Crusaders at Twickers?

[Moses]

Nice stadium, quite far

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ru...thquake-damage-shuts-New-Zealand-stadium.html

The Crusaders held last week’s match against NSW Waratahs at Trafalgar Park in Nelson, which holds 20,000, but the Christchurch-based franchise are looking for larger alternatives if their stadium is closed. A decision is expected this week.

Crusaders chief executive Hamish Riach has said that London, which has strong ex-pat communities from New Zealand, South Africa and Australia, was “certainly an option”.

Whether Twickenham would be available, however, remains uncertain. The Rugby Football Union said on Monday they were “open to the idea” but had not received an approach.

The RFU is concerned that the timeframe to market the game might be too tight, given that Twickenham would only be available for a few weeks between Sunday’s last home Six Nations match and domestic finals in April and May.

 

[vidiot]

Woeful road trip for one game - won't happen. Best bet would be a SA side but don't they line up their games on tour to Aus/NZ?

 

[DPK]

What about Hong Kong? Large expat community, and the Hong Kong Bledisloe may have generated enough interest for a lot of locals to attend.

Plus, MajorRagerly could go

 

[MrTimms]

Seriously?

There are plenty of stadiums in NZ they could use, would be good warm ups for the RWC too. If they are wanting to go OS (I assume for the $), there are plenty of smarter alternatives to England, Sydney would be the smartest.

 

[Moses]

I suspect the whole thing is a beatup by the British press, who asked CRFU about it and they didn't rule it out.. bit different to actively planning it

 

[liquor box]

Seriously?

There are plenty of stadiums in NZ they could use, would be good warm ups for the RWC too. If they are wanting to go OS (I assume for the $), there are plenty of smarter alternatives to England, Sydney would be the smartest.

Gold Coast stadium would be good with a big "home" crowd

 

[MajorlyRagerly]

What about Hong Kong? Large expat community, and the Hong Kong Bledisloe may have generated enough interest for a lot of locals to attend.

Plus, MajorRagerly could go

Nice of you to think of me there TK! Won't happen though - too much travel for the teams for a club comp.

 

[Empire]

Would love to see a Rugby World Club Cup or something similar - Leicester V Crusaders, Toulon V Waratahs etc etc.

Maybe a bit off topic, but that was what jumped into my head when reading this.

Agree with Moses - not ruling out does not constitute actually considering it properly.

 

[Moses]

http://www.worldcupweb.com/rugby/news/viewarticle.asp?id=29233

The Sharks have been approached by the Crusaders about playing their match on March the 25th at Twickenham in London.

The Crusaders cannot play their scheduled matches at AMI Stadium as it was damaged by the earthquake that hit Christchurch last month.

Their second round match against the Hurricanes was cancelled and the Crusaders played the Waratahs last week in Nelson where they will also host the Brumbies this weekend.

The Crusaders next home match is on the 25th of March as they play the Highlanders in Dunedin next week.

Sharks CEO Brian van Zyl says that he has been approached by his Crusaders counterpart about playing the game in London.

"It is under discussion but we will only make a decision on whether to accept after our game against the Rebels in Melbourne on Friday," Van Zyl told the Witness.

"While we understand their difficulties, we must make a rugby decision that is best for the Sharks’ campaign."

"It must be a decision in the best interests of the team and our stakeholders."

The Crusaders are looking at the match as a money spinner as they cannot afford to keep playing matches in stadiums with a capacity which is about half of what they normally get.

The problem with moving the match is that the Sharks would have to agree to it as they would have to fly for 24 hours from New Zealand to London for the match and then after the match fly for 11 hours to Johannesburg and then on to Cape Town to play the Stormers the next weekend.

However rugby players in the modern day especially Super rugby players are accustomed to long haul flights between matches.

An advantage for the Sharks is that London is on a similar time zone to South Africa so the Sharks would not suffer too much with jet lag.

The 82,000 seater Twickenham stadium would not doubt be filled with ex-pat New Zealanders, South Africans and even Australians and the Sharks could expect a cut from the game for the inconvenience of flying.

The travel schedule favours the Crusaders as they have a by after the Sharks match which gives them more time to recover from the travel and jetlag.

