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Yep, but I presume that teams would have different objectives on social media. The metrics that are most valuable to them will depend on this, as will their content. If your goal is maximising the number of followers then your content will be quite different than if your goal is to enhance...

The thing is, social media followers don't necessarily equal actual supporters. We can see that in the example of the Storm and the Rebels. I'm not saying that having a lot of followers on its own is completely pointless - having people follow you on social media gets you in the door, increases...

More bandwagon support at times due to success. The type of followers that will watch the team in a big final but rarely if ever go to a game. I'm sure the gap would close if the Rebels had a dominant couple of years.

Over 60k tickets sold over the 2 days now with just under a month to go. Seems like it'll go close to selling out! Veronicas and the Hoodoo Gurus named as the music acts. Meh.

I'd be shocked if the team doesn't improve from where it was under Tolkin. I'm sure that he'll have learnt a lot from his past experience too. And it's not like he has been a complete dud as a coach. He won the Bledisloe back with the All Blacks, he's won a Currie Cup with the Lions. Sure...

The vast majority of them are clinging onto professionalism by playing as many tournaments as possible all over the world in order to obtain or maintain high enough rankings to enter more lucrative tournaments. They can't afford full time coaches or physical therapists etc. It's a massive grind...

I think the travel is manageable in a 15 week competition. Super rugby players certainly travel much less, and spend less time away from home than tennis players do for example. The international travel is just part of their job. And the 18 team format is clearly a bridge format towards further...

I think Wing is retiring.

Ono (the flyhalf) is 28. Not a young player but certainly young enough to make the next world cup.

Yeah, I think they're going to get smashed a few times. Hopefully they'll at least be able to pick up a couple of wins at home.

I think it's quite disappointing not to see Kosei Ono in there. He had a great world cup at 10 for Japan and as far as I'm aware he's not playing anywhere else.

It'll be interesting to see how quickly Japan will be added to the Rugby Championship if they can kick on from their success at the world cup. The commercial benefits for all involved could be quite significant.

Yeah I think it's great too. Possibly my favourite in the competition. A few teams could do with a refresh of their logo, especially the Kiwi sides.

I think they also do okay with the Australian games in the UK as they get played at mid morning over there and don't clash with local sport. South African games are at a better time but they clash with everything over there. Imagine how much the broadcast revenues would increase if the...

There are quite a lot of test matches though and they'd be the most valuable part of the deal for rugby so it's probably skewing the figures too favourably by not including games outside of super rugby. Another way to compare would be by the number of elite players the deal supports. In...

I think some matches would rate okay at prime time on FTA but they'd be the games Fox would least want to give up or simulcast (eg Waratahs vs Reds). Though personally I think Fox would actually benefit from even just a handful of marquee games a year being simulcast live on FTA.

I don't think it will take long for him to adjust to it. But he's going to have to show his value quickly as he's only signed a 6 week contract - that doesn't even take him through to the next tournament. He'll get an extension if he trains well and if he does I assume he'll get a chance in...

That's more bad news. Latest rumour is that Mark Hammett may be the Sunwolves coach. Whoever it is will have a really tough job. Not only because so many players have chosen to play elsewhere but because pretty much all their players will be playing all year round! They went from the world...

Fiji really butchered that. The player that failed to put the ball down for the try before the dead ball line won't be feeling so good right now! Guess it's a good result for the series, will keep it close at the top.

Beating USA is an awesome result - too bad our reward is to play South Africa. We keep getting the worst possible quarter final opponent! Oh well, it's nice to see Kenya back playing well again. NZ had lost to Canada once before, but it was still a big shock to see Canada outplay them...