Blues vs ACT Brumbies: Super Rugby Pacific live scores, blog

RugbyN, I am not saying Super couldn’t be improved, but the bottom line is for rugby to succeed it has to be through international rugby. NRL and AFL and rugby are comparing apples and oranges mate. The premier competitions in both sports are in Aus, same as NFL and basketball etc in America, so you can have free movement of players etc, because where are they going to go? AFL in NH etc? Don’t think so. And even League up north etc, there isn’t much there so no money etc. They have no competition for players. I sure both NZR and RA know the probs they have, but as I say a sport where International is paramount, changes how you can run game. See to say movement of players is not allowed is wrong really, any NZ player can go to an Aus club, but NZR (like England, Wales,Ireland ,France etc) say if you contract to someone else (without our agreement) you can no longer play test rugby for us. NH comps are run completely seperate from country unions, but test players still have to play with in country except in odd cirmunstances. I don’t know what answer is, but suspect if Aus had a comp within the country, you may find tv money etc will diminsh .

Sorry but I’m not convinced that an open border comp will do much better up against much stronger and richer codes. There are no gaps in the market. The only real gap is test rugby which the other codes can’t match. Australia is building systems to improve and that’s the only way forward. Not throwing away money on a club comp in a crowded market. NZ makes $70m from All Black sponsors because we have the biggest brand in the rugby world. We can’t be expected to jeopardise that for a pipe dream. A more successful Wallabies team will also bring in much bigger sponsors than they have at the moment.

Brumbies never looked they had blues measure. Definitely a clear gap between these teams.

Don’t disagree about RA but I think unfortunately a cross border competition can’t work now because oz rugby is so far behind other codes who have expanded agressively and because nrl so strong I don’t think for that reason a cross border competition without more free flow of players will work and that is also because of commercial dynamics of nz as small country but having lions share of best players in the region so they can’t expand on number of teams. In short I am not convinced for those reasons a closed border cross competition can work as we operate in a different environment then European teams. Rugby with oz 5 teams and 7 other nation aligned teams struggles for relevance with nrl, afl and a-league ever expanding footprint. I just don’t think Nzru and perhaps RA have realised that yet.

Mate the last five World Cups have been won by countries in multinational club leagues as their only comps. It worked just fine for Australia too when they had their systems right. It works for Ireland who don't allow freedom of movement. Sure SR could be better but it's a model that works if a union is well run. Unfortunately RA hasn't been well run for decades.

I guess Danny I am more of a fan of nrl model..ok only 1 kiwi team…but allows for more free flow of players. Or like the AFL that has a draft to provide for more equalisation of players across teams. I just don’t think the cross border competition as our only pro rugby competition works…and been obvious for some time that need to do something different and more radical but don’t think nzru or RA interests aligned to what would be best for fans of the product to make decisions that could create a better product. I digress and yep time to depart from this subject as can’t see any change on the horizon for this.

RN, I not sure what your beef is, you run th e comp completely free of NZR and RA, how many franchises would be able to afford to pay the players etc? I would bet with no help from the national bodies almost all teams would be weaker as no top up for test players etc? I know in your world NZR should be paying (top ABsetc) players to play in Aus teams, but you know what they don't need them, th Aus teams can and will do alright without them. There are as we see plenty of kiwis Aus teams can pick up anyway.

Missed it live and just saw the replay and was expecting another close tussle between these two. Firstly wow, and congrats to Blues. That was intense and just strangled the game from 2nd qtr onwards. You can’t tackle that much and stay in the fight. Kinda like a leaky dam and the walls broke. I don’t agree the Brums were soft it’s just the Blues were harder. Over to you Reds & Rebs let’s see how hard you guys are over this next fortnight. Good luck.

Hey JD so now is super rugby going as a product with nzru’s grand plan…stop putting this rubbish on oz teams as this should be a competition run by one party like the nrl to make it the best competition it can be for the fans and not be restricted by national bodies self interest or petty up to us type comments as this is a competition that should have a single body responsible for its success which is because we don’t have that is why it is failing.

2 and both against saders..:shocked: Would’ve been 3 if edmed hadn’t missed that kick tho

Simple fact is most rugby fans have lost interest in super rugby whether they be kiwi or oz fans. How many people watching blues tonight… not many. This is a competition not designed for the fans…as I want a competition like nrl that allows for more free flow of players…which is why nrl killing it…

:boxing: No way you want to play a cross border competition you take a bigger picture. Super rugby has suffered as not a competition designed for fans and absolutely nzru have to take accountability for this as this is there rubbish they have played a major part in creating.

Can't give him a lecture on impact, as in, if I hit you, you feel hit. Trying to wrestle the Blues has as much success as wrestling the Boks. As in none. Use your effing shoulder.

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A startling match.

Reminds me of the commentator from the Waterboy where they do a slow motion analysis on a Bobby Boucher tackle - ‘Difficult to watch’.

Not true, Brumby forwards were soft tonight. Hopefully they look in the mirror and turn it around. Someone has to decide to own the middle. The right mix for the wallabies could dominate.

That is a bloody good comment. Cheers.

Was never a surprise. Amazes me the lack of self awareness some by some of our own rugby fans about how bad we are as a collective. We are completely terrible and will struggle to win many tests this year. Wales will win both tests. RA have done nothing to fix the mess. Hired some hot shot coaches. Wait until the results start coming in. Not going to be any better than the last few years. All on RA's head. They have ruined it.

Really good malt whiskey to turn your night around.