From one of the most poorly executed concepts to New Zealand’s best rugby weekend since the Wellington sevens in its pomp, the Super Round has refreshed as a must-attend event on the sporting calendar.
With all the hype surrounding Christchurch’s first Super Round you could be forgiven for thinking it was a new concept when, in fact, it was staged in Melbourne from 2022-2024.
Attempting to emulate the NRL’s highly successful Magic Round in Brisbane was never going to work in Melbourne – a city that no longer has a professional rugby team, such were the difficulties sustaining the Rebels in the AFL dominated sporting landscape.
Before last weekend, the Super Round was a total flop, largely because staging the event in Melbourne was only ever about cashing in on financial desires and nothing to do with attracting or catering to fans.
Super Rugby Pacific powerbrokers have long preached fan engagement. And thanks to the new impressive One New Zealand Stadium, a venue to recapture supporters has landed on rugby’s doorstep.
Relaunching a weekend in which 10 teams played five games at One New Zealand Stadium was a world away from the Melbourne experiment – and precisely the shot in the arm, the ideal distraction, Super Rugby Pacific desperately needed.
A competition that remains in a state of flux, as the clock ticks down on Moana Pasifika’s future leaving uncertainty over next year’s schedule, suddenly has a flagship weekend pinpointed on the sporting map.
Long may that continue.
From the Crusaders christening their new home with a haka – and former players Pete Samu and Ioane Moananu returning serve from their opposing New South Wales Waratahs side – this version of the Super Round was a hit from the outset.
Emotion was widely evident on opening night as Christchurch welcomed its pristine venue – 15 years in the making – that will change the face of the city for many years to come.
Scribe’s halftime act had the crowd chanting along to the lyrics celebrating the Canterbury region and the Crusaders eventually kicked clear to ensure locals celebrated their intended script.
Mark Dallas McLeod down as a future bottle-cap quiz answer after he claimed the stadium’s opening try and Leicester Fainga’anuku’s maiden start at openside flanker will forever be linked to this night, too.
Vibrancy, colour, passion, pride; young, old, male and female fans decked out in their team’s merchandise and sauce-stained shirts elsewhere flowed throughout the three sold out days as 73,187 punters – 13,500 of those travelling from outside the region, almost half said to be from Australia – flocking to soak in the occasion.
The stadium itself is a superb venue – the best New Zealand has to offer by the length of the Cook Strait.
It presents a fresh, shiny, purpose-built example of what can be achieved when all parties – from central to local government – embrace a can-do attitude rarely seen when it comes to investing in New Zealand infrastructure.
One New Zealand Stadium sets the bar for modern sporting venues in this country. It is $683 million well spent.
From the array of drink and food offerings, including a steak-and-cheese-pie sandwich, to the all-important roof that bottles the atmosphere, the sound quality and intimate seating that, from some vantage points, feels as though you could reach out and pat the players on the back, it compares favourably to many European rugby venues, such as Dublin’s Aviva Stadium and Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.
Ease of access and convenience to the city, with the heart of town a 10-minute walk and bars dotted along the way, is another big tick.
Expectations for last weekend to inject $6m into the Christchurch economy, as fans filled 34,000 hotel beds and packed restaurants and bars, is the first of many jackpots the city is set to pocket, with Six60 the next major act.
With more than 24,000 hot chip punnets, 16,000 burgers and hot dogs and over 200,000 beverages sold, the stadium will collect a healthy opening-weekend return too.
The lack of a true wraparound concourse, with large corporate areas effectively blocking a tier of the stadium from all fan access on one side, and toilets on the ground floor that create backlogged stairwell queues at intermissions are the only design gripes.
Unlike the NRL’s Magic Round, fans could not come and go as they please, either. If pass-outs are permitted at Suncorp Stadium, why not here?
It is, however, an otherwise magnificent venue that will welcome 10,000 additional fans – boosting capacity to 35,000 – for concerts, as one end of the ground does not feature permanent seating.
While it wasn’t needed last weekend, rather than leaving that area vacant for future, lower-profile fixtures, teams could instead emulate Auckland FC by staging kids or other entertainment offerings at one end of the ground behind the posts.
From a scheduling perspective a true headline fixture was absent from this Super Round, with no Kiwi derbies on the agenda, but on a weekend in which Christchurch toasted a beacon of its rebirth, one of the last pieces in its post-earthquake reconstruction, the Crusaders were always going to be the star attraction.
Such a successful opening occasion will, surely, lock Christchurch in to maintain Super Round hosting rights next year.
Anzac weekend is the perfect window to allow travelling fans, and jaded locals, an extra day’s rest.
After witnessing the packed stands and overwhelmingly positive fan feedback, every sports team in the country will be lining up to take home fixtures to the new southern venue, which also shapes as the obvious location to reinstate a stop on the flagging rugby sevens World Series scene to New Zealand.
Beyond next year, though, the question of novelty will raise its head.
Interest in New Zealand sporting markets tends to fade fast – just ask the Wellington Sevens or any number of previously popular music festivals that no longer exist.
Christchurch’s new stadium won’t be new forever. Perhaps the appeal of the Super Round in one market will dwindle over time.
Auckland, as New Zealand’s largest market, and Dunedin with its roofed Forsyth Barr Stadium, are alternative locations that could attempt to lure the Super Round in future.
Some form of rotation could help maintain the revived concept.
Or maybe it will break the New Zealand mould and follow the NRL’s Magic Round, which has always been (and possibly always will be) staged in Brisbane.
Suncorp is a brilliant venue; the relaxed come-and-go stadium policy works for everyone. There’s easy access to Brisbane Asirport and Caxton Street’s convenience and bustling bars are the cherry on top of another superb sporting weekend.
Christchurch and its One New Zealand Stadium ticks many of those same boxes.
Anyone attempting to wrestle it away from the Super Round’s long-term destination must present a seriously compelling package.
Liam Napier is a Senior Sports Journalist and Rugby Correspondent for the New Zealand Herald. He is a co-host of the Rugby Direct podcast.