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Joined August 2020
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No harm in crossover games mid season so we can all muse over how we are doing.. Then go back finish our respective seasons and finals and let the competition winners battle it out. You get local rivalry and then you also get the exposure to the other nation. I really can’t see how anyone is a loser. The crossover games provide interest and lengthen the season for fans and broadcasters. Then the best NZ teams fight it out and the best AU teams fight it out. The winners of each playoff. Pretty simple and something to write about on both sides of the Tasman. Australia needs to revive interest in our teams because most casual sports fans here are not going to watch the Crusaders no matter how good they are. If Australian professional rugby goes down then some pain could eventually be felt by NZ so it is in everyone’s interest to work together.
Why Super Rugby AU is the competition we never knew we needed
That’s the point. Like fries with a schnitzel it maybe just filler to some but part of a complete meal to others!
Why Super Rugby AU is the competition we never knew we needed
Totally agree with this! Perhaps a few limited crossover games with NZ sides mid season to stretch it out could be done. Then separate finals in AU and NZ finishing with the 2 winners playing off.. Seek a balance between the local tribalism and the international appeal of rugby whilst being conscious of generating enough relevant content to get broadcast deals over the line.
Why Super Rugby AU is the competition we never knew we needed
State of Origin concept seems like a great opportunity to look very lame in comparison to the Rugby League showcase which was born in very different circumstances when most Queensland players were paid to come to Sydney and the series gave them the opportunity to represent their state. Surely it would require massive investment for rugby to try and replicate this. New coaches for the teams, big promotion & preparation time for the squads. Would they just wear Waratah and Reds jerseys with a ‘I was born here’ sticker on them? The resulting package for broadcasters – 3 games maybe.. and these could fall flat as the budget style State of Origin.
The Super 8 could be ok but gets back to perhaps a few games featuring AU teams and heaps of travel for those few games.
What about Super Rugby AU-NZ using the existing infrastructure and being something like:
2 Conferences (AU & NZ) of 5 teams.
Play own conference home and away (8 games). Play opposing conference once each (5 games).
13 game season followed by Qualifying Final (2v3) and Final in each conference.
Super Final between NZ & AU winner. 70 game proposition for broadcasters.
Both countries, fans & broadcasters get a final to enjoy & promote. Plenty of crossover games and more relevant broadcast content to take to the table. This plays to rugby’s strength better which is the Trans Tasman rivalry.
Sunwolves and Pacific Islands could be added (1 to each conference) if that was deemed feasible.
This concept could also then be expanded easily in the future to include South Africa and perhaps South America both in some limited crossover games for sides and finals playoffs at the end.
Rugby people have been scarred by the word Conference but they need to get over this. The biggest competition $ wise, the NFL, runs successfully this way and spans a big country with 32 teams.
Champions League and State of Origin-style fixtures headline Rugby AU's bumper broadcast offering
The point might be that the National Club Championship does not necessarily need to be about developing top tier talent. It could be a competition to recognise and engage the strong rugby club communities across the country. It doesn’t have to aim to be fully professional. The full time professional players would be better utilised promoting their Super Rugby sides in another post season round robin while the Wallabies are playing. Take all these matches to regional areas like Townsville, Geelong, Newcastle or alternate stadiums like Brookvale. Grow the awareness and profile of these Super sides. There would be a few extra opportunities for serious emerging players as the Wallabies are missing. If those professional players also want to engage the community then why not also assign them all to junior clubs and areas to get around to a few junior training sessions and really support the grassroots. The way professional sport goes it might be good if the funds were available to also have a Colts Super Rugby comp where all the academy sides could also play in a post season round robin style competition. This would put the best young players up against each other.
Champions League and State of Origin-style fixtures headline Rugby AU's bumper broadcast offering
Love the detail and thinking JD! My only observation is it does become a large web of a competition and I wonder if, for the growth of rugby as a whole, the Pro14 wouldn’t be best concentrating on growing the pro club game in Europe rather than Africa and the Southern Hemisphere. With Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Germany on the doorstep. In the east there is Georgia and Romania. These countries are playing more and more international rugby in European Nations Cup and could well do with a solid club platform to develop the game and really expand rugby’s overall market. Pro Rugby could be this in Europe with Regional Conferences (Celtic, Anglo, Latin, Eastern for example). Local finals the same as needed in Super Rugby and then winners playing off.
South Africa I think would be best having their own Conference (in either a North or South competition) which culminates in a South African winner each year. I’d much prefer to see them with us in the South!
My plan for the greatest club rugby union competition ever