Rugby is onto a good thing with Super Round. The trick will be where to stage a bigger and bolder version in 2023.
Wellington, Brisbane and Sydney spring quickest to mind as having the right venues and the adjacent precinct of bars, restaurants and hotels for the lively apres rugby attractions.
The mass gathering of Super Rugby Pacific clubs and Super W final teams in Melbourne over three days ticked many of the right boxes just not at the right volume.
Brumbies halfback Nic White was a fan: “It’s awesome to be able to watch all this rugby in one place. I hope it sticks around and moves around.
“Brisbane, Sydney, Auckland...there are definitely other places where it would work as well.”
There were 10,000-plus enthusiastic fans in the stands at AAMI Park on Saturday and again on Sunday. There were fewer for the Friday night opener between the NSW Waratahs and Chiefs. The total hit over 30,000.
You could comfortably imagine 20,000-plus each day at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium or Wellington's Sky Stadium. A Super Round to add a real turbo to Sydney's new and improved Allianz Stadium in the minds of rugby fans early in the 2023 season would grab the city’s fickle rugby supporters.
Sydney's $828 million stadium has more than 42,000 seats under cover and is on the doorstep of the renowned Paddington pubs and restaurants that overflow with rugby patrons on the biggest nights.
I watched four games among the punters at AAMI Park and found the fun, laughter and vibe the organisers wanted.
Bar worker James Bentley, 22, works at The Dock, the go-to establishment part-owned by former Wallabies Ben Alexander and Scott Fardy in Canberra.
Bentley flew to Melbourne with two mates. He packed light but wasn't wearing the same aromatic Brumbies jersey on back-to-back days.
"I packed three and it would have been four if I'd done the washing," he said with a beer grin.
"We try to go on tour for an away game every season so this weekend was perfect.
"I think the games are great. You go to the bar or the toilet and you see the jerseys of 10 different teams.
"You can tell everyone is a rugby fan so there's good chat and banter in the crowd.
"You could certainly make it more of a festival around the stadium and outside but it's all been good fun and I'd do it again."
He cheered home the Brumbies when they won in top style 28-17 over the Highlanders on Sunday. He was cheering for the Hurricanes when they played the Queensland Reds the previous night.
Fifty ironed-on Reds’ fans had flown down from Brisbane on a Saturday charter flight with a packed itinerary. A pre-game luncheon with former Wallabies Elton Flatley, Bill Ross, Sam Cordingley, steak, wine and lager on the menu primed the whole crew.
Amongst the group was 80-year-old Deirdre Quaid, who had the spirit to sign-up solo for the trip. She was looked after by the group as if she was everyone's favourite grandmother.
She's a proud Kiwi from Dunedin who used Super Round to support THREE teams. She wore the Highlanders jersey of her New Zealand team when they faced the Brumbies. She donned the cap and scarf of the Crusaders for their match to honour her father who had played for Canterbury in Christchurch back in the day.
She cheered her hardest for the Reds she has adopted. In her full colours, she cheered their 17-0 lead before they fizzled against the 'Canes.
When halfback TJ Perenara was replaced, seemingly half the lower grandstand got to their feet in yellow and black Hurricanes kit to clap and acknowledge his effort against the Reds.
The turnout of happy Kiwi and Fijian rugby fans in Melbourne at least equalled that of supporters for the Australian teams. That's one of the beauties of a Super Round. It does bring out supporters of every team to one location.
It's just a shame there was no souvenir merchandise to snap up as a cap or T-shirt. If there was, the items were better hidden than a textbook Tom Wright grounding over the tryline.
The beauty of Melbourne as a destination was that it was never just about the rugby. Some fans on tour saw a single game and devoted as much time to shopping, bar-hopping or soaking up the city in the sun.
There was comedy of course. When Crusader Richie Mo’unga kicked for touch at the hour mark, the ball landed like a laser-trained projectile on a plastic tray of four red wines in one fan's flimsy grasp. There was a red wine explosion into jeans, shirts and jumpers and no one in a 1.5m radius was spared. Somewhere, former Wallaby Roger Gould would have shaken his head that not one of his fellow Brisbane Boys’ College old boys raised even a token call of “catch it” before being soaked.
Staging the Super W final as part of Super Round was a great idea. The 32-26 climax between Fijiana Drua and the Waratahs was perhaps the contest of the long weekend.
Geoff Jones, chief executive of Super Round promoters TEG, said the inaugural event had put an upbeat new rugby event on the map.
“As a collective group, TEG Sport, Rugby Australia, New Zealand Rugby and SANZAAR are really pleased with the three days of Super Round Melbourne,” he said.
“The feedback we’ve received for the inaugural concept from all teams, players and fans has been overwhelmingly positive.”
The Victorian Government injected money to bring the first Super Round to Melbourne. It’s now up to Melbourne or other smart clubs and cities on the Super Rugby map to build the potential of Super Round for seasons to come.
