The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
- Ali's Choice
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The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
It's increasingly looking like the Trans Tasman cross-over matches won't go ahead again this year, due to COVID-19 and the fact that there isn't still quarantine free travel in both directions between NZ and Australia.
Both the NZ and Australian teams have made contingency plans, which will likely result in a 3rd round of matches in both Super Rugby Aotearoa and Super Rugby AU. Not a terrible outcome for Rugby fans - I'll watch them - but certainly not as exciting as Trans Tasman matches.
Both the NZ and Australian teams have made contingency plans, which will likely result in a 3rd round of matches in both Super Rugby Aotearoa and Super Rugby AU. Not a terrible outcome for Rugby fans - I'll watch them - but certainly not as exciting as Trans Tasman matches.
- Muttonbirds
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Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
New Zealand were just throwing a bone to Australia rugby who I read were about to be taken over by a private equity firm.
That is vultures circling stuff.
How many times is New Zealand going to have to bail Australian rugby out?
That is vultures circling stuff.
How many times is New Zealand going to have to bail Australian rugby out?
- Ali's Choice
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Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
Nah, I think both unions were genuinely keen. It would have been a fun way to end the respective Super Rugby seasons.Muttonbirds wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:15 pm New Zealand were just throwing a bone to Australia rugby who I read were about to be taken over by a private equity firm.
That is vultures circling stuff.
How many times is New Zealand going to have to bail Australian rugby out?
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Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
Rugby Australia will have been more than keen. They'll be desperate because the asset stripping financiers sniff blood.
Remember when the Crusaders beat the Waratahs 75-0 in Nelson a few years ago? That is indicative of the effort Australia puts into the game. Truth is Australia doesn't take rugby seriously enough and I fail to see why New Zealand should prop them up any longer.
Remember when the Crusaders beat the Waratahs 75-0 in Nelson a few years ago? That is indicative of the effort Australia puts into the game. Truth is Australia doesn't take rugby seriously enough and I fail to see why New Zealand should prop them up any longer.

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Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
Paul Cully paints a very rosy picture about Rugby in Australia;Muttonbirds wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:24 pm Rugby Australia will have been more than keen. They'll be desperate because the asset stripping financiers sniff blood.
Remember when the Crusaders beat the Waratahs 75-0 in Nelson a few years ago. That is indicative of the effort Australia puts into the game. Truth is Australia doesn't take rugby seriously enough and I fail to see why New Zealand should prop them up any longer.![]()
The three big reasons rugby is looking up heading into new era
Paul Cully
Rugby columnist
February 18, 2021 — 11.54am
Super Rugby AU starts on Friday with a game between the Reds and Waratahs, a palpable sense of renewal and its unwelcome relative - the threat of another false dawn.
Yet, it should not only be the hopeless optimists among us who approach 2021 with a spring in their steps.
The reasons are many and varied but three stand out: first, the progressive law changes introduced by Rugby Australia (the best of which the Kiwis have stolen), the clever campaign to bring the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa down under, and on a more granular level the very public disciplining of Reds winger Suliasi Vunivalu this week. All of the above can be captured under an umbrella term: Australian intelligence.
That’s a concept that defined Australia in the glory days, and remains its best hope of a return to the summit of world rugby.
Of course, there is a fine line between intelligence and hubris and Australia must guard against that trap.
But ask yourself the last time New Zealand took a look across the ditch and adopted a rugby innovation a year later?
That’s exactly what has happened with the goal-line dropout introduced by Australia in 2020, and copied by NZ in 2021.
To make matters better for Australia (and worse for New Zealand), the Kiwis have also introduced a ‘captain’s referral’ rule which looks fraught with danger.
With two challenges permitted in the final five minutes (one from each side) the Kiwis have truly opened Pandora’s box and face the prospect of the closing stages of games being dominated by TMO checks launched by each captain.
Rugby Australia clearly saw the dangers and avoided it, particularly as an attacking team could build a 30-phase wonder try in the last minutes but face the agony of having a wee knock-on or forward pass in phase two of the masterpiece scrutinised after a captain’s referral. Talk about a mood killer.
