Sellout Super Round at Christchurch’s Te Kaha hands Super Rugby Pacific the boost it needed
Christchurch’s brand new One New Zealand Stadium at Te Kaha hosted its first Super Rugby Pacific Super Round across the Anzac weekend, and by every measure the experiment paid off. All three days of the tournament weekend produced sellout crowds at the 25,000 seat venue, while five matches involving every New Zealand franchise played out under the stadium’s permanent roof in front of fans who had travelled from across the country and the Tasman.
The numbers behind the weekend were striking. Roughly 14,000 visitors made the journey to Christchurch, a sizeable chunk of them Australians here to follow their teams. One bar near the ground reportedly went through fifty kegs of beer, around 2,500 litres, on Friday alone. The city centre, only recently rebuilt after the long earthquake recovery, found itself transformed into a rugby village.
On the field there was plenty for both sets of supporters. The Crusaders christened the new ground with a 35 to 20 win over the NSW Waratahs, an emphatic statement from the seven time champions in front of their home crowd. The Blues then edged the Queensland Reds 36 to 33 in golden point extra time, a finish that produced one of the most dramatic moments of the weekend. The Hurricanes followed by accounting for the Brumbies, with winger Fehi Fineanganofo crossing the line four times in a virtuoso display.
By the time Sunday rolled around the early matches had given way to the toughest conditions of the weekend. Te Kaha’s enclosed roof, while keeping rain off and ensuring playing conditions were consistent, also trapped warm air. Players took to calling it a greenhouse. The Chiefs and Fijian Drua produced a frenetic 4.30pm encounter before Highlanders captain Ethan De Groot’s side rounded out the round in a humid afternoon contest against Moana Pasifika.
That final match saw the Highlanders grind out a 27 to 17 win to end the round on top of the Super Rugby Pacific ladder, edging the Hurricanes on a countback of wins. Tries to Jonah Lowe, Angus Ta’avao and Adam Lennox did the damage for the Dunedin franchise. Moana Pasifika, coached by Tana Umaga, hit back through Israel Leota and Glen Vaihu and stayed in the contest until late, but handling errors under the dome eventually told. Cam Millar nailed a penalty as the siren sounded to lock the result away.
The conditions did not escape comment. Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph, in comments to RNZ, described the contest as “Just a real arm wrestle, a real sticky game”, a reference both to Moana Pasifika’s defence and to the air inside the stadium. De Groot was equally candid, telling reporters “Yeah, it was hot, especially a midday game. Bit of a greenhouse, but nah, awesome stadium.” Hurricanes midfielder Jordie Barrett, who has played in venues all over the world, said the new ground had “a different feel to Forsyth Barr, almost more like a European stadium, not as much airflow, quite humid and the ball gets a little more slippery.”
The wider verdict though was overwhelmingly positive. 1News reported that Christchurch turned it on at exactly the moment the code needed a public relations win, with rugby continuing to push back against rugby league’s growing share of the New Zealand sports calendar. The compressed format, with every team playing at the same venue across three days, had been pitched as a way to manufacture a festival atmosphere comparable to a Sevens tournament. On this evidence it worked.
World Rugby chief executive Dr Brett Robinson, in Christchurch for the weekend, used the platform to push the global game’s strengths, saying “rugby’s competitive advantage is that we are truly a global game” with 2.2 million women playing rugby worldwide. Local organisers will now have to weigh up whether to bring Super Round back to Te Kaha next year or shift it across the Tasman, with Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Perth all reported to be in the conversation. The Highlanders are already lobbying for Dunedin’s covered Forsyth Barr Stadium to host the next edition.
The success at Te Kaha also gives the New Zealand franchises a significant home advantage to think about as the play-off picture starts to firm up. With the Highlanders, Hurricanes, Chiefs, Crusaders and Blues all spending the weekend on the same Christchurch turf, the round became a useful early benchmark for how each squad is travelling at the back end of the regular season. The Highlanders look the most cohesive of the Kiwi teams right now, the Crusaders are returning to something like their old swagger, and the Blues showed they can win ugly in extra time. The Chiefs and Hurricanes both have plenty in the tank. For Moana Pasifika, the loss to the Highlanders was their seventh in a row, and Tana Umaga’s side will need to find some belief quickly with a tough run-in still to come.
For Christchurch, hosting an event of this scale at a brand new venue was always going to be a milestone, and the city seems to have passed the test. The challenge for the competition’s organisers is whether they can recreate the same buzz somewhere else, or whether Te Kaha has just quietly made itself the de facto home of the Super Round.
What did you make of the inaugural Super Round at Te Kaha? Were the sellouts a sign that this format is the future of Super Rugby Pacific, and should it stay in Christchurch or rotate around the country? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.