Super Rugby 2017

[Fulcrum29]

Good win by the Cheetahs and deserved win over the Bulls. Sharks really surprised me with their win over the Brumbies.

The Australians are lacking, no team is showing initiative. The Force is leading their table, and though it is still early into the competition there are many indications that their rugby is unhealthy. They also have pressure on maybe losing 2-3 teams this year. They need to get better and they need to get better by next week. The Southern Hemisphere relies on each other to improve the game, the Aussies are not helping now.

 

[OrbitalDawn]

One must also keep in mind the competition some teams faced, and what's coming up.

Hurricanes have played the Sunwolves and Rebels, for example, while the Highlander faced the Chiefs and Crusaders.

 

[Fulcrum29]

One must also keep in mind the competition some teams faced, and what's coming up.

Hurricanes have played the Sunwolves and Rebels, for example, while the Highlander faced the Chiefs and Crusaders.

Two games where they were beaten by themselves...

 

[Fulcrum29]

OT:

http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/Springboks/sa-rugby-gets-tough-on-overseas-based-boks-20170303

SA Rugby gets tough on overseas-based Boks

Cape Town - Only overseas-based Springboks with more than 30 Test caps will be eligible for selection in future, following a decision by the Executive Council of SA Rugby in Cape Town on Friday.

The policy will come into force from July 1, 2017, allowing players with fewer than 30 caps to return to South Africa should they wish to be considered for Springbok selection after the series against France in June.

The policy replaces the existing situation where any player eligible to play for South Africa could be picked at the discretion of the Springbok coach.

The coach will meanwhile retain the right in a Rugby World Cup year to select any player he believes is essential to the campaign - regardless of number of caps.

“We are sending a message to young players that if they wish to play for the Springboks, then they must remain in South Africa,” said Mark Alexander, president of SA Rugby.

 

[Sl8er]

OT:

http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/Springboks/sa-rugby-gets-tough-on-overseas-based-boks-20170303

Any chance anyone has a list of these eligible players lying around somewhere to post here?

 

[Fulcrum29]

Any chance anyone has a list of these eligible players lying around somewhere to post here?

http://www.sport24.co.za/Columnists/GarrinLambley/sa-rugby-wimp-out-on-overseas-bok-policy-20170303

The Springboks are due to play a three-Test series against the French, starting on June 10, 2017 (as well as June 17 and 24) - the final three Tests before this new ruling comes into effect.

Marcell Coetzee, when he checks his Wikipedia page, will discover he has 28 Test caps for the Boks.

You do the math.

Coetzee, currently plying his trade for Ulster in Ireland (when not injured), would need Allister Coetzee to pick up the phone and not only select him - but play him - for all three mid-year Tests.

Should that materialise, Coetzee is free to return to Ireland to see out the remainder of his contract, safe in the knowledge he can continue to bank those euros and still be selected for the Boks at any stage.

For the vast majority of SA's Boks, both past and present who are based abroad, Friday's ruling was utterly meaningless.

All of Bryan Habana (124 Tests), Bismarck du Plessis (79), Jannie du Plessis (70), JP Pietersen (70), Frans Steyn (53), Francois Louw (52), Willie le Roux (41), Francois Hougaard (38) and Duane Vermeulen (37) went 'yawn, whatever, delete' when learning of the ruling.

Apart from Coetzee, the only real Bok candidates who may need to give the ruling a second thought and check out property prices in RSA are Cobus Reinach and Steven Kitshoff - both of whom have played 10 Tests to date for the Boks.

In reality, Reinach isn't coming home. He's JUST signed a deal with Northampton in England.

 

[mbayshark]

http://www.sport24.co.za/Columnists/GarrinLambley/sa-rugby-wimp-out-on-overseas-bok-policy-20170303

Vincent Koch (7) and Lourens Adriaanse (6) can also be added to the list. Lood also planning on leaving is on 28 caps, but will probably reach 30 caps with French tests.

 

[Fulcrum29]

It is time to put up big scores against the Sunwolves, Horie and Tanaka is being rested. There most capable hooker, Hino, which is a bench sitter is apparently out… and Taulagi is out due to operational reasons, whatever that means. They will be sending a 25-man squad to SA. Having no core hookers in the team with only one backup to replace the two hookers will mean that their set pieces will be up to schit. No core scrummies. Still the same team with less depth… They are really pushing to show why they don’t belong in this competition. Big squad, which has the talent, yet they don’t play the better players…

The Sunwolves has recruited Panasonic's second hooker, Atsushi Sakate, which will group up with the squad tomorrow. This Sunwolves squad is pointless... I’m starting to question Joseph’s and Tiatia’s management skills where Joseph is supposedly a world-class rugby administrator. No preparation or depth planning. Yeah, I get that they have a 365-rugby season which is now amended with a shortened Top League schedule, but it is bad to have this quality in Super Rugby.

They should have stuck with Hammer. He also had a good run with the national team.

I'm over the Sunwolves.

 

[Agent_Smith]

Looks like Cheslyn Kolbe will miss the game against the Kings with an ankle injury. It doesn't appear to be serious and he'll probably be out for just the one week. Pity for him as he seems to be adjusting well playing at 14. Seabelo Senatla is in pole position to replace him, probably with Basson coming onto the bench.

 

[Fulcrum29]

Word has it that the ARU will be cutting one team on Thursday night, that would mean that SA will be the one which must drop one or two teams. The Cheetahs has shown to be more worthy than the Force and the Rebels. I am hoping to see that it is only the Kings on our side, otherwise it will be idiocy. There we have it, 16 teams next year, or so I speculate.