Add in RA’s determination to speed up the game - and possibly reduce the role as scrums as an outcome-defining factor in the game - and Australia is on the right path to improve the viewing product (and it is a product - we should not shy away from that).
While it may be unlikely, the push to bring the British and Irish Lions later this year is another sign of the new swagger around Australian rugby.
As for the Lions, excitement levels at the prospect of the tour coming to Australia should be contained until kingpin Rassie Erasmus signals a willingness to do so.
The British were always going to be easier to impress, particularly as the rugby press must be salivating at exiting Boris’ Brexit Britain and spending a nice winter around Perth and Sydney.
But only Erasmus has the sort of capital to sell that idea to his own public, as it remains as appealing as a vegetarian diet to a Boks prop for many, many South Africans.
Nonetheless, at the very least, RA’s proposal and attitude must be winning friends in the right places with the bidding process for the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
It’s smart - and it carves out a role for Australia on the world stage, as an innovator you can do business with (the same applies to the rule changes).
Third, the $10,000 fine and one game suspension for Vunivalu was emphatically clear cut.
On a human level, it was hard not feel a degree of sympathy for Vunivalu as he faced the music in a smart shirt, impeccably groomed.
Certainly, many other players must have been thinking, ‘There go I but for the grace of God’, given Vunivalu’s alleged infraction was only at low-to-mid level range of the dumb things young men do.
Yet that was the point. It sent a stark message to the rest of the playing group: ‘Don’t stuff up this chance with a new partner in Stan/Nine (the publishers of this masthead). There are already enough pork chops in the other code they show without them having to worry about rugby’.
So, where does this leave us before a ball is kicked, or a tackle made? Reasonably placed.
Tradition dictates that we must also submit predictions for the year ahead.
The Brumbies will be hard to beat, because they are so well run.
Coach Dan McKellar withdrew from a Wallabies position last year and was subsequently absent from a Test campaign that turned out to be fairly underwhelming.
So, at the end of last year he had proved his loyalty to the Brumbies and emerged with a better reputation than any other coach working in Australia.
What were we saying about smart?
- Muttonbirds
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Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
One thing Australians have never been short of is swagger.
- Ali's Choice
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Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
MB, haven't you got enough threads on which to troll Aussies? I was looking forward to the Trans Tasman matches.Muttonbirds wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:35 pm One thing Australians have never been short of is swagger.
- Muttonbirds
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Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
There will never be enough threads.Ali's Choice wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:36 pmMB, haven't you got enough threads on which to troll Aussies? I was looking forward to the Trans Tasman matches.Muttonbirds wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:35 pm One thing Australians have never been short of is swagger.
I stopped being interested in Super Rugby when Australia and SA started inventing and axing teams every season. That again highlights the Disney approach they have to the game. Zero tradition.
Last edited by Muttonbirds on Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
Just get a girlfriend/boyfriend you weirdo.Muttonbirds wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:39 pmThere will never be enough threads.Ali's Choice wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:36 pmMB, haven't you got enough threads on which to troll Aussies? I was looking forward to the Trans Tasman matches.Muttonbirds wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:35 pm One thing Australians have never been short of is swagger.
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Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
Why did you chose Dwight Schrute as your avatar?Sensible Stephen wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:41 pmJust get a girlfriend/boyfriend you weirdo.Muttonbirds wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:39 pmThere will never be enough threads.Ali's Choice wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:36 pmMB, haven't you got enough threads on which to troll Aussies? I was looking forward to the Trans Tasman matches.Muttonbirds wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:35 pm One thing Australians have never been short of is swagger.
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Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
Because I like beets.Muttonbirds wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:46 pmWhy did you chose Dwight Schrute as your avatar?Sensible Stephen wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:41 pmJust get a girlfriend/boyfriend you weirdo.Muttonbirds wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:39 pmThere will never be enough threads.Ali's Choice wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:36 pmMB, haven't you got enough threads on which to troll Aussies? I was looking forward to the Trans Tasman matches.Muttonbirds wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:35 pm One thing Australians have never been short of is swagger.
Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
Are there a lot of Trans teams then?
Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
Agree, I doubt NZR want to put the players through 3 rounds of derbies if can be helped, but don't see any other option. I really believe the RC will be held in Oz again this year, as even if there a bubble by then the Boks and Pumas won't be part of it. Perhaps no mid year tours either? Could slip in a North/South game?Ali's Choice wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:18 pmNah, I think both unions were genuinely keen. It would have been a fun way to end the respective Super Rugby seasons.Muttonbirds wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:15 pm New Zealand were just throwing a bone to Australia rugby who I read were about to be taken over by a private equity firm.
That is vultures circling stuff.
How many times is New Zealand going to have to bail Australian rugby out?
Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
I was expecting Cully to mention the new broadcasting deal with Nine, but he didn't.
They are pumping a shitload of money into promoting the game's shopfront, the streaming service Stan. You don't have to look far to see the Bledisloe imagery on your local tram stop or Nine masthead (e.g. The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald).
If you load up Stan you'll find reams of content stretching way back over previous Super Rugby seasons, with which you can whet your appetite ahead of the season-opening double header tonight.
It's a real shot in the arm for rugby in Australia. A vaccine against rugby league and AFL, if you will.
They are pumping a shitload of money into promoting the game's shopfront, the streaming service Stan. You don't have to look far to see the Bledisloe imagery on your local tram stop or Nine masthead (e.g. The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald).
If you load up Stan you'll find reams of content stretching way back over previous Super Rugby seasons, with which you can whet your appetite ahead of the season-opening double header tonight.
It's a real shot in the arm for rugby in Australia. A vaccine against rugby league and AFL, if you will.
- Ali's Choice
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Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
He did mention the new deal with Nine. And the fact that this was a positive piece, written in a Nine news publication, speaks volunes.jdogscoop wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 9:22 pm I was expecting Cully to mention the new broadcasting deal with Nine, but he didn't.
They are pumping a shitload of money into promoting the game's shopfront, the streaming service Stan. You don't have to look far to see the Bledisloe imagery on your local tram stop or Nine masthead (e.g. The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald).
If you load up Stan you'll find reams of content stretching way back over previous Super Rugby seasons, with which you can whet your appetite ahead of the season-opening double header tonight.
It's a real shot in the arm for rugby in Australia. A vaccine against rugby league and AFL, if you will.
Yet that was the point. It sent a stark message to the rest of the playing group: ‘Don’t stuff up this chance with a new partner in Stan/Nine (the publishers of this masthead). There are already enough pork chops in the other code they show without them having to worry about rugby’
Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
Stan have also just announced they'll be showing Japan's Top League... 

Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
I really hope the trans tasman comp will go ahead as planned. As good as NZ derby's are all teams play the same style of rugby. Its a refreshing change playing the Reds/Brumbies etc
Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
Dude we are in the honeymoon of new broadcaster Stan, News Ltd are falling over themselves painting glowing pictures of the future. The problem remains, falling viewer numbers in Oz, seriously Stan is not going to fix that.Ali's Choice wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:29 pmPaul Cully paints a very rosy picture about Rugby in Australia;Muttonbirds wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:24 pm Rugby Australia will have been more than keen. They'll be desperate because the asset stripping financiers sniff blood.
Remember when the Crusaders beat the Waratahs 75-0 in Nelson a few years ago. That is indicative of the effort Australia puts into the game. Truth is Australia doesn't take rugby seriously enough and I fail to see why New Zealand should prop them up any longer.![]()
The three big reasons rugby is looking up heading into new era
Paul Cully
Rugby columnist
February 18, 2021 — 11.54am
Super Rugby AU starts on Friday with a game between the Reds and Waratahs, a palpable sense of renewal and its unwelcome relative - the threat of another false dawn.
Yet, it should not only be the hopeless optimists among us who approach 2021 with a spring in their steps.
