Rugby on TV in June/July....

How come, when it finally IS actually cold and wintry outside, the sum total of decent rugby on our screens during prime time weekend viewing slots has been three games since the end of May? It is unforgivable that in February you've got six or seven Super 14 matches on that half the country isn't interested in because it is still the middle of bloody summer and in June/July, when it freezing, get's dark at 5pm and everyone is thinking casserole and Montieth's winter ale the T.V. is a prime time wasteland for the follower of rugby union.

The test matches don't fill the demand for content either. One game every week or two isn't enough. There needs to be a quality game every Friday and Saturday at this of year, not in February and March. A bit of imagination is required, how about a NZ Maori vs. Junior All Blacks series or Samoa vs. NZ "A" or North Island vs South Island?

It is typical of the cack-handed, uneven pacing and spacing of the rugby union season.

The whole thing is a dog's breakfast.

Plenty of League on.

...no wonder it seems more popular than ever.

2 good posts ^^

Perhaps league being so much less of a global sport than code is a good thing

I just think it is odd that when Tew keeps banging on about how important TV revenue is to the game here the NZRFU is seemingly happy to leave unfilled all those prime slots - what - ten? twelve? at 7.30pm T.V. Slots. And that isn't even counting well as Sunday afternoon/evening (i.e. 4.30pm or 5.30pm kick off, which I think would pull a reasonable T.V. audience at this time of year) which I also think would at a time of the year when arguably the audience is going to be far more tuned into watching rugby than it will be in February or November.

Those Super 14 players who are not in the All Blacks effectively have been on holiday for all the time since they played their last Super game.

I think they'd be far, far better off getting rid of the frankly second rate performances we get in the June tests, give the players a holiday for a fortnight (assuming they made the final, otherwise it would be up to a three week break) then getting them all into the Air New Zealand Cup. It would make for better continuity in competitions - we would already be into round four or five of the Air NZ Cup, and the players themselves would have to sit around twiddling their thumbs in the middle of winter. Also, we would have a tough competition keeping the next tier match fit and who those All Blacks who need game time to get back into form or fitness like McCaw or Rokococo could be playing serious opposition rather than ten aside practice games.

The lack of rugby union is due to club rugby is still on and the Air New Zealand Cup season hasn't started.

Did you know the pope is a catholic?

Yeah, so the timing I think is good enough. Ie, it gives enough time for club rugby to finish and provincial sides to be picked. Plus it gives top players a little break. I don't see the problem with that.

Well FB is saying they should probably get their break in the summer, and just harden the fuck up and play through the winter like everyone else!



gc.

If they play through winter, it would cut their International season, due to Super 14 still being on. Am I not getting something...

the NPC should be up and running already.

Why? The club rugby is still on. Provincial comp can not start till those provinces competitions have finished.

You can't keep people pleased it seems. It's either too much rugby for some or not enough for others. heh

Why can't we have club/provincial rugby simultaneously though?

Would mean there were game-hardened backups around. Would allow a longer break at the end of the season.

Personally I'd want Super simultaneous with NPC ala Chmapions League, but that'll never happen

Well Provincial sides get picked from club rugby sides (technically that is how it's supposed to be anyway). Hence you can't take away players from club sides until competition is over, as it too much disruption. And, you've gotta make at least one appearance for your club side to be named in provincial side (unless injured).

Right, so the NZRFU - which bleats forever about the need to maximise revenue - can't structure the club season (which they have 100% control of) in such a way as to have quality rugby on prime time T.V. in the prime football playing part of the year in the weeks from the end of the Super 14 to the Start of the Tri-Nations?

I say that's bullshit. The trouble is the NZRFU is obsessed with the All Blacks and can't see past them.

I find it really difficult to believe that the revenue (& interest) generated by the French and Italian games is more than they would have earned from four weeks of Air NZ Cup rugby. Even with a ten team competition that would be twenty games. Are twenty domestic games the equal financially (or more) and interest wise of three inferior international matches? I would say yes. I think in terms of the domestic audience, people would be more interested in provincial rugby than the June All Black tests.

It would also make for far better continuity, with a nice flow from Super 14 to the domestic competition. And as Vadz says it would keep a core of game-hardened backups around for the All Blacks.

Oh and before anyone says the All Blacks need warm up matches for the Tri-Nations, here is the games that would be played already in my counter factual season:

WEEK 1.
Tasman v Taranaki
Bay of Plenty v Northland
Wellington v Otago (RS)
Hawke’s Bay v Auckland
North Harbour v Canterbury
Southland v Waikato
Manawatu v Counties Manukau

WEEK 2.
Northland v Taranaki
North Harbour v Tasman
Otago v Southland
Waikato v Manawatu
Hawke’s Bay v Wellington
Auckland v Canterbury
Counties Manukau v Bay of Plenty

WEEK 3.
Otago v North Harbour
Southland v Manawatu
Canterbury v Waikato
Northland v Auckland
Taranaki v Hawke’s Bay
Bay of Plenty v Wellington
Tasman v Counties Manukau

WEEK 4.
Manawatu v Otago
North Harbour v Northland
Southland v Hawke’s Bay
Bay of Plenty v Waikato
Canterbury v Tasman
Wellington v Auckland (RS)
Counties Manukau v Taranaki

You can't tell me the players would be worse prepared after that schedule.

Fishy, what is the point of pre season games?

Imo, to be able to play as a unit.

Playing for their provinces, players selected for the All Blacks will be prepared better physically (even that is arguable), but most definitely not to play as a team. We've seen that even brilliant individuals put together without warm up matches can play like shit (Barbarians). So your argument for not having warm up matches, imo, is not valid.

I afraid i don't agree. Take the Leonard-Donald (lets assume they are both fit for a moment) combination. Personally I think they would both be less likely to get injured and be bettered prepared for playing Australia with matches against Southland, Manawatu, Canterbury and Bay Of Plenty than they would be by playing in one and a bit games against France and Italy.


There is another issue here as well. Players in the professional tier (Super 14 and above) don't want to play in the next level down. Why? Because personally they have got nothing to gain and everything to lose in terms of reputation and potential injury. The last thing you want is to be pitched against the next lest you are found wanting. What if, in the above scenario, Aaron Cruden completely outplayed and exposed Steven Donald in the Manawatu vs. Waikato game? Donald could be dropped from the All Blacks if the new boy looks better than him.

It is not in the interests, then, of the top tier to engage at ANZC level and in avoiding it they have the complete connivance of the NZRFU. Yet is PRECISELY this level of complacency stripping rugby we need to keep the All Blacks strong.

And Sean Fitzpatrick's remedy for NZ rugby is the same as mine - focus on the NPC!

IMO the NPC should start first. It would be a pre-season comp before the Super 14. Play a Bledisloe series mid-way through the Super comp (no Tri-nations) and then a end of year tour, a proper tour with mid-week games at the end of the year.

Would that work?