 

[Badprop_za]

I am wondering if talks about a Pacific team will pop up again. A joint Fiji, Samoa, etc team.

 

[SlowInternet]

Hopefully politics doesn't decide which of our teams must go.

 

[sand_man]

Super rugby, in its current format, absolutely sucks!!

Would love to go back to the round robin format of yesteryear.

There a number of teams that could be dropped from the competition and no one would bat an eyelid.

Kings, Sunwolves, Rebels for starters.

 

[Fulcrum29]

I am wondering if talks about a Pacific team will pop up again. A joint Fiji, Samoa, etc team.

In a possible expansion yes, but that is only up in 2020+. Currently the Fiji Warriors are included in the Australia's National Rugby Championship which is their trial and error for exposure to Super Rugby. There has already been heavy criticism met with this inclusion.

A mixed pacific team was proposed to include the Asia Pacific Dragons, but the JRFU ultimately won the rights. The Singapore stadium is their home stadium.

Going by rumours, the Super Rugby expansion has these teams tabled,

1. Pampas
2. Fiji Warriors
3. Asia Pacific Dragons
4. 2 x North American rugby teams (PRO Rugby)

We may see the Sunwolves dissolve in 2019 where they may group up with the Asia Pacific Dragons, this is purely politics.

 

[SlowInternet]

Super rugby, in its current format, absolutely sucks!!

Would love to go back to the round robin format of yesteryear.

There a number of teams that could be dropped from the competition and no one would bat an eyelid.

Kings, Sunwolves, Rebels for starters.

Agree

 

[The_Right_Honourable_Brit]

Super rugby, in its current format, absolutely sucks!!

Would love to go back to the round robin format of yesteryear.

There a number of teams that could be dropped from the competition and no one would bat an eyelid.

Kings, Sunwolves, Rebels for starters.

Wasn't the case made for the new format that it would increase crowd sizes?

I wonder if that is truely the case - I perhaps actually watch 1 or 2 of the games, and usually see quite a few empty seats.

Has the new format really arrested the decline?

 

[Fulcrum29]

Wasn't the case made for the new format that it would increase crowd sizes?

I wonder if that is truely the case - I perhaps actually watch 1 or 2 of the games, and usually see quite a few empty seats.

Has the new format really arrested the decline?

Increased TV ratings.

 

[sand_man]

Wasn't the case made for the new format that it would increase crowd sizes?

I wonder if that is truely the case - I perhaps actually watch 1 or 2 of the games, and usually see quite a few empty seats.

Has the new format really arrested the decline?

Correct, local derbies. Not convinced that it has worked. Judging by the crowds at this weekends games, the popularity of the competition is dissipating. Over complicated format coupled with bore-fest local derbies (not so much the NZ teams but Aus/SA) and a general decline in the standard of teams competing... but tv viewership numbers would paint the real picture...

Currie Cup should be the domain for local derbies. Super rugby is about the international competition.


EDIT:

http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/SuperRugby/super-rugby-tv-fan-viewership-plummets-20160704

 

[Fulcrum29]

Correct, local derbies. Not convinced that it has worked. Judging by the crowds at this weekends games, the popularity of the competition is dissipating. Over complicated format coupled with bore-fest local derbies (not so much the NZ teams but Aus/SA) and a general decline in the standard of teams competing... but tv viewership numbers would paint the real picture...

Currie Cup should be the domain for local derbies. Super rugby is about the international competition.


EDIT:

http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/SuperRugby/super-rugby-tv-fan-viewership-plummets-20160704

On conclusion they pegged over 50mil TV viewers, but only ~2mil in stadium attendance.

 

[sand_man]

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2016-05-23-super-rugbys-incoming-identity-crisis/#

Eddie Jones said some of the Super Rugby fixtures puts him to sleep. Richard Loe called the South African derbies “as boring as goat ****”, stadium attendances have been declining year after year and the pay-TV view means that the audience for Super Rugby has probably reached its saturation in a number of countries. As a product to sell to sponsors, the competition is at risk of suffering a serious identity crisis if it doesn’t engage with fans better.

June 2012...

http://www.theroar.com.au/2012/07/19/super-rugby-viewership-breakdown/

So here we are, at the end of pool stages of the Super Rugby season. There has been some scintillating play and some less-than scintillating performances on all three continents.

There has also been the usual upsets and egg for the faces of the pre-season predictors (like me).

This was the second season with fifteen teams in the competition. To look at the popularity of this season, I have been reviewing the viewership facts coming out of South Africa (RepUcomSA) for this season. Overall cumulative viewership across SuperSport (SA), Sky Sports (NZ) and Fox Sports (Aus) was a whopping 54, 972, 678.

Broken down regionally, you get a sense of demand and consumption of rugby in each country.

SuperSport 36 831 694 – 67% (175 389 per game)
Sky Sports 12 093 989 – 22% (57 590 per game)
Fox Sports 6 046 995 – 11% (28 795 per game)

The SuperSport number is colossal. At 36 million, it is over 1.5 times the population of Australia. However, given the population of New Zealand, the Sky Sports number is perhaps more impressive.

New Zealand (4 million) = 1 in 69 people
South Africa (50 million) = 1 in 285 people
Australia (22 million) = 1 in 764 people

This is an astonishing number for NZ. It would be pretty interesting to also have the subscriber numbers for each service, which I think would provide some economic levelling to the South Africa numbers. Either way it demonstrates the level of interest in each country, with Australia lagging considerably behind.

From a viewership point of view, it would also appear that the conference system is working. 18 of the 20 most watched games were hosted in SA and 13 of these were derby matches. The Bulls v Stormers match was the most watched game so far.