The reasons are many and varied but three stand out: first, the progressive law changes introduced by Rugby Australia (the best of which the Kiwis have stolen), the clever campaign to bring the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa down under, and on a more granular level the very public disciplining of Reds winger Suliasi Vunivalu this week. All of the above can be captured under an umbrella term: Australian intelligence.
That’s a concept that defined Australia in the glory days, and remains its best hope of a return to the summit of world rugby.
Of course, there is a fine line between intelligence and hubris and Australia must guard against that trap.
But ask yourself the last time New Zealand took a look across the ditch and adopted a rugby innovation a year later?
That’s exactly what has happened with the goal-line dropout introduced by Australia in 2020, and copied by NZ in 2021.
To make matters better for Australia (and worse for New Zealand), the Kiwis have also introduced a ‘captain’s referral’ rule which looks fraught with danger.
With two challenges permitted in the final five minutes (one from each side) the Kiwis have truly opened Pandora’s box and face the prospect of the closing stages of games being dominated by TMO checks launched by each captain.
Rugby Australia clearly saw the dangers and avoided it, particularly as an attacking team could build a 30-phase wonder try in the last minutes but face the agony of having a wee knock-on or forward pass in phase two of the masterpiece scrutinised after a captain’s referral. Talk about a mood killer.
Add in RA’s determination to speed up the game - and possibly reduce the role as scrums as an outcome-defining factor in the game - and Australia is on the right path to improve the viewing product (and it is a product - we should not shy away from that).
While it may be unlikely, the push to bring the British and Irish Lions later this year is another sign of the new swagger around Australian rugby.
As for the Lions, excitement levels at the prospect of the tour coming to Australia should be contained until kingpin Rassie Erasmus signals a willingness to do so.
The British were always going to be easier to impress, particularly as the rugby press must be salivating at exiting Boris’ Brexit Britain and spending a nice winter around Perth and Sydney.
But only Erasmus has the sort of capital to sell that idea to his own public, as it remains as appealing as a vegetarian diet to a Boks prop for many, many South Africans.
Nonetheless, at the very least, RA’s proposal and attitude must be winning friends in the right places with the bidding process for the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
It’s smart - and it carves out a role for Australia on the world stage, as an innovator you can do business with (the same applies to the rule changes).
Third, the $10,000 fine and one game suspension for Vunivalu was emphatically clear cut.
On a human level, it was hard not feel a degree of sympathy for Vunivalu as he faced the music in a smart shirt, impeccably groomed.
Certainly, many other players must have been thinking, ‘There go I but for the grace of God’, given Vunivalu’s alleged infraction was only at low-to-mid level range of the dumb things young men do.
Yet that was the point. It sent a stark message to the rest of the playing group: ‘Don’t stuff up this chance with a new partner in Stan/Nine (the publishers of this masthead). There are already enough pork chops in the other code they show without them having to worry about rugby’.
So, where does this leave us before a ball is kicked, or a tackle made? Reasonably placed.
Tradition dictates that we must also submit predictions for the year ahead.
The Brumbies will be hard to beat, because they are so well run.
Coach Dan McKellar withdrew from a Wallabies position last year and was subsequently absent from a Test campaign that turned out to be fairly underwhelming.
So, at the end of last year he had proved his loyalty to the Brumbies and emerged with a better reputation than any other coach working in Australia.
What were we saying about smart?
Another season marred by Covid here in Oz, impossible to judge how successful the new coverage is going to be. For sure the NRL and AFL must be amused by the whole thing.
In essence don't be fooled by the journos, another beat up by commercial interests, we simply don't know what the fall out is going to be post covid. I would assume at least in Queensland a lot of the restrictions will be eased. Fingers crossed there.
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Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
When both countries have so few teams it's more important than ever they both take cross-border competition as seriously as they can. It's pathetic for supporters of either country to make out they are doing the other a favour.Muttonbirds wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:24 pm Rugby Australia will have been more than keen. They'll be desperate because the asset stripping financiers sniff blood.
