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'Fan-centric' innovations expected once Super Rugby Commission is established

Dane Coles of the Hurricanes leads the team out for the round 15 Super Rugby Pacific match between Hurricanes and Crusaders at Sky Stadium, on June 03, 2023, in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo by Masanori Udagawa/Getty Images)

New Zealand’s love of rugby is complex and varying. Australia’s, even more so. The relationship between the respective unions is “unique” but New Zealand Rugby CEO Mark Robinson is certain the two will soon come to an arrangement on the establishment of a Super Rugby commission.

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The commission will provide a clear and progressive future for the competition and look to re-engage any waning fanbases as other sports threaten to steal rugby’s spotlight.

Since Super Rugby’s future is confirmed until 2030, maximising the entertainment value and community connection will be priority number one and an objective deserving of its own, full-time staff.

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The commission’s official purpose is to “drive commercial revenue, oversee rules and regulations, shape the future strategic direction and generate fan-first initiatives”.

So what avenues will the commission explore? Ideas being floated such as a draft, a salary cap, a player transfer or a trade system all have their merits but, whether they serve the best interests of the competition and the sport overall will likely be investigated and ruled upon by the commission.

“I think there will be more and more work as the commission stands up to investigate those areas, with urgency,” Robinson told Paddy Gower Has Issues.

“We’re incredibly open-minded to all these possibilities. Nothing is off the table as it relates to the way we’re viewing the future of the competition.”

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While club registrations are down, Blues CEO Andrew Hore told Paddy Gower Has Issues that digital engagement and broadcast numbers are trending upward.

“People are following,” he said. “They’re there. It’s getting them back to the ground.

“This sport needs to be treated like any other world-class international competition, and actually have people working on it all the time.

“Working out what the fan wants, making it far more fan-centric doesn’t take a lot, and then you start to get the tribalism building again and people travelling again which is fantastic.”

Some progressive innovations can be expected over the coming Super Rugby seasons, for now Robinson is without doubt “the game is still really strong in terms of its connection to people’s hearts and minds.”

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Willie 734 days ago

They can tinker at the edges as much as they like. The standard is poor.

Simply, there are too many teams, especially in the current climate of injuries, suspensions and concussion protocols.

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Phillip 734 days ago

What they need to do, in Australia, is shake the elitist tag and show a little love to the 'subbies' where regular people, with a love for the game, are toiling away, week in week out. Get the eyes off the private schools and generate some interest at suburban grounds. Club Rugby needs a lift too. Scenes on the TV coverage of clubs (who lets face it, feed the Super Rugby sides) playing on grounds that are simply roped off rather then proper fenced in stadiums, just shows the game off as being amateurish. The game went professional a long time ago now, it's time it started to look and feel that way too.

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IkeaBoy 38 minutes ago
How Leinster bullied the Bulls at Croke Park

Expert coaches exist across the land and the IRFU already funds plenty. Ulster own their academy and who owns Ulster?


If you go to school in the North and rugby/tag rugby isn’t even on the PE curriculum until 12/13 as opposed to 7 or 8 in Leinster, how is that the IRFU’s fault? Even then, it’s only certain schools in the North that will offer it. On what basis would they go up to the North (strictly speaking, another country in the eyes of some) and dictate their schools programme?


The ABs used to be light years ahead of the pack because their eventual test superstars had been playing structured, competitive rugby from an average age of 5/6! On top of kicking it around the yard from the age they could walk with their rugby mad parents and older siblings.


Have you somehow gotten the impression that the Leinster system is not working for Irish rugby? What is that based on? The SARU should just stop competing because despite their back to back RWC’s, all 4 of their URC teams aren’t contesting semi-finals every year?


A couple of mining towns basically provided a Welsh team in the 70’s that were unplayable. Queensland in the old Super 10 provided the spine of an Oz team that were the first to win multiple world cups and in the same decade. The ABs population density is well documented with 35% of the population living around one city.


Is England’s match day 23 equally represented by mid-counties players, tough as nails northerners, a couple from Cornwall, a pack of manc’s and a lone Geordie? Ever?

It’s cute they won’t relegate the Falcons but has a Geordie test player ever hit 50 caps?


It’s ok not to understand geography. It’s also ok not to understand sport. Not understanding the geography of sport is something different entirely.

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f
fl 3 hours ago
Ex-Wallaby laughs off claims Bath are amongst the best in the world

I ultimately don’t care who the best club team in the world is, so yeah, lets agree to disagree on that.


I would appreciate clarity on a couple of things though:

Where did I contradict myself?

Saying “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.” is entirely compatible with ranking a team as the best - over an extended period - when they have won more games and made more finals than other comparable teams. It would be contradictory for me to say “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.” and then completely ignore Leinster record of winning games and making finals.


“You can get frustrated and say I am not reading what you write, but when you quote me, then your first line is to say thats true (what I wrote), but by the end of the paragraph have stated something different, thats where you contradict yourself.”

What you said (that I think trophies matter) is true, in that I said “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.”. Do you understand that Leinster won more games and made more finals than any other (URC-based) team did under the period under consideration?


“Pointless comparison on Blackburn and Tottenham to this discussion as no-one includes them on a list of the best club. I would say that Blackburns title season was better than anything Tottenham have done in the Premier League. My reference to the league was that the team who finished second over two seasons are not better than the two other teams who did win the league each time. One of the best - of course, but not the best, which is relevant to my point here about Leinster, not comparing teams who won 30 years ago against a team that never won.”

I really don’t understand why you would think that this is irrelevant. You seem to be saying that winning trophies is the only thing that matters when assessing who is the best, but doesn’t matter at all when assessing who is 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.


“What I referred to in my Leinster wouldn’t say the were the best is your post earlier where you said Leinster were the best overall. You said that in two separate posts. Seasons dont work like that, they are individual. Unless the same team keeps winning then you can say they were the best over a period of time and group them, but thats not the case here.”

Well then we’ve just been talking at cross purposes. In that my position (that Leinster were the best team overall in 2022-2024) was pretty clear, and you just decided to respond to a different point (whether Leinster were the best team individually in particular years) essentially making the entire discussion completely pointless. I guess if you think that trophies are the only thing that matters then it makes sense to see the season as an individual event that culminates in a trophy (or not), whereas because I believe that trophies matter a lot, but that so does winning matches and making finals, it makes it easier for me to consider quality over an extended period.

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