Why All Black fans are about to 'hear a lot of the term fan-centric'
New Zealand Rugby is promising a deep dive into what the fans want to see in international rugby, leading the charge into what it hopes will be a more exciting future for the game.
Much has been made of match metrics such as ball-in-play time and the general entertainment value of the game in recent seasons, with efforts to speed up play and reduce stoppages filtering into various levels of the sport to mixed avail.
The Rugby World Cup saw the introduction of the bunker system with the aim of eliminating extended stoppages whilst officials decide on a relevant punishment for foul play amongst other rulings.
The World Cup produced some of the greatest spectacles the sport has seen, but also some controversy.
“We saw some incredible rugby at the tournament and early on we saw, especially in southern France, some incredible scenes around fans being able to get close to teams,” New Zealand Rugby CEO Mark Robinson told media this week. “We saw some great footy and some significant upsets.
“It’s fair to say as the tournament grew there was fan frustration around some elements of the game. We are very interested to be part of the ongoing discussion that’s going to take place in the near future to look to address that.”
Onwards and upwards appears to be the motto for New Zealand Rugby, with a clear focus on alignment across the global game, with meetings early in the new year being held in Europe.
“We are very clear in New Zealand, and we believe in Australia, and we believe other parts of the world are starting to acknowledge that the fan has to be far more greatly considered in our consideration of what we’re going to do with the future state of the game.
“We will be looking at the challenge of making the game more fan-centric at the international level. There will be key meetings at the end of February in Europe between ourselves, our Sanzaar partners, the Six Nations and World Rugby and right at the heart of the conversation is how we look to continue to make sure we’re more consistently seeing the kind of rugby we believe all fans want to see.
”A number of key strands go into that work. We’ve got to have the right information so we’re clear on what fans want to see. How does that then impact on our laws? How can we support our match officials, and our players and coaches, to make sure the product can be truly spectacular and special so more and more fans around the world want to gravitate towards it?”
Robinson pointed to Super Rugby Pacific as an example of positive steps being taken with the ratings to prove it’s success.
“If you look at Super Rugby Pacific [in 2023], we saw significant improvements in key stats around tempo, ball in play and match duration, resulting in a huge uplift in broadcast viewership and streaming numbers.
“That’s a key starting point. We now have a SRP Joint Venture which we think can take that sort of collaboration, innovation and creativity to a whole new level in the years to come. That Super Rugby commission interim board is meeting next week to carry on some of the work in this space as well.”
The DNA of rugby in New Zealand is notoriously dynamic and expansive, so there’s plenty of extra incentive to speed up the game and uphold that character, but that’s not so much the case in other regions.
The northern hemisphere traditionally boasts a more methodical and conservative DNA, although the recent form of France and Ireland have challenged that notion, playing at the forefront of the game’s evolution with generational attacking skillsets.
But the conservative attitude is felt more potently off the field, and Robinson acknowledged the potential challenge of getting the northern unions on board with the initiative.
“We’ve got work to do to elevate the fan consideration and the conversation about the game,” he said. “We’ve also got to consider player welfare as part of that, but we think when fans become frustrated about the game it’s often because certain things happen either to slow it down or mean continuity and tempo and opportunities to see exciting spectacles are impacted upon.
“We all want the game to grow. Anyone in leadership of rugby has a fundamental obligation to want it to grow. If that’s our starting point, what are some things that have to happen at the professional level? That’s greater tempo, greater spectacles, less interventions, and helping to simplify the game where we can.
“I’m sure World Rugby will be open to that conversation, and other national unions will feed back into those conversations. We just hope fan consideration is elevated a lot.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Amazing. The losing team’s ratings are higher than the winning team’s. Mallia definitely didn’t deserve a y. What game were you watching? Should have got a w or an x. ADP hardly featured in that second half. At one point I wondered when he’d been subbed. Seems to me as if he gets an automatic 9 just for getting onto the team sheet.
1 Go to commentsI’m sorry. That second half was far from enthralling. It was painful to watch.
1 Go to commentsVery generous! If you’d missed the game, reading this you’d conclude that it was the Quins front row that cost them the game. Marler getting a blanket 6 for his demented contribution to the game. Puzzling.
1 Go to commentsCan’t see Toulouse beating Leinster at this rate.
7 Go to commentsADP was having a very average game until winning that penalty for Toulouse, sticking his big head in the way. “The head of God”?
7 Go to commentsHarlequins doing their best to do as little damage as possible with all the possession. Looks like they skipped catch and pass drills this week.
7 Go to commentsSeeing pictures of Jacques high-fiving it with Irish players breaks my heart. Too soon. I need more time.
1 Go to commentsquins is all over the place. The minute they get the ball they panic. Quins can still win tho just need to win all rucks otherwise just don't bother.
7 Go to commentsGreat wins for the male & female kiwi sides. Ireland not far away..
1 Go to commentsWhy is this dude getting so much coverage? Usually knobs like this get cancelled.
2 Go to commentsWow. What was that? A 3 million word meandering article about what exactly?
2 Go to commentsNice piece of writing. And yes the Sharks pulled a rabbit from the hat and were a little lucky with that penalty try that wasn’t given… however the Sharks (with their resources) should be way more consistent and should be putting teams like Claremont away for breakfast. I expect more from them and hope they kick on now.
8 Go to commentsJust what the Sharks needed to get things going in the right direction Defence on the outside really creates havoc for the whole team and needs to be addressed.
8 Go to commentsWell done guys both teams will be ready to play knockout rugby.
1 Go to commentsSurprised that Ramos isn't starting at 15. But what a squad of galacticos!
2 Go to commentsWhy is it a snub? What journalistic garbage is that? Sure the guy is a great player, but there are plenty of loose forwards and not all of them can be Springboks. Also, I know of no-one who doubts Rassie’s judgment. South Africa has a conveyor belt of loose forwards that just keeps producing, so the competition is intense. I certainly wish him well, but there is no entitlement and there is no snub.
17 Go to commentsSkelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
6 Go to commentsSpot on Ben. Dead right. Havili looked great at 10. Easily the highest rugby IQ of any NZ player these days. Getting a kick charged down is a result of getting used to adjusting your depth to the line at 10, which he will sort out with time. But other than that it was an outstanding first effort in that position this year. I think the NZ media has misunderstood this directive from Razor. Havili might rank behind B Barrett this year, but Beuden is 33 this month and won't last much longer. DMaC is great but flaky and not really a test match animal (his efforts in Dunedin versus Aus last year for example). If Razor can't have Mounga, DMaC is too unstructured for Razor (and is just too small for test rugby). Havili will end up our first choice first five, and in partnership with Jodie will be excellent. Two triple threat operators in tandem, and big bodies and tough tacklers to boot. Jordoe will be the ABs goal kicker. I am an Aucklander and Blues (and Warriors) fan, but Havili at 10 is going to be sensational in time… he can be the best first five in the world by the end of this year. No question.
6 Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
8 Go to commentsGood riddance
1 Go to comments