Remember when the Crusaders beat the Waratahs 75-0 in Nelson a few years ago? That is indicative of the effort Australia puts into the game. Truth is Australia doesn't take rugby seriously enough and I fail to see why New Zealand should prop them up any longer.![]()
Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
So he did. I just thought it might be more of a focus.Ali's Choice wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 10:17 pmHe did mention the new deal with Nine. And the fact that this was a positive piece, written in a Nine news publication, speaks volunes.jdogscoop wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 9:22 pm I was expecting Cully to mention the new broadcasting deal with Nine, but he didn't.
They are pumping a shitload of money into promoting the game's shopfront, the streaming service Stan. You don't have to look far to see the Bledisloe imagery on your local tram stop or Nine masthead (e.g. The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald).
If you load up Stan you'll find reams of content stretching way back over previous Super Rugby seasons, with which you can whet your appetite ahead of the season-opening double header tonight.
It's a real shot in the arm for rugby in Australia. A vaccine against rugby league and AFL, if you will.
Yet that was the point. It sent a stark message to the rest of the playing group: ‘Don’t stuff up this chance with a new partner in Stan/Nine (the publishers of this masthead). There are already enough pork chops in the other code they show without them having to worry about rugby’
Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
Stan is a Nine vehicle so in opposition to News Ltd.Salient wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 10:44 pmDude we are in the honeymoon of new broadcaster Stan, News Ltd are falling over themselves painting glowing pictures of the future. The problem remains, falling viewer numbers in Oz, seriously Stan is not going to fix that.Ali's Choice wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:29 pmPaul Cully paints a very rosy picture about Rugby in Australia;Muttonbirds wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:24 pm Rugby Australia will have been more than keen. They'll be desperate because the asset stripping financiers sniff blood.
Remember when the Crusaders beat the Waratahs 75-0 in Nelson a few years ago. That is indicative of the effort Australia puts into the game. Truth is Australia doesn't take rugby seriously enough and I fail to see why New Zealand should prop them up any longer.![]()
The three big reasons rugby is looking up heading into new era
Paul Cully
Rugby columnist
February 18, 2021 — 11.54am
Super Rugby AU starts on Friday with a game between the Reds and Waratahs, a palpable sense of renewal and its unwelcome relative - the threat of another false dawn.
Yet, it should not only be the hopeless optimists among us who approach 2021 with a spring in their steps.
The reasons are many and varied but three stand out: first, the progressive law changes introduced by Rugby Australia (the best of which the Kiwis have stolen), the clever campaign to bring the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa down under, and on a more granular level the very public disciplining of Reds winger Suliasi Vunivalu this week. All of the above can be captured under an umbrella term: Australian intelligence.
That’s a concept that defined Australia in the glory days, and remains its best hope of a return to the summit of world rugby.
Of course, there is a fine line between intelligence and hubris and Australia must guard against that trap.
But ask yourself the last time New Zealand took a look across the ditch and adopted a rugby innovation a year later?
That’s exactly what has happened with the goal-line dropout introduced by Australia in 2020, and copied by NZ in 2021.
To make matters better for Australia (and worse for New Zealand), the Kiwis have also introduced a ‘captain’s referral’ rule which looks fraught with danger.
With two challenges permitted in the final five minutes (one from each side) the Kiwis have truly opened Pandora’s box and face the prospect of the closing stages of games being dominated by TMO checks launched by each captain.
Rugby Australia clearly saw the dangers and avoided it, particularly as an attacking team could build a 30-phase wonder try in the last minutes but face the agony of having a wee knock-on or forward pass in phase two of the masterpiece scrutinised after a captain’s referral. Talk about a mood killer.
Add in RA’s determination to speed up the game - and possibly reduce the role as scrums as an outcome-defining factor in the game - and Australia is on the right path to improve the viewing product (and it is a product - we should not shy away from that).
While it may be unlikely, the push to bring the British and Irish Lions later this year is another sign of the new swagger around Australian rugby.
