New details about proposed New Zealand Super Rugby competition revealed
New developments regarding a makeshift New Zealand-only Super Rugby competition have been unveiled by Sky TV chief executive Martin Stewart today.
Sky has been working hard in tandem with New Zealand Rugby to create a new, short-form competition to fill the void left by Super Rugby, which was suspended indefinitely last week amid the coronavirus pandemic.
NZR chief executive Mark Robinson revealed earlier this week that his organisation had plans in place for a Kiwi-only tournament featuring the Blues, Chiefs, Hurricanes, Crusaders and Highlanders to be played over 10-12 weeks from April.
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Specific details about a new Kiwi competition are yet to be released, but Stewart told Radio Sport the possibility of an “overseas element” remains on the table according to his discussions with NZR.
“We are obviously seeing some people who no longer wish to subscribe to the sports channels,” Stewart said. “I’m hoping that the Super Rugby teams will be back in action shortly in New Zealand. We’re very excited about that. We’ve been working closely with New Zealand Rugby.
“It’s going to be a local New Zealand team-based competition. There are a couple of alternatives that will depend on how things develop in terms of travel bans etc. as to whether or not there is an overseas element towards the end or whether it remains purely a New Zealand-based competition.
“But either way, we’re hopeful that working closely with New Zealand rugby, we’ll be able to see some great action between all of the Super teams in New Zealand.”
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Rugby Australia confirmed plans for a similar Australian-based competition on Friday, which will see the revival of the Western Force to take on the Waratahs, Rebels, Brumbies and Reds.
The Force, who were culled from Super Rugby three years ago alongside the Cheetahs and Southern Kings of South Africa, had been playing in the Global Rapid Rugby competition, which was also suspended after just one round of action this season.
The Perth club, which also won Australia’s National Rugby Championship last year, replace the Japan-based Sunwolves, who were part of the Australian conference in Super Rugby but had to withdraw from any potential domestic competition due to strict international travel restrictions.
“Rugby Australia, the four Australian Super Rugby teams and RUPA are united behind the continuation of Super Rugby in 2020 and have been intensively working towards a competition solution with our SANZAAR partners over the past six days,” RA boss Raelene Castle said in a statement released on Friday.
“There are still some elements to work through as a group, but we are extremely confident that we will deliver a meaningful product for the remainder of the season for fans and broadcasters.
“We have agreed on the principles of proceeding down the path of a domestic solution in Australia which will see our teams compete against each other in a round robin format from April through June, followed by a yet to be determined finals series format.”
The 27-year-old second row suffered the serious neck injury in Worcester’s 62-5 Premiership loss at Saracens on January 4.https://t.co/ZNcNrAXGet
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 21, 2020
SA Rugby chief executive Jurie Roux also confirmed earlier this week that ongoing discussions are being held between his organisation and stakeholders about a potential domestic competition being held in South Africa.
However, such a competition wouldn’t be held in the Republic until the end of April as all rugby in the country has been suspended until then following South African president Cyril Ramaphosa’s declaration of national disaster.
Similarly to the Sunwolves, the Argentina-based Jaguares likely won’t be involved in a domestic competition due to travel restrictions, despite forming part of the five-team South African conference in Super Rugby.
That leaves the Bulls, Stormers, Sharks and Lions with the prospect of facing the Cheetahs and Kings once again after the latter two clubs defected to Europe’s PRO14 – which has also been suspended – following their departure from Super Rugby in 2017.
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Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments