Latest news with #JackMesley
The Age
37 minutes ago
- Sport
- The Age
Does it pass the pub test? Super Rugby finals system to be reviewed
Super Rugby Pacific bosses will factor in the 'pub test' when they conduct a post-season review of the competition's contentious new play-offs system, which sees the Chiefs host the Brumbies in a semi-final on Saturday despite losing at the weekend. The Super Rugby Pacific finals were cut back from eight teams to six this year but the adjusted play-offs structure has drawn criticism. With three qualifying finals in week one, the highest-ranked 'lucky' losers still progress, and that turned out to be minor premiers the Chiefs, who were rolled on Saturday by the Blues, the lowest-ranked side in the play-offs. Under the Super Rugby Pacific finals system, the Chiefs also retained the right to host a semi-final because the penalty for losing was dropping only one seeding position, as a reward for being minor premiers. The Brumbies, who finished third and beat the fourth-placed Hurricanes to progress, must this week travel to New Zealand, where no overseas side has ever won a Super Rugby semi-final. The tournament rules were in place from the start of the year but given the highest-seed losing to the lowest seed in Super Rugby finals is so rare, fans – and even some officials – were still caught by surprise by the fine print. The lowest-ranked team in Super Rugby finals had only ever beaten the minor premiers twice before in 30 years – when Super Rugby only had a four-team play-offs series, and Queensland lost semi-finals in 1996 (Natal) and 1998 (Crusaders). Super Rugby Pacific chief executive Jack Mesley said he was aware of the criticism, and it would be factored into a post-season review. 'We will definitely do a review. Clearly with the in-practice versus on-paper, you always learn things, and by seeing people's response to it,' Mesley said. 'Part of that review will be us looking at how complicated was the structure? There was also discussion last week around the scheduling, and can we do it in a way that makes the most of every match?
Sydney Morning Herald
37 minutes ago
- Sport
- Sydney Morning Herald
Does it pass the pub test? Super Rugby finals system to be reviewed
Super Rugby Pacific bosses will factor in the 'pub test' when they conduct a post-season review of the competition's contentious new play-offs system, which sees the Chiefs host the Brumbies in a semi-final on Saturday despite losing at the weekend. The Super Rugby Pacific finals were cut back from eight teams to six this year but the adjusted play-offs structure has drawn criticism. With three qualifying finals in week one, the highest-ranked 'lucky' losers still progress, and that turned out to be minor premiers the Chiefs, who were rolled on Saturday by the Blues, the lowest-ranked side in the play-offs. Under the Super Rugby Pacific finals system, the Chiefs also retained the right to host a semi-final because the penalty for losing was dropping only one seeding position, as a reward for being minor premiers. The Brumbies, who finished third and beat the fourth-placed Hurricanes to progress, must this week travel to New Zealand, where no overseas side has ever won a Super Rugby semi-final. The tournament rules were in place from the start of the year but given the highest-seed losing to the lowest seed in Super Rugby finals is so rare, fans – and even some officials – were still caught by surprise by the fine print. The lowest-ranked team in Super Rugby finals had only ever beaten the minor premiers twice before in 30 years – when Super Rugby only had a four-team play-offs series, and Queensland lost semi-finals in 1996 (Natal) and 1998 (Crusaders). Super Rugby Pacific chief executive Jack Mesley said he was aware of the criticism, and it would be factored into a post-season review. 'We will definitely do a review. Clearly with the in-practice versus on-paper, you always learn things, and by seeing people's response to it,' Mesley said. 'Part of that review will be us looking at how complicated was the structure? There was also discussion last week around the scheduling, and can we do it in a way that makes the most of every match?
NZ Herald
3 days ago
- Sport
- NZ Herald
Super Rugby Pacific: Christchurch set to host Super Round in 2026 at Te Kaha
Super Rugby Pacific chief executive Jack Mesley has confirmed plans are in motion to bring back Super Round for the 2026 season with Christchurch's new stadium, Te Kaha, in line to host the event over Anzac weekend. It would be the first time a New Zealand city has hosted
NZ Herald
18-05-2025
- Sport
- NZ Herald
Ardie Savea named Super Rugby Pacific Player of the Year
Savea's influence has seen Moana Pasifika claim maiden wins against Crusaders, Highlanders and Blues as they fight for their first ever trip to the playoffs. They currently sit sixth, although they have two tough away games against the Chiefs and Hurricanes to end the season. In 10 games this season, Savea has scored five tries, made over 330 post-contact metres, completed more than 115 tackles and won 13 turnovers. Heading into the season, Moana Pasifika had only seven wins since entering the competition in 2021. This year alone, they already have six. Super Rugby chief executive Jack Mesley said Savea was a deserving winner of the award. 'Ardie's passionate leadership and dominant performances for Moana Pasifika this year have made an indelible mark on his teammates, his opponents and our competition as a whole,' said Mesley. 'He has received votes from the opposition in almost every game he has played this season, which reflects the consistency of his output and influence on his team. 'The Super Rugby Pacific Player of the Year being a peer-voted award, where our players are recognised on a weekly basis by their fellow players and coaches, gives it the greatest possible significance. 'We are delighted that Ardie Savea is the inaugural Super Rugby Pacific Player of the Year.' Savea will be presented with the award at Moana Pasifika's final regular season game against the Hurricanes on May 31.
