YOUR GUIDE TO NEW ZEALAND’S SUPER RUGBY REBOOT
Tailored competition ensures all eyes will be trained on New Zealand
IT’S felt like a long three months for New Zealand’s best players. Like the rest of the sporting world, Super Rugby ground to a halt in mid-March when the global effects of Covid-19 began to take effect.
The cross-border tournament, which features 15 teams sourced from New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Argentina and Japan, was suspended after seven rounds.
Jason Holland’s Hurricanes had just defeated Warren Gatland’s Chiefs in a thrilling contest in Hamilton. The following day, the resurgent Blues pulverised the Lions 43-10 in Eden Park while the Crusaders stuck 49 points on the Sunwolves in Tokyo.
Six months on from that World Cup semi-final loss at the hands of England, the demons of Yokohama were being purged. Then it all stopped and quarantine life became the new norm.
Now, New Zealand’s best and brightest are ready to emerge again with Super Rugby Aotearoa kicking off next Saturday morning. The 10-week, bespoke domestic competition will feature all five professional franchises (Auckland Blues, Waikato Chiefs, Wellington Hurricanes, Otago Highlanders and Canterbury Crusaders) facing each other, home and away.
It will be the first professional rugby competition in the world to return to action in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Rugby fans across the globe will be tuning in to get their rugby fix next weekend.
Sky Sports will air all the games which will kick off at 6.05am on Saturdays and 4.05am on Sunday. Crucially, repeats of all matches will be aired at 10am later in the day for fans wishing to avail of a lie-in across the weekend.
This triumphant return has been accelerated by New Zealand’s rather stunning containment of the coronavirus.
Under the guidance of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, the MVP of world leaders during the health crisis, New Zealand has fewer than 1,500 confirmed cases of Covid-19 across its two islands, less than 30 people have died from the virus and there has not been a new case for more than two weeks. New Zealand is set to be named the first country among the OECD group of wealthy nations to declare that they have eliminated the virus next week. Quite the achievement. Tomorrow, Ardern is expected to announce whether the country will move to Level 1 of easing restrictions that week and there is even hope that crowds may return to the stands for the eagerly-anticipated tournament, a notion that is not even being entertained in this part of the world. In contrast the Irish government has pencilled in July 20 for the fourth and final phase of our road map to recovery
The Highlanders, who are coached by Aaron Mauger and Tony Brown will welcome Gatland’s Chiefs to the Forsyth Barr Stadium, or the ‘Lunchbox’ as the locals calls it due to its plastic roof, next Saturday morning and there is growing confidence that the people of Dunedin – well, at least some of them – will be allowed through the turnstiles.
Speaking to the media earlier this week, Highlanders chief executive Roger Clark sounded positive about the potential development.
‘We could be the first live sporting event in the world so you’ve got to be excited about that. Of course, we have to wait until Monday and see what the prime minister says, but if we get the go-ahead, then that would be great,’ he said.
‘This could be a history-making, world-first event, the first of its kind since the pandemic.
‘It’s bloody exciting for Dunedin, the stadium and for the Highlanders. We are getting ready for the tickets to go on sale at 4.30pm on Monday and have been in touch with all our sponsors and members who are pretty excited about it.’
It is exciting, indeed. Some big hitters have left New Zealand since the World Cup, but we’re talking about rugby country here.
Kieran Read has retired, Sonny Bill Williams has eloped to Canada to play rugby league and Brodie Retallick has taken a two-season sabbatical in Japan. Get ready for the next wave of fresh talent to
emerge from the prolific Kiwi system. Like Hydra in Greek mythology, you cut off one head and two grow back in its place. In the coming months, you will be hearing plenty about the likes of Caleb Clarke, Josh Ioane, Jackson Garden-Bachop and Pita Gus Sowakula.
Speaking of the old guard, there has been much excitement in Auckland this week with confirmation that Dan Carter (inset left) would be togging out for the Blues in the forthcoming tournament.
Arguably the greatest out-half of the professional era, Carter, at the ripe age of 38, has linked up with Leon MacDonald’s squad as injury cover for young playmaker Stephen Perofeta. You do get the feeling he’ll be playing a far more central role, however.
By all accounts, Carter has returned from his stint with the Kobe Steelers in Japan in the shape of his life and is ready to form a deadly ally for newly-arrived Beauden Barrett, who has signed from the Hurricanes.
The last time the pair combined as a 10-15 axis was during the All Blacks’ unstoppable surge to the World Cup title in 2015. Despite being the largest district in New Zealand with a rich history in churning out All Blacks, the long-suffering Auckland fanbase have had little to celebrate in recent times. You have to go all the way back to Graham Henry’s class of 2003 for their last Super Rugby triumph.
They’ve been waiting just as long
‘GET READY FOR THE NEXT WAVE OF ALL BLACK TALENT’
for a top-class No10 to fill the boots of the mercurial Carlos Spencer. The public transport in Auckland is a regular target for criticism in the city. Like Auckland buses, the locals have been waiting for a world-class out-half for a long time and now two have turned up at once.
That is just many of the fascinating subplots littered throughout Super Rugby Aotearoa. There is also the small matter of a host of law adjustments designed to speed up the game. The Kiwis are born to run at the best of times and the emphasis on quick ruck ball and penalising over-zealous defences that teeter on the offside line should ensure some high-octane action in the coming weeks and months.
And there’s plenty of Irish interest as well.
Jason Holland, the former Munster centre and assistant coach, is now running the show at the Hurricanes while Scott Robertson’s Crusaders – where Ronan O’Gara enjoyed a memorable coaching stint – have former Blackrock College alumnus Oliver Jager locking things down at tighthead and former Connacht player Conan O’Donnell is currently training with the squad in Christchurch, having lined out for the Highlanders last season.
It should be fast, furious and exciting. The world will be watching with Super Rugby Aotearoa providing a potential template for other competitions to resume in the coming months.
For fans, players and coaches alike, June 13 cannot come soon enough.