Australian Super Rugby teams compound Fox Sports mess
Off the back of the broken down talks with Fox Sports for a new broadcast deal, the first two weeks of the Super Rugby season have been an unmitigated disaster, compounded by the Waratahs’ loss in Newcastle.
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Australian rugby supporters have always been a resilient lot, suffering in silence while clinging to the hope the glory days will return.
For the first time in a long time, there’s finally a glimmer of hope that things could turn around after the emergence of a new crop of talented youngsters.
But here’s the rub.
If they are as good as everyone hopes, and that's still a big if, it could take years until they turn that potential into Wallaby wins and the wait could be excruciating.
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Off the back of the broken-down talks with Fox Sports for a new broadcast deal, the first two weeks of the Super Rugby season have been an unmitigated disaster for even the most optimistic Australian rugby fan.
Three of the four Australian teams — the Waratahs, Reds and Rebels — have lost both their opening matches, conceding a combined total of more than 200 points.
The lone exception are the Brumbies, who are 2-0, but both their wins have been at the expense of the other struggling Aussie sides.
The crowds have been abysmal. Fewer than 7500 people turned up to see the Waratahs play the Blues in Newcastle, a day after it was announced the city had been chosen to host the Wallabies in a round of the Rugby Championship this year.
The weather was atrocious but it’s not the first time footy has been played in the rain and the second most depressing aspect of the low turnout was that it was the Waratahs’ lowest home crowd since Super Rugby began 25 years ago.
The most depressing is that the crowd at Newcastle was the best attendance at a Super Rugby match in Australia so far. Sad, but true.
Even though they won the Australian conference last year and are unbeaten in two home derbies this season, the Brumbies have attracted even lower numbers in the nation’s capital.
So much for the theory that winning is the safest way to get people through the gate.
Now, more than ever with Rugby Australia still to secure a broadcast partner for 2021-25, the game needs as many bums on seats and eyeballs watching as possible for the code’s embattled CEO Raelene Castle to get a deal that will appease her growing number of critics.
After the dumping of the Western Force, the Israel Folau saga and early exit of the Wallabies from last year’s World Cup, the hope is things can only go up from here.
The worry is that they might get worse before they start getting better and no-one will be left watching when the young guns are ready to fire.