The Sharks would have the advantage of playing the Chiefs on a Friday while the Crusaders play on the Saturday which gives the Sharks an extra day recovery before the match.

Crusaders CEO Hamish Riach said: "We can't get through our year on 10 500 people every week (in the smaller stadiums in outer Canterbury) so we want to do something big and dramatic."

The match is scheduled to kick off at 0635 GMT on Friday the 25th of March which is hardly suitable for playing a match in London but as there is no match Super Rugby scheduled for the Friday night the kick off could be delayed 12 hours.

London is becoming a popular city for exhibition matches with sports like American Football (NFL) taking the sport to London and now hold a match in London annually and it has proved to be such a huge success.

The NFL matches in London have grown the market outside it's traditional borders of the USA and a Super Rugby match in London could have the effect for Super Rugby.

 

[MrTimms]

Seriously, put the game at the SFS, or Suncorp against an Aussie team and it will sell out, far less inconvenience than fly to frikken london and achieves the same result. I mean, if they are smart they could even stay in NZ and alternate between Carisbrook, Westpac, Eden Park depending on the home/away of the base unions. A bit over the top suggesting all that travel.

 

[Moses]

absolutely no need to go to London, though I'm sure Gagger and may other expats would be happy for some running rugby at Twickers.
Had they got onto it a bit earlier they could have stuck this weekend's Brumbies match at Homebush, and throw in some kiwi band like Russel Crowe as a double show.

 

[REDinCPT]

why not? they can do it all... play a game at twickers and then share some other games around nz and oz. the game at twickers would be an excellent fundraiser and widen the scope of their cause. this is about money and i doubt they would make as much from the game in nz or oz as they would be able to at twickers.

(...and maybe this will pave the way for a euro super rugby conference?!?!)

 

[nathan]

why not? they can do it all... play a game at twickers and then share some other games around nz and oz. the game at twickers would be an excellent fundraiser and widen the scope of their cause. this is about money and i doubt they would make as much from the game in nz or oz as they would be able to at twickers.

(...and maybe this will pave the way for a euro super rugby conference?!?!)

I'm not exactly sure about this. While there's a big expat community over here....the Shorks won't confirm whether they'll do it until after the Rebels game. That gives them all of 2 weeks marketing? I'd be surprised to see how many turn out TBH.

 

[Newb]

i'd put a few down that this was cooked up by evil mastermind JO'N. get the saders on a tour of the world and have the saffers follow them around.

screws over both conferences while "spreading the game". >

 

[Bullrush]

Won't happen...at least not for the Sharks game anyway:

RFU rules out Twickenham match
3/10/2011 6:56 AM Photosport

The proposed Crusaders match in London has had cold water poured on it after the RFU said it wouldn't be logistically possible.


The English Rugby Union has ruled out the use of Twickenham for this month's Crusaders Sharks Super Rugby match.

The Crusaders approached RFU officials about staging their home match in London to raise revenue lost due to the earthquake.

But RFU spokesman Peter Thomas says after consulting their stakeholders, organising the match at the home of English rugby isn't possible.

He says they've let the Crusaders know they aren't going to be able to help because

London Harlequins play an English Premiership match on the same day with their home ground the 'Stoop' just down the road from Twickenham.

Thomas says there are too many operational issues to overcome.

 

[Blue]

It's on for the 27th.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ru...rs-and-Sharks-due-to-Christchurch-damage.html

 

[Hawko]

It's on for the 27th.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ru...rs-and-Sharks-due-to-Christchurch-damage.html

Very clever move. Both teams have a long travel to London so that's equal. Crusaders then have the bye so they can recover from the trip. Sharks don't have to jump time zones on the trip home so they will be acclimatised ready for the game against the Stormers (very important game for the SA conference). Win-win all round.

 

[Nusadan]

"The match will kick off at 4pm and form the centrepiece of a major weekend of Red Cross fundraising for the earthquake appeal which will aim to raise more than £1m. Tickets will go on sale on Tuesday afternoon, from Ticketmaster, and £5 from each ticket sold will go to the charity."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/mar/14/rfu-twickenham-crusaders-sharks-super-15