Super Rugby Pacific round one highs and lows - the Tight Five with Elliott Smith

The Broncos' Reece Walsh is airborne as he scores a try during the NRL match between the Sydney Roosters and the Brisbane Broncos at Allegiant Stadium. Photo / AP Photos

OPINION

Elliott Smith dissects the intricacies of recent rugby events, from the Hurricanes’ entertaining triumph to Melbourne’s controversial Super Round. Delving into the disparities between Melbourne’s rugby spectacle and the NRL’s Las Vegas kickoff, Smith questions the motives behind these ventures.

A question...

What’s the difference between the Super Round in Melbourne and the NRL’s Las Vegas season start? About 30,000 fans through the turnstiles to be fair, but not a lot otherwise. Most of the fans in Vegas seemed to be Australian (Super Round looked like existing rugby fans), the US TV audiences were poor and like the Super Round, locals didn’t really seem to get behind it. The biggest winner might be Las Vegas tourism with Australians going over next year - rather than the sport itself.

Whether either event converted any new fans on the ground is questionable and it’s hard to figure out what the aim was other than hubris - the American sports market is heavily saturated, as is Melbourne. The actual difference is Peter V’Landys - a man who is loved or loathed - is a sledgehammer who is a big thinker and doesn’t seem to care who gets in his way. Think back to 2020, when he basically set a date during lockdown and decided that was the day they’d resume. If you listen to him being interviewed before and after the round, V’Landys seemed to think the NRL touching down in Vegas was a historic achievement akin to the moon landing. In reality, it failed to launch.

An explanation...

V’Landys has his faults, but once he gets set on an idea, it tends to happen. Super Rugby Pacific desperately needs someone in its corner like that. The new Super Rugby chief executive, whenever they are appointed, needs a similar swagger to sell the benefits of a competition that is used to being talked down to. Let’s hope that’s the last Super Round for a while - the competition needs to reconnect with fans, so either have it in a rugby market or not at all.

A suggestion

The removal of Grassroots Rugby and Mainfreight Rugby off Sky is a loss - they’ve made themselves part of the fabric of New Zealand sports broadcasting over the past 25 years - and are a valuable window into the grassroots. NZR+ would do well to pick up shows like this as it tries to find a foothold in the local marketplace. The show told stories of the sport otherwise overlooked. I’ll admit - and maybe I was part of the “problem” for Sky - that I’d not purposefully sit down to watch it, but would often come across while flicking channels.

An observation...

Thrilling finish? Yes. Fan-centric? Probably. Necessary? Not convinced. Golden point extra time - as seen in the Hurricanes v Reds Super Round game - is something I can’t get on board with still, despite the entertaining walk-off try. A draw and two competition points each would have been a fair reflection of a contest in which both teams scored five tries each and four conversions. I get why they have it. It’s all about entertainment and I don’t expect anyone to agree but there’s beauty in a draw. The saving grace is - given the odds-and-evens points on offer in rugby union - we don’t see golden point as often as in the NRL.

A prediction...

At this stage of the season, everything is a warning or a statement. And it gets a little tiresome. But the Chiefs’ systematic dismantling of the Brumbies last night was both. Easily the favourites for the title - with the kind of depth it looks like they’ve been planning for years.

Elliott Smith is Newstalk ZB and Gold Sport’s lead rugby commentator and reporter. He’s been a sports journalist since 2010 and has travelled to three Rugby World Cups for NZME, including commentating the Rugby World Cup final in 2023.