Former Wallaby Greg Martin was scathing this week. “I will tell you how many are going to be there. Zero Australians. They’re all going to be Kiwis who are supporting their team. All the Kiwis in Melbourne will be the only ones at the ground. This Super Round is stupid.”
To be fair, last year’s doubleheader of the Crusaders playing the Highlanders and the Rebels playing the Hurricanes drew 15,282 people to AAMI Park, a figure to match the opening game this year between the Chiefs and the Crusaders in Hamilton.
The problem? To give some perspective on where rugby sits in the sporting scene in Melbourne, the average attendance for Aussie Rules club games in the city last year was 37,741. There were nine games Aussie Rules games at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where the crowds topped 80,000.
There’s a superficial appeal in the concept of bringing Super Rugby en masse to a city like Melbourne that’s sports-mad. But in reality, the idea just seems mad.
Applaud the quick fix
As I mentioned last week, given the flood of bad publicity that rugby’s likely to get as a massive head injury case goes through the courts in London this year, any technology that combats potential brain damage, such as the microchipped mouthguard, is sensible.
Unfortunately, late bewildering calls that took players off the field last week in Hamilton were an embarrassment. So it’s a thumbs-up from me for New Zealand Rugby not dodging the controversy, but making swift, sensible changes to ensure players aren’t dragged from the field for spurious reasons.
Shaping the game
While the initial official statement from World Rugby, after a hugely important Shape of the Game forum in London, was pretty vague, it was still startling to see several recommendations that echo exactly the innovations currently being used to brighten up Super Rugby.
The proof will be in the detail, but all five ideas endorsed by the forum, from refs telling players to use the ball at the breakdown, to giving halfbacks better protection to clear the ball to attacking players, are aimed at speeding up the flow of the game.
At a time when the tide in the northern game is turning to strength, not speed, with Ireland copying South Africa and having six forwards on the reserve bench last weekend against Wales, any encouragement for running rugby is welcome.
As a former great All Black said to me last week, “Who wants to see one bunch of fat forwards go off at halftime and a whole new bunch waddle on? What’s more exciting? Maul after maul, or a wing running with the ball?”
The way it should be
Kiwi fans entranced by the daring and skill of the Black Ferns who won the World Cup in Auckland should be alert to the fact that Super Rugby Aupiki, which starts with games in Hamilton and Invercargill on Saturday afternoon, features many of the leading figures from that great Ferns’ side.
World Cup stars Ruby Tui and Kennedy Simon are in the Chiefs’ Manawa squad, Ruahei Demant in the Blues and Alana Bremner in the South Island’s Matatū side.
There’s still a sense of sheer delight in how the women’s game is played. If you’ve never had the pleasure of watching a Super Aupuki game, treat yourself this year. You won’t be disappointed.
No true rugby fan should be without it
The release of the Rugby Almanack is a publishing highlight for many of us, and rugby fanatics won’t be disappointed with the 2024 edition, featuring Aaron Smith on the cover.
The biggest Almanack yet, the 526 pages cover every aspect of the men’s and women’s game with the staggering accuracy we’ve come to expect from authors Clive Akers, Adrian Hill and Campbell Burnes. There really isn’t an argument about the game that the Almanack can’t settle.
As well as detailing every test, Super, provincial and age-group match from last year, the genius strokes are the esoteric facts uncovered. They range from Tamaiti Williams, at 140kg, being the heaviest-ever All Black, to the Kiwi club on the West Coast having won 82 consecutive games and eight championships, to the fact that five red and 10 yellow cards were issued in one senior club game in Foxton last March 25, when Foxton played Shannon.
Phil Gifford has twice been judged New Zealand sports writer of the year, has won nine New Zealand and two Australasian radio awards and been judged New Zealand Sports Columnist of the Year three times. In 2010, he was honoured with the Sparc lifetime achievement award for services to sports journalism.
