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Decisions made on final two matches of Super Rugby Aotearoa

By Online Editors
Rieko Ioane. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

The Super Rugby Aotearoa match between the Blues and Crusaders at Eden Park in Auckland has been cancelled after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed Auckland will remain at alert Level 3 until August 26.

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Tomorrow’s Highlanders-Hurricanes match at Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium will go ahead however, with the game to be played under Level 2 restrictions, in front of no crowd and at an earlier time of 3.05pm.

The outbreak of community transmission of Covid-19 in South Auckland plunged the Super City into Level 3 lockdown on Wednesday, while the rest of the country will remain at Level 2 for a further 12 days.

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As a result of the Level 3 restrictions, the Blues and Crusaders clash cannot be played, with the match considered a draw and both teams awarded two points.

A cancellation dents the Blues’ financial position, after admitting earlier in the week they may have gone into insolvency had crowds had not been allowed at games.

Cancelling the game will also cost the Blues and New Zealand Rugby up to $1 million in lost revenue, as the Herald understands the 43,236 tickets sold for Sunday’s match generates gate takings between $800,000 and $1 million, with net profit thought to be around the $450,000 to $500,000 range.

Blues fans will also miss the chance to see Dan Carter in a Blues jersey in 2020, with Carter hoping to have made his debut against his former team.

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“Ten weeks ago we never thought we’d even have a competition, let alone one with fans,” said Blues CEO Andrew Hore.

“But instead we got nine weeks of incredible rugby, with three amazing home games and massive crowds. While this news is disappointing, we need to take a step back and be grateful for what we got, what it meant to our players, our sponsors and, most importantly, to our fans.”

The Blues will be in touch with all ticketholders directly in the coming days in regards to refunds.

Saturday’s fixture between the Highlanders and Hurricanes in Dunedin will still go ahead at the earlier kickoff time, but will be played under restrictions of no more than 100 people at the venue.

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Under NZ Rugby’s Level 2 protocols agreed with the Government, teams must fly in and out of cities hosting matches on the same day to limit public interaction. As a result, the Hurricanes and several match officials will take a charter flight to Dunedin tomorrow morning and return to Wellington on Saturday evening.

In the interests of public safety both the Highlanders and stadium operator DVML have taken the decision to significantly restrict access to family members of the team only. 15,000 tickets were purchased but sales were halted following the entry into Level 2.

“We are naturally disappointed that at alert Level 2 none of our passionate supporters will be able to attend,” Highlanders CEO Roger Clark said.

Hurricanes CEO Avan Lee said: “It’s great that the game will go ahead. We have prepared for a number of scenarios this week but health and safety for staff and players will continue to be our focus.”

NZR General Manager Professional Rugby & Performance Chris Lendrum was pleased they there will be one final game in Super Rugby Aotearoa.

“On the flipside, we’re obviously disappointed that the Blues-Crusaders match is off, but we all understand and support the Government’s decision around this.”

The extension of Level 3 lockdown in Auckland also puts doubt over the North v South clash, scheduled for August 29 at Eden Park. The Farah Palmer Cup is also scheduled to start next week with North Harbour and Counties Manukau due to host games in Auckland, with NZR promising a “further update in due course” on the fixtures.

All community rugby activity in the Auckland region will be put on hold until further notice, while all community rugby in the rest of the country can take place under Level 2 guidelines. A Black Ferns camp for players from the lower North Island and South Island which was due to take place in Christchurch from Sunday has been cancelled.

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Jon 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 10 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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