New Zealand 2 will deal a massive blow to NZ rugby

[Canard]

“Could”, as in one day, not now. NZ currently supports six fully professional pro rugby sides so it’s hardly out of the question that if Super Rugby bleeds some support to the NRL it could eventually happen. It’s a long way off though.

In what,40 years?

Union is the national sport, our code is very much a niche.

That's like saying QLD could have 4 AFL teams.

 

[Thatwasnthighref]

Why would the NZRU even consider it?

It just seems like it would be just to appease Aussies RL fans.

Surely it's still the biggest code in NZ in terms of media coverage, sponsorship, crowds etc.

Axing SR and turning NPC professional? No they wont do it. They cant afford to for a bunch of reasons.

And yea its still the biggest code here, despite its current struggles. SR is broken and I have no idea how it can be fixed but when the test season rolls around there'll be plenty of interest as always. Especially with the Robertson now in the top job, and Schmidt coaching the Wallabies.

 

[Canard]

Axing SR and turning NPC professional? No they wont do it. They cant afford to for a bunch of reasons.

And yea its still the biggest code here, despite its current struggles. SR is broken and I have no idea how it can be fixed but when the test season rolls around there'll be plenty of interest as always. Especially with the Robertson now in the top job, and Schmidt coaching the Wallabies.

I think the context that us RL fans struggle with, is that SR has always been "filler" until the main game started. Didn't it even used to be as small as a 6 week season way back in the day?

Whereas the NRL is the be all and end all for RL.

We laugh at Aussie Rules fans saying they are taking over QLD, then turnabout and say RL will take over NZ

 

[Thatwasnthighref]

I think the context that us RL fans struggle with, is that SR has always been "filler" until the main game started. Didn't it even used to be as small as a 6 week season way back in the day?

Whereas the NRL is the be all and end all for RL.

We laugh at Aussie Rules fans saying they are taking over QLD, then turnabout and say RL will take over NZ

Yea Super 10, before the code turned professional, was only 8 weeks or so.

I enjoy both codes but the chances of league taking over union here is miniscule, even with the NRL's balance sheet. The game is too deeply ingrained in the community, and even our national identity. But RL doesnt have to "take over" as such anyway; there's room for good growth here regardless.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

In what,40 years?

Union is the national sport, our code is very much a niche.

That's like saying QLD could have 4 AFL teams.

Yeah, pretty much. It’s not something that’ll happen in the next decade or likely even two decades.

 

[Wb1234]

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[Matiunz]

Yea Super 10, before the code turned professional, was only 8 weeks or so.

I enjoy both codes but the chances of league taking over union here is miniscule, even with the NRL's balance sheet. The game is too deeply ingrained in the community, and even our national identity. But RL doesnt have to "take over" as such anyway; there's room for good growth here regardless.

100% League doesn’t have to destroy Union (and vice versa). There’s an environment at the moment that league can benefit greatly from and see significant growth but that won’t be at the expense of taking over Union in the near future- there’s plenty of room for both and also plenty of fans of both.
One advantage NRL has is ironically due to one of its biggest weaknesses- the international game. Union is shoe horned into an international calendar and windows that multiple countries have to adhere to which limits the window its comps can be played. NRL is the other way around.

 

[Wb1234]

Without a strong club game the international game has weak underpinnings

the collapse in crowds at super rugby games in its biggest heartland in the pacific is a telling point

 

[Thatwasnthighref]

Without a strong club game the international game has weak underpinnings

the collapse in crowds at super rugby games in its biggest heartland in the pacific is a telling point

No argument there. When I say interest will be rekindled when the test season starts, that’s not to diminish the importance of fixing SR. That absolutely remains a priority for the code.

 

[Brian potter]

Trouble at t’ mill.

Justin Marshall’s ‘creative’ idea to overhaul Super Rugby Pacific schedule that is ‘not working’

Former Crusaders scrum-half Justin Marshall believes that organisers need to look at “creative” ways to improve Super Rugby Pacific.

www.planetrugby.com

If I was the NRL I’d be moving heaven and earth trying to find and drum up support for investment in a South Island NRL bid.

 

[flippikat]

I think the context that us RL fans struggle with, is that SR has always been "filler" until the main game started. Didn't it even used to be as small as a 6 week season way back in the day?

Whereas the NRL is the be all and end all for RL.

