Super Rugby Pacific thread

[RDW]

https://super.rugby/superrugby/

[RDW]

Big first win for the Waratahs tonight 40-10 against the new Fiji Drua. A very different Tahs this year who look a lot more robust and physical. First win in 488 days!

I fear it's going to be a long season for the new Fiji and Samoan teams but it's great to see them in a top class competition. With more time together and better organisation they have all the raw talent to cause teams trouble.

[RiscaGame]

Was trying to see how long Jamie Roberts got, but there doesn't seem to be anything up online yet.

[RDW]

He got around 12 minutes. Don't think he touched the ball but made several tackles.

He's not really suited to this type of rugby but will give plenty experience to a young Tahs squad.

[Guest]

Do you think it’s just Waratahs he’s not suited to or the whole Super Rugby thing? He seemed to get pretty good reviews when he played for Stormers in SA in the same league. Perhaps a different style for them vs Waratahs?

[RiscaGame]

I did see Waratahs style got praised today, so probably to do with that.

He can be a bit of a distributor etc to be fair to him, he just gets used poorly half the time. It seems like Tahs style is very fast though, from the reports I read trying to see if he played.

[RDW]

Super rugby general - it's so much more fast paced and open, particularly now the SA teams aren't in it. The Tahs have definitely shored up their defence this season though and are playing a more controlled game. He's also not going to be a regular starter - the two Aussie centres are in Wallaby contention.

He's having a great out time while out here though based on his social media - living at Manly beach.

Can very much understand why he made the move!

[doctor_grey]

This is such a weird thing.  For the first time in a long time, I was actually unaware the (rump) Super Rugby had started until I received a score alert on my mobile. I am not even sure what to call it because Super Rugby, at least for me, included those great SA teams going at it hammer and tongs against themselves, the Blues and Crusaders, and the Tahs and the Brumbies.  And of course the internal derbies between the SA, Aussie and the Kiwi sides.  

More recently I thoroughly enjoyed the addition of the Jaguares.  I actually attended a few Jaguares matches in BA.  Great atmosphere, supporters, and a sense something was really growing and developing.  Now it seems the Kiwis put two fingers up (though it might only be the middle finger) to SA and Argentina.  Absolutely don't feel the energy.  

That said I really enjoy listening to the Aussie commentators.  And the Aussie matches were almost always televised at breakfast time making an enjoyable way to start a Friday or Saturday.  The NZ matches were on earlier.  Right now watching a replay of this morning's Tahs-Fiji match.  

Just wondering how other people feel about the new/modified Southern Hemisphere competition.  Maybe it has to grow on me a bit, but right now, it will take a lot of growing.

[yappysnap]

I really enjoyed the last all NZ comp, far more then the previous bloated SR.

I guess we'll see how this one pans out but i'm optimistic.

I think we all assume the new teams will struggle, great to see the physicality of the Fijians though, some massive hits being put in.

[RDW]

This competition certainly makes a lot more sense in the current world than when SR included teams from Aus, NZ, SA, Argentina and Japan which was a truly global club tournament, which when you think about it was a bit nuts.

What this competition really needs is for the Aus teams to be more competitive against the NZ teams. Some of the best SR matches have been the major grudge matches between Kiwi and SA teams, and it needs Aus to step up. Worth noting that the current Saffer teams aren't the same class as those of the past given the financial constraints of South African rugby just now. I suspect the current SA teams wouldn't fare much better than the Aussie teams against the Kiwi franchises, although when they have the full international players available they'd be closer.

The addition of the Pacific teams is great and will hopefully add a new dimension - I think people would quickly get bored of just Kiwi and Aussie teams playing each other every week.

[mikey_dragon]

This still isn’t on Sky, BT? I caught a glimpse of some Crusaders highlights, man they’re good.

[Maine man]

This still isn’t on Sky, BT? I caught a glimpse of some Crusaders highlights, man they’re good.

Pretty sure you can pay for a stream. Gone are the days you get up hungover on a Saturday morning and vegetate to Super Rugby on sky.

[RDW]

Big first win for Fiji Drua! Rebels looking absolutely terrible this season though.

[Sgt_Pooly]

Big first win for Fiji Drua! Rebels looking absolutely terrible this season though.

Nice to see nothing has changed that much.

I used to love Super rugby, watching 2 or 3 matches every weekend from 2010 to say 2015. I really enjoyed the conflicting styles and the fast pace of the game compared to NH styles, it was quite refreshing.

Since the changes starting coming in with the 2 divisions or regionalization etc, I just totally lost interest. They seemed to be tweaking it every year and I have no idea how the current set-up works. I'm not even sure if it's aired in the UK anymore?

I guess sometimes change isn't always for the better.

[doctor_grey]

Big first win for Fiji Drua! Rebels looking absolutely terrible this season though.

