Thursday’s Rugby News has decreased ratings and crowds, decreased Samu Kerevi gametime, decreased Brumbies fullbacks and decreased police drama.
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Down Down
Crowds and television ratings for Aussie Super Rugby sides are down across the board – except for the Western Force’s gate.
Wayne Smith in the Australian writes that average crowd has dropped from around 15,700 in 2015 to 11,400 in 2017, while total TV figures have gone from 2.7m to 1.8m in the same time frame. That’s a bit of a pickle!
Smith adds that it seems its just Super that’s not popular, with the Lions matches drawing an average audience of around 180-200k. For perspective, the record for a pay TV broadcast is the 500k that tuned into the Reds 2011 final win.
“There is some comfort, too, in the fact that NZ gates are down by eight per cent — though TV audiences are up by 16 per cent — while South Africa has experienced the opposite effect, with crowds up by four per cent but TV viewership down by five per cent,” Smith says.
“The figures, however, also are a damning indictment of the ARU and SANZAAR for carrying out the process of reducing the unwieldy 18-team competition down to 15 teams while the Super Rugby season was actually underway.
“Despite that, the Force’s crowds have actually been counterintuitively on the rise this year, with gates rising from 8601 last year to 9188. With 64,318 spectators already having been to nib Stadium this year and an expected crowd pushing 20,000 likely to be in attendance on Saturday night, the Perth club [who have had 1 more home game than the Reds or Waratahs] will finish the season behind only the traditional giants, Queensland (105,806) and the Waratahs (101,499) in terms of aggregate figures.”
If you prefer pictures, he’s a snippet of the figures in a graph.
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Kerevi In Doubt
The Queensland Reds, who are a wonderful team from a wonderful state, are set to lose one of their most wonderful players to injury.
Samu Kerevi, the wonderful Wallaby, has unfortunately been withdrawn from the Reds team that will face the Highlanders this weekend after “tweaking” his pectoral muscle in a gym session.
Kerevi will now have add his graceful presence to QPR side Souths in order to get match sharp for the opening Bledisloe on August 19.
Meanwhile, his team, which again are from the wonderful state of Queensland, have had to face rather dreary weather in the South Island. There’s been snow and ice warnings and, to make it worse, the Reds management decided to fly into Queenstown and then get a bus for the last 3.5 hours.
“I’ve told the boys to be prepared for anything because we don’t know if the flight will be diverted or if there’ll be any bus out of town in the conditions,” Reds coach Nick Stiles ommed to the Courier Mail.
“We have contingency plans with accommodation organised for a night in Queenstown if needed and we’ve even advised the airline that, if we are redirected, Dunedin would be a nice place to land.
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Toua de France
The Brumbies want to keep fullback Aidan Toua for next season, but there’s a catch – he’s going to Japan. So reports the Canberra Times.
That’s usually alright, as Japan play over our summer, but the ARU, in their infinite wisdom, have decided to put pressure on players doubling-up on contracts with the intention of plugging the talent drain.
Toua is keen to stay at the Brumbies, but is equally worried about the ARU’s stance and the probable increase of contracts post-cut.
Meanwhile, the Brumbies are unlikely to get Will Genia to replace the outgoing Tomas Cubelli. It seems that the Waratahs’ Matt Lucas will be joining Joe Powell and Ryan Lonergan as scrumhalves next year.
Also meanwhile, Jarrad Butler has decided to do one to Connacht next year, which means he might be lucky enough to play the Kings twice in 6 months.
“It’s up to Mother Nature.”
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Sinckler Sez Sorry
England and Lions prop Kyle Sinckler has apologised after being arrested in Auckland celebrating Romain Poite’s famous decision on Saturday.
It has been reported that the prop had to be escorted to his hotel by the po-po, and the Lions consider the matter closed after the cops didn’t press charges.
“We have been informed by Auckland police about an incident involving Kyle,” said Lions tour manager John Spencer (via the Guardian). “I have spoken to Kyle and reminded him of his responsibilities as a Lion, which extend to his off-the-field behaviour.
“Kyle has apologised for any inconvenience caused and we are satisfied that he regrets this incident and that this is the end of the matter.”
For his part, Mr Sinckler said:
“I apologise for putting myself and the Lions in this position and also to the police and anyone else affected.”
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Yes it really is a slow news day