We laugh at Aussie Rules fans saying they are taking over QLD, then turnabout and say RL will take over NZ

Yeah, I think nature of Rugby Union's multi-part season (especially here in New Zealand) strikes Australian RL fans as odd.

Super Rugby, mid-year tests, NPC, and end of year tests all have their own windows between February & November, with the aim of minimal overlap.

It's a delicate system, and when you add club rugby simmering along at the community level while Super Rugby is on (NPC sides picked immediately afterwards, based on club form), any change.. any tinkering threatens unsettling a fragile balance.

 

[Brian potter]

I’m absolutely 100% convinced that RL can make huge and sustained long lasting inroads into the New Zealand sporting market over the next decade by simply adding NZ2 to the NRL, playing more NRL games throughout NZ with some Aussie based NRL teams taking a “home” game against the warriors to wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton, Dunedin and Napier etc, playing more kiwi internationals in NZ and by NRL clubs increasing their raids into schoolboy RU.

with the warriors becoming the talk of the town and NZ’s #1 sporting club and the NRL as a whole becoming more and more popular it’s absolutely more than conceivable that the younger generation of NZ preferring RL over RU including even the Allblacks.

 

[final say]

Analysis: What's going on with rugby in New Zealand?

Super Rugby went missing at the weekend, and the players are ready for a fight with NZ Rugby. The game is at a crossroads, writes Patrick McKendry.

www.1news.co.nz

 

[final say]

Analysis: What's going on with rugby in New Zealand?

Super Rugby went missing at the weekend, and the players are ready for a fight with NZ Rugby. The game is at a crossroads, writes Patrick McKendry.

www.1news.co.nz

"The Warriors, meanwhile, continue to catch the imagination of the public. Rightly or wrongly, they’re perceived as down-to-earth and accessible. They’re also increasingly popular with the younger generation.

If Robinson and his staff aren’t worried about the direction rugby is heading in, they should be."

 

[Wb1234]

"The Warriors, meanwhile, continue to catch the imagination of the public. Rightly or wrongly, they’re perceived as down-to-earth and accessible. They’re also increasingly popular with the younger generation.

If Robinson and his staff aren’t worried about the direction rugby is heading in, they should be."

Rugby league has the youth and the future

 

[MugaB]

Rugby league has the youth and the future

The funny thing is, kids follow superstars, not teams anymore, not like the old days where you simply grew up following your rusted on favourite team, now they are all wanting to be Shaun Johnson, Nathan Cleary, Brian To'o or DWZ, rather than just follow the panthers or warriors for example, this warriors team is stacked full of NRL stars, and also had reece walsh only a few years back, I feel like covid opened up interest into NRL, while they were roaming Australia, and now 4 years they are back home getting the rock star treatment

 

[final say]

Rugby league has the youth and the future

Meanwhile all the " not youth" on here keep telling me how it is and how Rugby will always be king..

They really have no idea how rapidly its happening, they have no understanding how rapidly trends catch on in the age of social media.
We are at the tip of the iceberg..
Imagine another NZ NRL team right now!
It's too late for SR or the NPC .. it's over. Any changes now is just rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic.

 

[Mother Nature's Son]

Analysis: What's going on with rugby in New Zealand?

Super Rugby went missing at the weekend, and the players are ready for a fight with NZ Rugby. The game is at a crossroads, writes Patrick McKendry.

www.1news.co.nz

"The NZ Herald recently reported too that NZ Rugby will be cutting its total annual distribution to the provincial unions by $1.8 million in 2024 and by the same amount in 2025. You can be sure those two unpleasant results weren't predicted in the glossy Silver Lake brochure."

Oh dear, that`s not good if you`re a rugby player, that OZ$400k average wage of an NRL player is going to look mighty attractive.

 

[final say]

"The NZ Herald recently reported too that NZ Rugby will be cutting its total annual distribution to the provincial unions by $1.8 million in 2024 and by the same amount in 2025. You can be sure those two unpleasant results weren't predicted in the glossy Silver Lake brochure."

Oh dear, that`s not good if you`re a rugby player, that OZ$400k average wage of an NRL player is going to look mighty attractive.

There's posters on here that were adamant that if SR fell, they could fall back on the NPC.. well the NPC crowds ,popularity are dwindling and now so is the funding.
Rugby union is rotting from the ground up...

 

[Wb1234]

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gobs had this pinned from the opening post