New Zealand Rugby launches major Super Rugby review

Net assets is down $26M since 2017.

Apparently they marked themselves as 73.5 out of 100 too. Sack the board.

Interesting the NZRU announced a $7.4M loss for 2019. What poor management. Mark Robinson clearly needs to be sacked.

Hi JD, I think I am right here when I say that SA in the 6nations won’t sit well with our fans.. Interestingly enough subsequent to me posting my comment I’ve read that a number of NZ Rugby legends also calling for a return to extended tours, specifically Boks VS The All Blacks… Regards The Currie Cup, it can imo produce and prep players for Test rugby.. Maybe even better regarding core skills than what Superugby does….also I want to see an end to The Rugby Championship.. See no further benefit to anyone really.

Oblonsky, no I don't sorry.

Are ticket prices over-inflated? Are we expecting too much while continuing to play at Lang Park. There may be a couple of games a year that deserve that big a stadium, but it doesn't rival the intimacy of the same size crowd at Ballymore. Does the QRU still have a deal with the State Govt as they did when Qld Rail was the main sponsor? (It's appalling the way Ballymore has been allowed to become run down whilst waiting, since the Howard Govt offer of funding, for Ballymore's redevelopment. But that's another story.)

Very good points BF. There's nothing wrong with strategic forward planning. In fact, it's essential. "Shrinking crowds and reduced interest" strikes a chord with me. My son-in-law is Christchurch born and bred, and he visits his family back home a few times each year, and he's naturally a Saders fan. He has been reporting a falling interest and smaller crowds at SR games for years. The SR model was derived just to make money, and it hasn't done that well. The real problem facing RA is that there is a falling interest in the paying public, and I suspect that is mainly amongst younger people who should be rugby's future.

I say revamp the NPC into a Super rugby style format with a national draft to boost weaker teams and incorporating the Ranfurly Shield challenge. Level the playing field; good thing about a NZ-based comp -- travel costs should be way down compared to bigger countries.

Super Rugby has become rugby's equivalent of Shield cricket, but a super expensive version of it. Even if they keep the concept alive, why would crowds increase?

The world league doesn’t need to change the 6 nations. They can continue their traditional rivalry, if room is allowed in the calendar for traditional rivalries against non world league ranked sides (eg Italy)

You should watch The Breakdown from yesterday on YouTube or the NZ Herald website... Someone said that South Africa could play in both the Six Nations and the Rugby Championship! You get the best of both worlds! They also talked about a return to proper tours - it certainly works for the Lions. Imagine when the Lions are next in Australia, the Boks touring New Zealand with the Springbok head, and the provinces striving to win it, while Argentina tour the Islands or Canada, The US and Japan. All would be special, rare events and surely financially viable. I think you need to be careful that tier below test level is strong enough to prepare players for tests. The Currie Cup won't do that if you have too many teams.

Do you know what proportion of the NH’s club revenue comes from the European Cup as opposed to the Pro14/Prem/etc?

Thanks Brian, but I want dissolution between club comps of the Sanzaar nations. I wish for NZ, Aus and SA to go back to its foundations ie. It’s traditional domestic comps..then again dissolve The Rugby Championship and go back to extended tours… Only the Lions exist in that format and it’s financially the most lucrative on the World market.. There can be one offs say between SA or Aus and NZ playing in the States or Canada, why stop there, Spain, China, Brazil… All can host with almost guaranteed sell out crowds.. as a bit of a money spinner and exhibition.. That’s already starting to happen.. The NH will never abolish the 6 nations but they have found space in the past for reciprocal extended tours home and away to SH teams provided its infrequent…..alternatively a global comp but Pichot is dreaming. Europe won’t let go.. We have to force them to.

A great alternative to super rugby was put out several times years ago. Again from New Zealand. Three 6-8 team competitions in NZL-AUS-RSA; the Currie Cup and NPC brought forward to the start of the year with all players available. Australia to make what it can of the NRC. The competitions split into top and bottom halves for concurrent round robins, cup and bowl as it were. If it is only 6 teams in each, which is current CC and NPC, then you have two round robin's of 9 teams. A 10 week Sprint with maybe a four team final set at the end. Odd number so even split home and away matches. Much easier travel conditions. And yep, change RC to a round robin of 5 or 7 teams to include ARG, JAP and relegation of one or two PIs team. Argentina can stay in RC but too much travel for SR. Same as Japan. Start with a calendar

If I’m right the review panel contains roughly 6 people... 3 from Super Rugby franchises, one from New Zealand Rugby, one from the players association and an independent. A nice pizza sized team that may be able to find agreement. How big is the review panel for Australia Rugby? 16? Good luck with that.

I speak as a South African and this is just my own individual opinion..we must use this opportunity of isolation that has been thrust on us all to get out of Superugby now.. Not restructure.. .. Terminate… If it can be proposed by NZ even better as we would not be seen to be the ones turning our backs on long friendships.. SA domestic rugby can more than hold its own but has severely taken a back seat thanks to Superugby.. The Currie Cup is the World’s oldest domestic competition and the intensity of the rivalries is huge.. It also doesn’t require big name drawcards as it’s the regionalism not the individuals that drives it..our Varsity cup just competed prior the epidemic played out to full stadiums albeit smaller.. I’m not however in favor of a wholesale integration with Europe. They can’t be trusted.. But say our 2 finalists in the Currie Cup competing in The Heineken cup… While NZ is about it.. Let’s all dissolve The Rugby Championship . It’s stale..

OK, so we don't have a lot of detail but it seems to me that "Robinson said NZ Rugby remains committed to SANZAAR and to its five-year agreement with broadcaster Sky TV." which means their review and planning is to take effect from 2026. Five and a half years to get it right. Future planning. Who'd have thought? And then, "where the competition sits alongside New Zealand’s domestic provincial competition." Note the use of the word "alongside", not battling with, or in competition with, but alongside. Everyone loves a winner. Going from club rugby to NRC (especially for those players who weren't identified through the current pathway), to SR and then Wallabies must give us the best possible player pool from which to choose. It's also a more clear pathway for coaches. But it does rely on cooperation from all the levels of rugby. Each level is important to its stakeholders. I remember a former test player saying winning a club premiership with his mates was just as important to him as winning a Test against the AB's. Working together will gives us a result greater than the sum of the parts. Everyone loves a winner.

There has been a lot of major reviews within NZ Rugby over the last couple of years. There was a major secondary school boy one done at the end of 2018 which highlighted some good points on rugby participation numbers declining amongst teenage boys. And there was one done earlier this year to distinguish the roles and responsibilities of provincial unions and super rugby franchises. I do agree that this newly announced review needs to be done in the wake of COVID-19. There has also been a need for this over the last couple of years.

"With private licences for the Kiwi teams up for renewal in 2020, Robinson said it was timely to review the ownership structure for teams, digital rights and where the competition sits alongside New Zealand’s domestic provincial competition." Odd. If that is the case, I would have thought "timely" would have been to do the review before they had already been sold to the broadcaster. All the balls being in the air again might mean they get a do-over, but that is now a lot of commitments that need to be revisited.