Where is NH rugby Going?

 ...not so clever mike NH rugby or at least a NH team is supposedly to become part of the Super rugby comp as part of their expansion plan for the future...the options are to expand into Europe, North America , Asia or the Pacific...Although further incursions into Asia and the untapped North American market would be more natural next steps, Zimbabwe-born Marinos said in a conference call on Wednesday that even Europe would be considered.

While the number of players being lured away from the south by the riches of northern hemisphere clubs indicates the financial strength of countries such as France and England, Sanzar could yet find fertile ground for expansion on the Celtic fringes of European rugby.

"I think you've got to have a pretty open piece of paper," said Marinos.

"Besides the rugby strength that you've got to look at it's also got to be in good markets from a commercial point of view because, at the end of the day, you've got to generate sufficient revenue to sustain the competition so you've got to look across the board.

"You've got to look at all the markets where there are opportunities."

Along with the commercial returns that will come from expansion comes a duty to raise the level of the game in the areas concerned, Marinos said, making a further increase in the number of Super Rugby teams over the next two years unlikely.

One part of the world closer to Sanzar's traditional base are the Pacific Island nations of Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, which offer miniscule commercial opportunities but a huge quantity of quality rugby players.

"The Pacific Islands are very much in our thinking," Marinos said. "The over-arching consideration on any future expansion in my view is that we have to proper geographic locations that are also commercially attractive.

"The participation and inclusion of Pacific Islander players is really important, how we do that the next step and is going to need a fair bit of thought about it."

...not so clever mike it may not be as attractive as soccer but there are strategies being introduced to make certain sports more pervasive for the want of a better word and to enable them to challenge for viewership..

'....such as what is happening in NRL and NBL in Australasia is the trend towards games 5 days a week...

..So in order to compete commercially with other sports will Super Ru gby go the same way and consider Thursday to Monday games??.... which poses all kinds of headaches such as less recovery time for players ,increasing the risk of injury and burnout...not to mention what impact this will have on the quality of rugby produced...gate sales on work days will not be as good either so someone will take a hit or need to be compensated etc..