What’s with that empty feeling?
Where will the majority of the Super Rugby Pacific fans be this weekend?
Probably at home or the pub, watching the game on a screen as they discuss world affairs. Rugby, quite possibly, will also occupy a section of those conversations for the right and wrong reasons.
The chat, maybe, will also centre on why they haven’t bothered to stroll along to their local stadium.
This topic isn’t fresh. Yet, it seems no-one is close to solving the mystery of how to get more supporters to attend games.
Those bold enough to launch their own informal survey on the issue may discover the officials are the first to cop the blame. Yet the folks with the whistles aren’t the ones who formed a complicated law book that few people, and a number of players, fully understand.
It is any wonder, then, that a number of games have been as pretty as a broken bottle in a gutter?
Several other old chestnuts are likely to be rolled out during an investigation into the low attendances: injury stoppages, scrum resets, TMOs repeatedly hitting the rewind button, high food and beverage prices and loud music are popular targets.
At times, when the grumbles are loudest, it seems no-one is happy. The Super Rugby franchises aren’t daft. They hear all of this, and more. So does NZ Rugby. A lack of ticket sales doesn’t just impact the balance sheet. It’s also a terrible look, when so many seats are empty.
Yet the product isn’t pulling in the crowds.
Do the players have a part to play in this? Yes. Yet, with their wages guaranteed, thanks to the players’ collective, there’s no chance of getting whacked in the pocket for producing shoddy entertainment.
We all know this: the consumer has every right to decide how they will spend their discretionary dollars. How many will be traded for a seat at the rugby this weekend?
1. Perhaps help will come from the Aussies
Fair play to them. When the Waratahs and Brumbies upset the Crusaders and Hurricanes last weekend, they defied predictions that the Kiwis would enter their back gardens and tickle their bellies before booting them out the back door.
Unconvinced it wasn’t just a glitch? That’s understandable. It’s up to the Ockers to prove a point, again.
The Highlanders-Reds clash, and the ChiefsBrumbies game, shape as the most intriguing fixtures of the round.
2. One more week until Brodie Retallick returns from a broken thumb
The All Blacks lock’s most recent appearance coincided with the Chiefs losing 34-19 to the Crusaders on March 26.
Slated to return next weekend, when the Chiefs
meet the Rebels in Melbourne, Retallick’s vast knowledge will be welcomed by coach Clayton McMillan as they eye their run towards the playoffs.
As will the arrival of captain Sam Cane, back from paternity leave, in Hamilton on Saturday night. His calm demeanour, especially when Reds halfback Tate McDermott kept babbling in the ref’s ear, was missed in Brisbane last weekend.
3. Coles and Franks: the old firm reunites
When Owen Franks left New Zealand for England in late 2019, the prospect of him linking up with Dane Coles at the Hurricanes appeared as likely as a collection of dairy farmers rushing to the local hall to receive a lecture by the Green Party.
Yet, look at this. Front rowers Franks and Coles, who last played together when the All Blacks lost to the Wallabies in Perth in 2019, have been named in the Hurricanes’ reserves for the game against the Fijian Drua on Sunday.
Coles, will make his first start of the year after recovering from a hamstring injury, and Franks has finally mended a torn Achilles tendon. Coles loves to yap on the park. Ex-Crusader Franks is the opposite.
Between them, they have played 188 tests. Both are more than honest tradesmen. They’re everything the game needs. They might even get bums on seats. Welcome back.