Super Rugby Aotearoa starts Saturday June 13

2,380 Views | 26 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by corndog04
corndog04
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For those not familiar, Super Rugby is a league comprising several teams from New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa as well as 1 team each from Japan and Argentina. Like pretty much every other sport, the league was suspended due to COVID-19. The 5 teams from New Zealand will be starting up a modified 10-week schedule round-robin competition this weekend. Also, with New Zealand's success containing COVID-19 live crowds are permitted with no restriction. This should be a really fun league to watch and I highly recommend if you are already a rugby fan or new to rugby but hungry for some live sports.

This week's games are at 2:30am and 10:30pm on Saturday, so watching the replays on Saturday or Sunday morning works best unless you are a zombie. They're available on-demand on ESPN+ and I've heard ESPN2 will broadcast live as well (although I didn't see these on the schedule on ESPN.com yet).
rugger74
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Thanks for the info, ready for some rugby.
rugger74
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Folks, if you like rugby, catch these matches on ESPN2, the first three were top notch.
KlinkerAg11
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If someone was wanting to get into Rugby would this be the league to follow?

Are most games available to stream or rewatch?

How easy is it to learn how the game is played?

Complete newbie here to the game, but it's always interested me. Now seems like a good time to learn and become a fan.
corndog04
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KlinkerAg11 said:

If someone was wanting to get into Rugby would this be the league to follow?

Are most games available to stream or rewatch?

How easy is it to learn how the game is played?

Complete newbie here to the game, but it's always interested me. Now seems like a good time to learn and become a fan.


I think it's a good league to start with. If you have ESPN+ they do a really good job of retaining on-demand replays for quite awhile after the matches. Although they didn't win last year's World Cup, New Zealand is still the most dominant county in the world at this sport and most of their national team talent is spread out amongst the 5 clubs in this league. Other good options would be some of the big European leagues such as the English Premiership or Pro14, but I don't really follow them and don't know where they stand in the COVID environment.

If you have ESPN+, the games are available for quite some time to stream replays. With the time zone difference I don't even bother trying to watch live. If live is important to you, the European leagues would be better options but I don't know what channels/packages they are available on (if they've even resumed yet).

Major League Rugby is the new American upstart including a few Texas teams, but 2020 was cancelled after COVID. If learning the game though, the production value of the bigger international leagues make them easier to follow and pick up on.

Assuming you know American football, 90% of the game is pretty easy to pick up quickly (examples below). As with many sports, there are a lot of rules nuances that can take much longer to learn.

No forward pass of course is a main difference, so the lateral is the primary ball distribution method. Try = Touchdown, but is worth 5 points instead of 7. Instead of breaking the plane, you have to maintain possession of the ball to ground within the end zone to be awarded the try. Conversion kicks are uncontested and worth 2 points so max points after a try remains 7 (hard to quickly explain, but I really like rugby's rules on where you have to take the kick from instead of it being limited to only within the hash marks). 3-pt options are available through penalty goals (uncontested and off a tee from the spot of the penalty) or through drop kick (legally allowed and American football but pretty much never used). Possession isn't as critical as in American Football with field position gaining more importance. That's a pretty basic list and doesn't cover many of the intricacies but is enough to understand most of what is going on in a game.
KlinkerAg11
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Appreciate the input!

I've been watching replays of the super league on YouTube. A lot of fun to watch and a lot of action.

Open play as they call it, constitutes most of the match, keeps it really interesting
RebelE Infantry
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Man it seems like at least one game every weekend is a barnstormer! Loving it!

Also, the Blues are...good now?
corndog04
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RebelE Infantry said:

Also, the Blues are...good now?


Crazy, isn't it? Really interested to see how they work Dan Carter into the mix too in the coming weeks.
RebelE Infantry
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Interested as well. I will say Otere Black is looking pretty good at 10.

Was also good to see Tony Lamborn get some minutes last weekend.
KlinkerAg11
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Just watched my first super rugby match.

