Oz rugby fans prefer NZ derby

Kiwi Super Rugby teams out-rate every Australian side on Aussie TV

DIANNE MANSON/GETTY-IMAGES

Crusaders star Scott Barrett is checked by Elliot Dixon of the Highlanders during the Dunedin Super Rugby match that proved a TV ratings winner in Australia.

Australian rugby's public relations crisis continues with a New Zealand Super Rugby game out-rating every Aussie match on TV across the Tasman.

The shock viewing numbers will add heat to the debate over whether Australia should cut one of its five Super Rugby teams in a revamped championship.

A Sanzaar meeting this week will discuss the future of the competition amidst growing calls to reduce the 18-team format and the confusing conference system.

The Aussies are doing themselves no favours and a higher interest in a Kiwi derby is an embarrassing statistic for their administrators to digest at such a vulnerable time.

The pulsating Crusaders v Highlanders match in Dunedin on Saturday night did better on Australian TV than their own games.

That included the Brumbies v Sharks game in Canberra, which was shown in prime time by Fox on Australia's east coast, and the Western Force v Queensland derby on Thursday night.

The late night clash between the Lions and Waratahs averaged just 14,000 viewers as it battled the difficult time difference from Johannesburg.

The Australian teams have done little to help their cause as the tournament reaches another crossroads.

Each Australian team has lost at least one of its first two games, Melbourne have leaked 56 and 71 points in heavy losses to New Zealand sides, and local franchises have won one of six matches against overseas opposition.

A deeper look shows the once-dominant Brumbies are winless after two games for the first time since 1999, and the Waratahs' 55-36 loss to the Lions was the first time they've conceded 50 points since being thrashed 96-19 by the Crusaders in 2002.

Australian rugby is battling the popularity stakes and won't be helped by the NRL getting underway last weekend.

It is struggling against league, Aussie Rules and football for the sporting audience, both live and on TV.

 - Stuff

 they should cut out at least one aussie team and 2 saffas

Australian rugby union is becoming extinct,... ARU must do something or it will go extinct very soon,... they don't have flyhalves, 2 kiwis are playing at Brumbies and Rebels,... but it's a very dificult task having to face there the NRL and AFL,.... which is quite astonishing,... Rugby league is boring as hell, there's barely contest for the ball,... and AFL seems a joke of a sport,... none have international competition,...

 Perhaps you should focus on your Sevens team.

 No Moz we need to focus on the 15 a side game seeing as how thats the number of players in super rugby. ,but seeing the Kings play it looks like they only have a 7s team .Cut the Kings and the Western Farce and run a Pacifika team out of Auckland .

Super 12 was the best rugby tournament around. But the expansion involves lots of contracts, which can't easily be set aside.

 Rugby league is boring as hell,
Glad I'm not the only one who thinks so...

 Trouble is rugby is so much more like League than it use to be....watch a 1970s game to see rugby played with space.

 RL has gotten so predictable that its just so fecking dulllll .Yeah super12s was much tougher and tighter ,even super15s be OK with a Pacific/Japanese team and the Pumas /Jaguars .Kings and Western Force need the chop.

 Mozart continues to commit grammatical errors in order to bait his foes.
Don't we have the Ozzies to thank for the league like defensive lines and the re-cycling of the ball through league like phases?

Michelson is still competitive Cloudy, but you guys have to lose Forbes....congrats on the relative

Just looked her up on google....elegant girl and she must be fast playing on the wing. Nice genes Cloudy!

Super 14 is the answer. 4 teams each from SA, NZ and Aus + the Japs and Jaguares. That would be awesome!SA could lose the kings and Cheetahs and go back to the Cats. 

 Nah 15s mate ,even our weakest can thrash other teams on a good day and all our teams have won at least one series .Or 3 Aussie teams  maybe ?

 Portia's not too shabby at all.

Agreed DB, such an open friendly face, I won't comment on her other physical attributes for fear of retribution. And an excellent rugby player by the way.

 Hey Cloudy is that your wee niece then ? Pretty groovy player eh wot and maybe the Olympic loss is why they are kickin' the shizz outta the Aussie girls eh ?

 Of course Cloudy ,like our wee Nga Puhi cuzzy Mark Williams hahaha!

Cloudy, there wus a Woodman playing for the ABs on the infamous '81 Tour ..... am I right or am I right ?

blobbok, there were no "ABs" in 1981. They were Cavaliers.

Edit: Correction, my mistake. I was referring to 1987, not 1981.

That 1981 Springbok team had arguably our best backline of all time:

Divan Serfontein, Naas Botha, Gerrie Germishuys, Willie du Plessis, Danie Gerber, Ray Mordt, Gysie Pienaar.

A great team that was robbed of a famous series victory by referee Clive Norling!

 Klop Rooinek . Norling, the #$%^&-wit with tiny shorts & theatrical gestures .

Cloudy, didn't he have a Bernie Fraser style moustache?

 The issue is really that people do not like to watch losers and that being the case I am not surprised by the newspaper report.
I tend to thing their should be two tournaments like in Europe.  The top one could have 15 teams and the second one maybe 8 teams.
I would say the sides for the top league should be as follows:
NZ                         -   5 SidesAustralia/Argentina -   5 sidesSA                         -   5 sides
Second level should include Japan, 2 NZ teams, 2 SA Teams and three Pacific Island teams.  
If you reduce the number to 12 teams - the three teams left out should be included in the second level tournament.   

Cloudy, I did correct my earlier error. For some reason I thought we were discussing the Cavaliers tour rather than the 1981 "flour-bomb" series.

Fred Woodman did indeed play right wing in the 1st and 2nd tests of that 1981 series. Can't say I remember him at all and Googling his picture didn't help either.

Cloudy tell Fred howzit from Ruckers Forum .

 Cool beans cloudy ! I was not a happy camper at the time having gone home just for the tour but in truth the protesters were quite right .My cousins and I didnt care about politics but maybe we should have.

 Ja W'dad, & in '82 the ABs visited Romania 'propping up' the despicable & abhorrent Ceasceu* regime .

* I probably f'up the spelling but he was a despicable basterd.

 Well Cloudy me mate, if he was dropped for the 3rd Test then he wasn't the sad winger marking Ray Mordt who scored a hat-trick at Eden Park .

I also thought about that blob, but even if he was, he was the right winger so would have been up against Gerrie Germishuy rather than Ray Mordt.

Well he was probably dropped after Gerrie scored the match-wining try in the 2nd Test .

Uncle Fred only played because Bruce Robertson was crocked and he lost his place when Robertson was fit again for the 3rd test. Don't think it had anything to do with form or performance.

 After the empty seats stunner, been looking into figures.

AUS is a major point of interest. They operate less in over capacity than SA, have performing better in Super Rugby than SA and could probably afford keeping 15 rugby (contrary to SA)

Yet they do not have access to smoke and mirror tales like the quota policy and a declining currency. They must take full in their face matters of facts. They have no place to hide, no place to flee.

As a result, they tend to be more direct on the condition of their rugby, even going up to suggest ending it.

Even though, once again, contrary to SA, AUS could probably afford keeping their rugby.

I tend to thing their should be two tournaments like in Europe.  

Expansionist scheme. Rugby, on a world scale, is contracting.
European nations have shrunk their league and show a strong tendency to concentrate talent from all over the world.

Beside, it is unpracticable. European leagues are easy to support due to the density of the places (even though big clubs look for ties with big cities)
Organizing a secondary tournament may be done on buses and gas.

Organizing a game between two australian teams can be a pain no european club will ever know.

Nations in the south are based on massive land grabbing. There are downsides to that.