Time for fans to vote with their feet: How Super Rugby Aotearoa could usher in a new era of rugby in New Zealand
Super Rugby is back.
This weekend, the Highlanders will host the Chiefs and the Hurricanes will travel to the Blues for the first round of Super Rugby Aotearoa – and the first weekend of rugby around the world since the global shutdown due to the Coronovirus pandemic.
It’s been a challenging time for a number of reasons but fans across the New Zealand – and seemingly around the world – finally have some rugby to get excited about.
“New Zealand is the first to see the sun, the first to celebrate New Year’s, and now we’re the first to get live rugby back,” Tex Texeira, SKY Sports’ Director of Sport and Broadcasting, told RugbyPass. “Not only that, we’re also the first to get any sport in the world back with live crowds.”
While some professional sports took just a small break and pressed forward – notably the Belarussian Premier League – teams have had to play in front of empty stadiums. Super Rugby Aotearoa will go ahead with live crowds, however, and likely some of the biggest crowds that New Zealand has seen in the last decade.
At last count, this weekend’s two matches should bring in over 60,000 excited fans.
“Believe it or not, it’s been almost three months [since Super Rugby stopped] and it’s just incredible how the world has changed,” said Texeira. “We’ve had to learn how to adapt and we’ve had to prepare for all kinds of scenarios but we’re finally back in New Zealand and hopefully going ahead with rugby as we’re accustomed to – live crowds, live on TV, live on SKY.”
Navigating the uncertainty of the past few months has been challenging for the likes of New Zealand Rugby (NZR), the New Zealand Rugby Players’ Association and SKY, who’ve all coordinated to try get rugby back on screens as soon as possible – providing, of course, that it’s safe for players and other staff involved.
The original expectation was that fans wouldn’t be allowed to attend matches at least for the early stages of the competition, which created a few problems to solve.
“For us, from a production point of view, we watched other sports coming back slowly, like the NRL, and we could see what a challenge not having crowds is,” Texeira said. “Our colleagues in Australia were doing a really good job but let’s face it, having the crowds – not only for the players but for the production, the fans and the people at home – is the ultimate experience.”
There were solutions in place, should New Zealand had not progressed to the point where large public gathering were feasible.
“We did have on our list ways to improve the empty stadium experience,” Texeira revealed.
“We had crowd noise on standby. We’d monitored what had been going on in the NRL and because we have dual audio options, we were going down the road of audio 1 would have had this crowd effect and audio 2 would have just had stadium effects and commentary for people that didn’t want to hear the enhanced audio.
“Virtual crowds were also something that we would have loved to have done but we realised very quickly you kind of needed to green screen the stadium and we realised that we’d lose the ball in the air. But of course, there’s no need for any of that now!”
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While rugby has been hit hard by the pandemic, it’s also fast-tracked some fresh thinking, which will see one match played on a Sunday afternoon every week.
Fans across the country have long called for afternoon matches – which would make attending matches a lot easier for families who don’t want to be out until 10PM. Given the global audience that tunes into Super Rugby every week, matches have been played in the evenings to maximise viewership – but that could change if the current trial times reap the benefits of larger crowds.
“There’s nothing better than a full rugby stadium,” said Texeira. “We want that as much as New Zealand Rugby, as much as every single player.
“We’ve been talking about [playing afternoon games] with New Zealand Rugby in the past and this was the opportunity to try it. We’ve been getting reasonable crowds in Super Rugby but, to be honest, not the crowds we were accustomed to 10 years ago.
“If the fans do come back and we do fill up stadiums again to a really good number, we’re more than happy to work closely with NZR and ensure that, at the very least, we have Sunday afternoon games. The ultimate and final decision does rest with NZR but we have a really good partnership with them and we have for a long time.
“A full stadium is a great experience, whether you’re at the stadium or you’re at home. We’re very supportive of anything that raises the atmosphere of the game, that raises the ambience for the players, for fans.”
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Texeira, first-and-foremost a rugby fan, is especially thrilled to have New Zealand’s top teams going at it tooth-and-nail for 10 weeks of non-stop action.
“The one challenge that Super Rugby has had for a long time is that it’s become a little predictable,” admitted Texeira. “The Crusaders have won 10 titles and not made just four finals series.”
“With Super Rugby Aotearoa, you’ve still got the Crusaders in there and I’m absolutely convinced that they will once again be super formidable but I think when it’s New Zealand teams vs New Zealand teams for 10 weeks, I think that it does make things potentially slightly less predictable because they’ve got to play game-in, game-out against colleagues that will be fighting for All Blacks positions in a couple of months.
“Every single All Blacks selector will be watching every single game. There’s a lot on the table – both from an individual player point of view but from a team point of view also.
The other benefit of being the one the competition that’s current running is that a few familiar faces will pop up during the season, including former All Blacks Dan Carter and Nehe Milner-Skudder.
“There’s been a lot of talk about the Blues and who’s playing for them,” said Texeira. “The thing is, in any sport, the big names and the big players are massive drawcards. That’s no different here in New Zealand.
“To have Dan Carter, to have Nehe Milner-Skudder with the Highlanders… People follow individuals as much as they follow teams. That’s a fact with any sport in the world, be it a team sport be it an individual sport, people do follow individuals. Having Dan, having all these great All Blacks in New Zealand. We’re very blessed.”
There’s also a trove of former players that have returned to New Zealand for the the short-term while they await the resumptions of their own competitions – men like Ben Smith, Julian Savea and Waisake Naholo.
“They will be watching, they will be commenting, and everyone will be really keen to see what the guys say,” Texeira said. “There’ll potentially be a few jibes here and there, which is what we expect, and they’ll just add to that whole experience of a 10-week domestic comp. High engagement and five really great teams having a go for 10 weeks. It’s pretty awesome.”
Super Rugby kicks off at 7:05PM on Saturday evening when the Chiefs take on the Highlanders at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin. On Sunday, the Blues will host the Hurricanes at 3:30PM with the guests eyeing up revenge after their loss earlier in the year.
Comments on RugbyPass
We had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
7 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
7 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
60 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
60 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
7 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
60 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
55 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
60 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
60 Go to comments