Northern Hemisphere Rugby

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I honestly think this has the opposite effect. They are less likely to be able to beat NZ/SA in a world cup match if they dont get some practice in beforehand. As seen in the last RWC where they were hilariously crowned pre tournament and didnt even make the final.

Or the semis

 

[Wilson]

I honestly think this has the opposite effect. They are less likely to be able to beat NZ/SA in a world cup match if they dont get some practice in beforehand. As seen in the last RWC where they were hilariously crowned pre tournament and didnt even make the final.

Yeah, leaving a few at home to build some depth is ok, but players need experience playing and touring together, particularly for world cups. The six nations can't prepare teams for that sort of extended time away.

 

[Dctarget]

Tom leading the tackle list for the season, with Reece Hewat going well too. Tom has also carried the ball the most for his team, he's an absolute workhorse.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

For all the doom and gloom about the Premiership recently they've released some numbers. The final returned 1.26m views on ITV which was the highest rating final on the channel. Overall viewership increase 8% on TNT Sports and 3% on ITV (noting that there were only a handful of games actually broadcast on ITV outside of the finals). On top of attendance growth that I've seen stated between 11-14%. And eAdd that to the URC and Top 14 showing strong growth. Crowds booming in Japan. Hell, even MLR has seen increased coverage this season with Fox originally showing 16 games at the beginning of the season. Upping that to 21 after the 1st week and now announcing that they'll be adding another 3 games to their slate just yesterday.

We're clearly the problem child. Even NZ and Fiji (who apparently had an estimated 600k watching the 1/4 game in Fiji) have grown this year.

 

[Adam84]

Premiership's issue is that they can't find a broadcaster willing to pay good $$, this is compounded by the fact they've taken on PE and sold off a share of their revenue in perpetuity.

 

[Sword of Justice]

Premiership's issue is that they can't find a broadcaster willing to pay good $$, this is compounded by the fact they've takes on PE and sold off a share of their revenue in perpetuity.

Whenever this is floated for sporting bodies I just struggle to see where the risk reward balance is favourable enough to warrant private equity.

Sports are tied to so many different social and economic factors and the media space is so competitive that unless you are the EPL or NFL I can’t see that there is the security required. The product is young adults sacrificing their bodies - not conducive to private ownership structures that have fixed revenue % shares.

PE much better suits some ambitious salesperson who has had a half decent idea and won’t really care if it all falls over rather than an organisation that is supposed to reflect the fans.

Liz Ellis was trying to sell netball for god’s sake.

 

[Wallaby Man]

For all the doom and gloom about the Premiership recently they've released some numbers. The final returned 1.26m views on ITV which was the highest rating final on the channel. Overall viewership increase 8% on TNT Sports and 3% on ITV (noting that there were only a handful of games actually broadcast on ITV outside of the finals). On top of attendance growth that I've seen stated between 11-14%. And eAdd that to the URC and Top 14 showing strong growth. Crowds booming in Japan. Hell, even MLR has seen increased coverage this season with Fox originally showing 16 games at the beginning of the season. Upping that to 21 after the 1st week and now announcing that they'll be adding another 3 games to their slate just yesterday.

We're clearly the problem child. Even NZ and Fiji (who apparently had an estimated 600k watching the 1/4 game in Fiji) have grown this year.

I question a lot of the data coming out. If things were going as well as they say they wouldn't be struggling to find a broadcaster for a test match in 2 weeks time for their test against Japan. It just makes no sense. Not just Australia but I think things aren’t overly rosy overall and only really France, Ireland and South Africa aren’t in some form of contraction for national popularity and only South America showing actual signs of growth.

I work in data across NZ and Aus and can tell you now, some of the messaging coming across the ditch from our data isn’t as rosy as been published. NRL might actually be marginally more popular now in u35 demographics.

 

[Dctarget]

Premiership UK has had it's best year in a while. No coincidence that they sacrificed three teams as well combined with Saracens not being as dominant.

 

[Dctarget]

I love French rugby, this is what Racing 92's president had to say about Kolisi after an uninspiring debut season:

“The injury layoff was harmful to him. He gained weight, lost shape and yesterday [against Bordeaux] he was transparent. In the back-row, we used to have an ultra-present warrior, a warrior called Wenceslas Lauret. For the moment, Siya is not making us forget Wenceslas. But we think that next year, that will change.”