As for the Lions, excitement levels at the prospect of the tour coming to Australia should be contained until kingpin Rassie Erasmus signals a willingness to do so.
The British were always going to be easier to impress, particularly as the rugby press must be salivating at exiting Boris’ Brexit Britain and spending a nice winter around Perth and Sydney.
But only Erasmus has the sort of capital to sell that idea to his own public, as it remains as appealing as a vegetarian diet to a Boks prop for many, many South Africans.
Nonetheless, at the very least, RA’s proposal and attitude must be winning friends in the right places with the bidding process for the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
It’s smart - and it carves out a role for Australia on the world stage, as an innovator you can do business with (the same applies to the rule changes).
Third, the $10,000 fine and one game suspension for Vunivalu was emphatically clear cut.
On a human level, it was hard not feel a degree of sympathy for Vunivalu as he faced the music in a smart shirt, impeccably groomed.
Certainly, many other players must have been thinking, ‘There go I but for the grace of God’, given Vunivalu’s alleged infraction was only at low-to-mid level range of the dumb things young men do.
Yet that was the point. It sent a stark message to the rest of the playing group: ‘Don’t stuff up this chance with a new partner in Stan/Nine (the publishers of this masthead). There are already enough pork chops in the other code they show without them having to worry about rugby’.
So, where does this leave us before a ball is kicked, or a tackle made? Reasonably placed.
Tradition dictates that we must also submit predictions for the year ahead.
The Brumbies will be hard to beat, because they are so well run.
Coach Dan McKellar withdrew from a Wallabies position last year and was subsequently absent from a Test campaign that turned out to be fairly underwhelming.
So, at the end of last year he had proved his loyalty to the Brumbies and emerged with a better reputation than any other coach working in Australia.
What were we saying about smart?
Another season marred by Covid here in Oz, impossible to judge how successful the new coverage is going to be. For sure the NRL and AFL must be amused by the whole thing.
In essence don't be fooled by the journos, another beat up by commercial interests, we simply don't know what the fall out is going to be post covid. I would assume at least in Queensland a lot of the restrictions will be eased. Fingers crossed there.
The investment in promotion is going to do a shitload more to boost falling viewer numbers in Ox than Foxtel's effort, which was essentially to sit on its hands and dismiss the game as a 'non-marquee product'.
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Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
I hope the TT comp can go ahead. Maybe that would mean a tour style fixture with managed isolation for visiting teams.
As for the goal line drop out... can you kick for touch from that? Are we going to see the emergence of 70m drop kicks?
As for the goal line drop out... can you kick for touch from that? Are we going to see the emergence of 70m drop kicks?
Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
When was this? Can you remind me?Muttonbirds wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:24 pm Remember when the Crusaders beat the Waratahs 75-0 in Nelson a few years ago?
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Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
TT series would be great - at least as a check In for each country on the form of their domestic comp.
RA was offering NZ more of the revenue last year - if that’s still achievable the NZRU might very well need it (even if it means the comp is AU based only). If AU based I hope they spread the kiwi teams around and align them with a Super AU team.
Most alike?
Reds - Chiefs
Tahs - Blues
Burm - Canes
Rebels - Saders
Force - Landers
RA was offering NZ more of the revenue last year - if that’s still achievable the NZRU might very well need it (even if it means the comp is AU based only). If AU based I hope they spread the kiwi teams around and align them with a Super AU team.
Most alike?
Reds - Chiefs
Tahs - Blues
Burm - Canes
Rebels - Saders
Force - Landers
Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
Just loaded up Stan Sport.
LOOK AT ALL THE CONTENT! Last year's matches too!

LOOK AT ALL THE CONTENT! Last year's matches too!
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- Location: Queensland
Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
Yeah I'm looking forward to seeing how Stan sport operates once the season's are up and running. My understanding is that there will be no need to record games as they will be available to watch once they have been played.
Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
Looks to be the case here. There is a massive back catalogue. Every Rugby Championship match from 2018 onwards too.
I've only just scratched the surface. My wife will be happy...