Nice to see nothing has changed that much.

I used to love Super rugby, watching 2 or 3 matches every weekend from 2010 to say 2015. I really enjoyed the conflicting styles and the fast pace of the game compared to NH styles, it was quite refreshing.

Since the changes starting coming in with the 2 divisions or regionalization etc, I just totally lost interest. They seemed to be tweaking it every year and I have no idea how the current set-up works. I'm not even sure if it's aired in the UK anymore?

I guess sometimes change isn't always for the better.

I feel about the same. I used to enjoy watching the Aussie matches over breakfast (over here) on a Friday and/or Saturday morning. And the SA matches were morning or mid-day. Briefly, when Super Aotearoa was the only pro sport anywhere in the world during Covid, I watched regardless of the time. But now my interest has waned again. I do pay for a stream however.

[LeinsterFan4life]

Some absolute magic on display in the Reds v Drua. The Drua almost pulled off the biggest upset in super Rugby history. Looking forward to seeing what they can do in Suva.

[Maine man]

Just saw that sky was showing the Super Rugby this morning. When did that happen?

[doctor_grey]

Watching Queensland-Fiji and it seems more fans in Suncorp are cheering for the Drua than the Reds.

[RDW]

Watching Queensland-Fiji and it seems more fans in Suncorp are cheering for the Drua than the Reds.

Do you mean Drua v Brumbies that's on just now?

It's a Drua 'home' game, and the Brumbies are from Canberra!

[doctor_grey]

Watching Queensland-Fiji and it seems more fans in Suncorp are cheering for the Drua than the Reds.

Do you mean Drua v Brumbies that's on just now?

It's a Drua 'home' game, and the Brumbies are from Canberra!

Right! I typed that half awake over breakfast with only one cup of coffee - was seeing Suncorp and automatically typed Reds.

[RDW]

The Reds still get decent crowds of 15k+

[doctor_grey]

Are people really taking to the Super Rugby this year?  I read about a fall off in interest in RU in general over the past few years.  Are there still Covid restrictions in place in Oz?

[RDW]

It's all relative as it's still a long way behind Aussie rules and NRL. You have to go looking for it if you want to follow it here. With every other sport fully up and running it definitely doesn't feel as popular than the last couple of seasons when it was a bit of a novelty. The kiwi teams coming over soon will spice it up a bit though.


The Pacific teams being based in Australia and playing in front of a handful of 'home' fans doesn't help build an atmosphere or excitement, but there are of course practical reasons why that has to be. The kiwi teams starting the season with no fans really hasn't helped either, although restrictions are easing again there.

I guess I'm a prime example - last season and the year before I watched most games, or at least caught the highlights of those I missed. This year I've only watched a handful of games as there's so much other things going on again!

There's no restrictions in Aus anymore that affect crowd numbers.

[RDW]

Pretty honking weekend for the 7s losing all but one game across both days. Jordan Edmunds the Boroughmuire winger stood out as a big strong runner, but he's 25 so very much late to the party to be making a go of it at pro level.

We're sitting near the bottom of the table but I'm not sure just how much trouble we're in for relegation.

They had a lot of newbies and we're missing the core of a good squad from the last few years, no doubt due to the lack of job security that comes with being a 7s player!

[RDW]

Yet another red card in Super Rugby. Another completely needless tackle where Angus Bell for the Tahs hit the Chiefs player hard then decided to lift him up above the horizontal, with Cain then landing on his head.

I know the front row aren't renowned for their brains but it was was so needless. How much warning do players need that this type of incident will lead to a red??

[RDW]

Jamie Roberts now yellow card for deliberate knock on. Waratahs down to 13 - this could be a massacre.

Such a shame as it could have been a good game.

[RDW]

So this weekend was 'Super Round ' with every game being played at the same stadium in Melbourne. Apparently 30,000 total tickets were sold for the whole weekend of 5 games, which doesn't take into account the same people coming back for several games, and probably a load of freebies in there too. The stadium generally looked petty sparse each game.

What's disappointing is the marketing for the weekend really was almost nonexistent. You need to shout loud to be heard in Australian sport and there was barely a whisper. Even if you knew of the event and wanted to by tickets it took a bit of searching to find them.

Even 'free' marketing like social media - the Aussie teams didn't put much effort into their tweets etc to sell it. Maybe because it was in Melbourne?

The event itself should be a centrepiece of the season, just needs marketed properly!

[bsando]

Haven’t been keeping up with the super rugby this season, how is it all going? My only snippets of the season have been Blues look strong and Pacific/Drua have some really impressive players.

[RDW]

It's built some momentum in the last month, mainly due to the Aussie teams beating the kiwis to add a bit of spice and drama.

Was great seeing the Drua play a home good too in front of a fanatical crowd - we need more of that.

It's still silly that all but 4 teams qualify for the playoffs though.

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