The Guardian
19-03-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Australia's Super Rugby revival helping to prime Wallabies for Lions challenge
Fatigue. Jeopardy. Fantasy. These are the buzzwords driving Super Rugby Pacific's remarkable surge in 2025, with faster games, tighter margins and nifty law changes boosting crowd attendances, TV ratings and greater success for Australian sides. After five weeks of competition, Australia and New Zealand each have three teams in the top six, a remarkable level of parity given NSW finished with the wooden spoon in 2024, no Australian side has won the Super Rugby competition in over a decade and the trans-Tasman Bledisloe Cup hasn't left the All Blacks' stranglehold since 2002. Yet each of Australia's four franchises have made flying starts to 2025. The Waratahs (fifth) won their first three games for the first time since 2009, the Western Force went unbeaten until round three, the ACT Brumbies (fourth) upset the Blues at Eden Park to break a 12-year hoodoo, and a reborn Queensland Reds (third) have rock'n'rolled to 3-1. This golden month is what woebegone Wallabies fans have been praying for before the 'golden decade' of a British & Irish Lions tour this winter, men's and women's World Cups at home in 2027 and 2029 and sevens rugby at the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane – a cavalcade of major events Rugby Australia think can reverse a current $80m debt. RA CEO Phil Waugh is recently back from the Six Nations tournament in Europe. 'All they're talking about is who's going to be selected for this Lions tour,' he said. 'It's where scarcity meets enormity – 12 years since the 2013 series, 40,000 people flying out and almost 500,000 tickets already sold. It's a special time for rugby fans.' The way Australia's players are priming for the Lions challenge is also lifting spirits. The Reds-Waratahs clash last weekend was a blitzkrieg of classic running rugby. NSW struck after just 120 seconds before the Reds roared back with five tries, all witnessed by a pulsating crowd of 20,072 at Suncorp Stadium. It was the biggest Reds home crowd since 2021 and part of a 34% rise in Super Rugby crowds in 2025. 'That style of rugby is compelling to fans,' said Super Rugby CEO Jack Mesley. 'The games are faster and closer so more people watch and they watch for longer.' The 2025 season is also the highest scoring in Super Rugby history, with 62.4 points per game, yet an average winning margin of 9.6 and 44% decided by four points or less. After his appointment in July last year, Mesley asked fans what they wanted in SRP. 'They wanted more rugby and less wasted time for scrum resets and minor injuries, more protection for halfbacks and less time for kicking penalties and conversions. They also wanted greater backing of referees on field and less delays with the TMO.' Fans like what they've seen so far. Free-to-air viewers on Nine have risen 36% with double-digits growth on Stan – vital growth with a new broadcast deal on the table from 2026. The rugby style has been rugged and expansive, with most games unfolding at breakneck speed and teams prioritising attack, kicking for corners in a quest for converted tries rather than chipping away with penalty kicks or field goals. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion It makes player fatigue a major factor within the 80-minute dervish of each game and better tests squad depth in a 16-round regular season before a six-team finals series. Local coaches are duly rotating squads to rest key Wallabies, with Reds flanker Fraser McReight on leave this week, Brumbies star Rob Valetini back from injury but Waratahs pin-up Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii still out for the ACT-NSW duel on Saturday. Every team had a win in the first month and ex-champions the Blues and Hurricanes are currently in the bottom half while the once languishing Tahs and Reds are up top. 'It puts jeopardy in the competition,' said Mesley. 'We want ladder turbulence so fans gather at the water cooler each week thinking their team has got a chance.' The introduction of Fantasy Super Rugby Pacific has deepened fan interest as well. 'From a standing start, we've got 66,000 people playing and 1.3m transfers so far,' said Mesley. 'Live, rugby's 15 on 15 format makes it incredibly team-oriented but Fantasy plays to the power of individual athletes and fuels interest in rival sides.' The local revival bodes well for an Australian-born coach snaring the Wallabies job when a replacement for Joe Schmidt is announced in the next three weeks. In a frantic run of four games in 12 days (28 June to 9 July), all four Australian sides will play the British & Irish Lions before the three-Test series begins on 19 July. The innovation continues either side of that Wallabies-Lions Test at Suncorp. The first is a Lions v Anzac XV in Adelaide, and the sequel – a 22 July fixture vacated when RA folded the Melbourne Rebels – will be confirmed as a First Nations Pasifika XV outfit, a worthy nod to the rise of Super Rugby Pacific's two Pacific-based sides in 2025.