Wow. I'm hooked. That was a ton of fun to watch and not to hard to catch on to.
KlinkerAg11
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I've now watched three matches. I have a problem and I'm ok with with that.

Question for you guys, does South Africa have any teams currently playing? Sorry if this was already answered.

Also, what's the seasonality of rugby? I'd like to watch it as much as I can.
corndog04
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Normally South Africa has clubs in both Pro14 and Super Rugby but like most things that is all mucked up at the moment. There were talks of South Africa forming a domestic competition this summer with their 4 super rugby clubs and 2 Pro 14 clubs but I don't think they've moved forward yet. Australia has also started up their own domestic competition with their super rugby teams, noticed matches available on ESPN+.

In normal years, the big northern hemisphere leagues typically play fall through late spring and super rugby runs winter through early summer (southern hemisphere but referencing in terms of northern hemisphere season time-frames). The two biggest annual international tournaments are the 6 nations (northern hemisphere) and rugby championship (southern hemisphere), these are too notch and tend to be really fun to watch. There are also various international friendly seasons twice a year . Rugby world cup is every 4 years, next up in 2023.
KlinkerAg11
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Has anyone watched Premiership Rugby?

Looks like they are starting up on August 14th. Is is available on ESPN+?
RebelE Infantry
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I don't follow as closely as I do Super Rugby, but do watch.

It is not on ESPN+, at least it hasn't in the past. They show a couple matches per weekend on NBCSports and you can watch all matches on demand if you get NBCSports Gold.

It's fun to watch because there are contrasting styles of play between the northern and Southern Hemisphere nations.
purplehayes
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Were starting back up here in Europe! I've got a team entered in the Prague Beach Rugby 7s at the end of the month!
RebelE Infantry
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Prague Beach Rugby 7s sounds so awesome!

Well, except for the "7s" part - your friendly neighborhood loosehead.
purplehayes
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RebelE Infantry said:

Prague Beach Rugby 7s sounds so awesome!

Well, except for the "7s" part - your friendly neighborhood loosehead.
Truth...
rynning
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Anyone here have a personal connection to a pro rugby team? PM me if you do. Thanks.
RebelE Infantry
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rynning said:

Anyone here have a personal connection to a pro rugby team? PM me if you do. Thanks.


What do you mean by personal connection?
rugger74
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If you did not catch tonights match Chiefs v Highlanders, check out the replay. Excellent play and finish.
RebelE Infantry
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Thanks, I hate it.
rugger74
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RebelE, I do not have favorites and just really enjoy a good competitive match. The entire game has changed since my first match in 1970 and I think folks will pick up on the speed and physical aspects and begin to follow the sport.
RebelE Infantry
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I typically don't either but was pulling for Fightin' Damian McKenzies this week haha. And I think you're 100% right. Even since I packed down my first scrum in 2003 there has been tremendous change in the game.
PellsBells09
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KlinkerAg11 said:

Just watched my first super rugby match.

Wow. I'm hooked. That was a ton of fun to watch and not to hard to catch on to.

Late reply here, but if you need a pretty concise overview of it all, our club has a Rugby 101 page: https://www.arrowsrugby.com/club/rugby101/
rugger74
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Damn you corndog, you got me watching Super 12 and now I was forced to get ESPN+ to watch Guiness PRO 14 and all the matches. Great matches.
corndog04
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rugger74 said:

Damn you corndog, you got me watching Super 12 and now I was forced to get ESPN+ to watch Guiness PRO 14 and all the matches. Great matches.


Lol. I need to pick a Pro 14 team to root for

Hoping ESPN+ shows the New Zealand North Island vs South Island match this weekend
RebelE Infantry
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North vs South is on the schedule.

I root for Leinster. They have my favorite prop pairing on the roster and have an upcoming USA qualified stud in their academy.
corndog04
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Holy moly that North/South game
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