting the broadcast in Perth.

 

[half]

North Sydney Leagues club is in talks with a Perth group to put a NRL team in Perth.

To rub salt into the wounds they want to call the club the """ Western Bears"""

No idea if it will get off the ground. But from smh.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...cense-in-an-expanded-nrl-20180222-h0wi7h.html

The North Sydney Bears and a Western Australian consortium are exploring the prospect of joining forces to create a "Western Bears" franchise seeking inclusion in an expanded NRL competition.

 

[RugbyReg]

The North Sydney Leagues club has been talking about moving to every ‘expansion ‘ area for the last 20 years.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Double Agent]

Hah - at least The Betoota Advocate are celebrating the start of Super Rugby for Oz teams.

http://www.betootaadvocate.com/spor...d-ahead-of-super-rugby-kick-off-this-weekend/