I've only just scratched the surface. My wife will be happy...
Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
The reality is that (at a minimum) a franchise needs six home games just to survive...Dan54. wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 7:57 pmAgree, I doubt NZR want to put the players through 3 rounds of derbies if can be helped, but don't see any other option. I really believe the RC will be held in Oz again this year, as even if there a bubble by then the Boks and Pumas won't be part of it. Perhaps no mid year tours either? Could slip in a North/South game?Ali's Choice wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:18 pmNah, I think both unions were genuinely keen. It would have been a fun way to end the respective Super Rugby seasons.Muttonbirds wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:15 pm New Zealand were just throwing a bone to Australia rugby who I read were about to be taken over by a private equity firm.
That is vultures circling stuff.
How many times is New Zealand going to have to bail Australian rugby out?
We usually play 15 test matches in a non-world cup year. Last year it was only 6.
Each NZ franchise played 20 matches in 2019, last year it was only 7.
This 'player welfare' argument is a load of horse-shit. The players are only playing (at most) 1/3 of the rugby they'd be subject to if Covid wasn't around.
If NZ Rugby & AB Coaches are concerned about the physical toll of the NZ derbies that can simply be managed through rest & rotation. But, even having said this.. Super Rugby Aotearoa has a team sitting-out for a rest every single week because there's only 5 teams in this embarrassingly truncated farce of a competition. So the player workload excuse is pure & simply bullshit.
Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
Oz fans have never done this, Kiwis raise it every season.Anonymous 1 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 11:09 pmWhen both countries have so few teams it's more important than ever they both take cross-border competition as seriously as they can. It's pathetic for supporters of either country to make out they are doing the other a favour.Muttonbirds wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:24 pm Rugby Australia will have been more than keen. They'll be desperate because the asset stripping financiers sniff blood.
Remember when the Crusaders beat the Waratahs 75-0 in Nelson a few years ago? That is indicative of the effort Australia puts into the game. Truth is Australia doesn't take rugby seriously enough and I fail to see why New Zealand should prop them up any longer.![]()
Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
"rest & rotation"... I just had a flashback to 2007. Shudder.deverix wrote: ↑Fri Feb 19, 2021 1:58 amThe reality is that (at a minimum) a franchise needs six home games just to survive...Dan54. wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 7:57 pmAgree, I doubt NZR want to put the players through 3 rounds of derbies if can be helped, but don't see any other option. I really believe the RC will be held in Oz again this year, as even if there a bubble by then the Boks and Pumas won't be part of it. Perhaps no mid year tours either? Could slip in a North/South game?Ali's Choice wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:18 pmNah, I think both unions were genuinely keen. It would have been a fun way to end the respective Super Rugby seasons.Muttonbirds wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:15 pm New Zealand were just throwing a bone to Australia rugby who I read were about to be taken over by a private equity firm.
That is vultures circling stuff.
How many times is New Zealand going to have to bail Australian rugby out?
We usually play 15 test matches in a non-world cup year. Last year it was only 6.
Each NZ franchise played 20 matches in 2019, last year it was only 7.
This 'player welfare' argument is a load of horse-shit. The players are only playing (at most) 1/3 of the rugby they'd be subject to if Covid wasn't around.
If NZ Rugby & AB Coaches are concerned about the physical toll of the NZ derbies that can simply be managed through rest & rotation. But, even having said this.. Super Rugby Aotearoa has a team sitting-out for a rest every single week because there's only 5 teams in this embarrassingly truncated farce of a competition. So the player workload excuse is pure & simply bullshit.
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Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
Super Rugby Aotearoa was the best Tier 2 comp I have ever seen. Every match was close and the standard was extremely high. I reckon each of the franchises would have beaten the All Blacks in 2020 over a three match series.Super Rugby Aotearoa has a team sitting-out for a rest every single week because there's only 5 teams in this embarrassingly truncated farce of a competition
Re: The Trans Tasman Super Rugby series
So, is the only place we can watch NZ rugby matches in Australia is via Stan?
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