Empty seats at Super Rugby Pacific matches is one of the many issues occupying the thoughts of New Zealand Rugby’s new chief executive Steve Lancaster.
Lancaster, confirmed as Mark Robinson’s permanent replacement after serving the last six months as “interim" boss, said on TVNZ’s Breakfast this morning that virtually every other metric applied to Super Rugby was positive but that “you can’t help but see those empty seats in stadiums at times and that’s something that we do need to work on”.
Lancaster raised the issue when asked about the state of Super Rugby and he touched on it last night on Sky’s Breakdown when he said: “We have a lot of belief in the product of Super Rugby.
“All the metrics tells us that – the number of tries scored, winning margins, the number of minutes lost to match officials’ intervention… whether those are tracking up or down - they’re all tracking in the right direction.
“Those markers are really good but we don’t shy away from is we don’t see the crowds we’d like to see in the stadiums. We have great viewership… we have incredible online engagement, and Super Rugby is the most followed domestic rugby competition in the world on social media.
“But we acknowledge we need to do more to get crowds in the stadia. This constant talk about empty seats is a problem and it’s something we need to work on.”
Lancaster and his colleagues at NZ Rugby can promote the game, make it more attractive by tweaking the laws, and liaise with broadcaster Sky on schedules and kick-off times but otherwise its hands are largely tied in terms of attracting crowds.
They can't do much to alter the stadium experience itself and, for whatever reason, crowds are not responding to Eden Park, Waikato Stadium, or Wellington’s Cake Tin. Crowds at Dunedin’s indoor stadium are largely dependent on Otago University’s semester schedule.
Christchurch’s new Te Kaha One NZ Stadium was sold out for the weekend’s derby between the Crusaders and Blues and also at capacity for the entire Super Round during Anzac weekend and it will be intriguing to see whether the central city arena maintains its popularity.
The novelty factor is obviously in its favour, but so is its location. By virtually every measure, it is the best stadium in the country for convenience and game-day experience.
Lancaster hailed the success of the recent Super Round – the first time it has been held anywhere other than Melbourne – and said it would not be under threat from a potential future Anzac Day Test between the All Blacks and Wallabies as it could be held at any time during the season.
Australian media are reporting the Anzac Day Test, which would almost certainly be held across the Tasman, as a fait accompli, but Lancaster took a more cautious approach to a fixture in a World Cup year which requires some extensive organising.
“I think it could be a real boon for the game to have a ‘tent pole’ game at that time of year and particularly in the Australian market if we play it in Australia,” Lancaster said on the Breakdown.
“We haven’t made any decisions on that. We’ve been open that we’re considering it. Rugby Australia are really keen on it and we think it’s a good idea but there’s a whole lot of stuff that we have to work through.”
Moana Pasifika
Lancaster was asked on the Breakdown about Moana Pasifika’s looming demise at the end of the season. He said NZ Rugby could not help financially, “but we have a very open mind to parties that we are currently engaging with who are looking to find a way to keep that club operating beyond this year".
“Over the next month,i we expect to have a lot more clarity and we need to have that clarity before too long for next year’s competition."
Eligibility rules
Lancaster also confirmed the returning Richie Mo’unga would not initially be eligible for selection for the All Blacks’ tour of South Africa in August and September.
“He won’t be available to be selected in the initial squad when it is announced and the reason for that is because he will not have played any rugby in New Zealand at that point in time," he said.
“One of the strands of the All Blacks’ eligibility policy is that a player has played in the immediately preceding domestic competition. At the time when that squad is selected, he will not have.”
Mo’unga, New Zealand’s top-ranked No.10 when he left at the end of 2023, will play in the NPC for Canterbury once he returns from Japanese club Toshiba and could potentially travel to South Africa as an injury replacement. the in-form Leicester Fainga'anuku, selected last year for the All Blacks from Tasman after returning from France, set a recent precedent.
State of the game
Lancaster said on Breakfast the game in New Zealand remained healthy, but “attracting young people into the game and keeping them in the game is a challenge and that’s not just a challenge for rugby it’s a challenge for sport in general".
“People have a lot of options for their time now.
“We know that there are some perceptions around the risk of rugby and that’s something we really want to dispel; junior rugby, in particular, is safe. Statistically speaking, kids are no more likely to get injured playing rugby than they are going to school.”
On the Breakdown, he said: “We have approximately 80,000 junior participants in the game playing at under-13 [level] and below. At this point in time, we are 9000 junior registrations up on the same point last year.”
However, the rise of the popularity of girls’ rugby may be masking that the game is becoming less popular for boys. Lancaster did not break down the figures for boys’ and girls’ registrations.
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