Hoskins Sotutu with fans. Photo: Brett Phibbs/Photosport
Analysis - The sold-out signs are up, Auckland's landmarks are getting lit up in blue, and a convoy of Chiefs fans are preparing to make the hour and a half (roadworks dependent) journey up State Highway 1 on Saturday.
Is this the best possible outcome in terms of a final?
The Hurricanes would beg to differ, but there really feels like a buzz in the key battleground for sports attention in the country right now.
This is the second time Auckland has hosted a Super Rugby final in three years. Technically it's three in four years if you count Super Rugby Trans-Tasman - but even the Blues don't do that despite winning it. The 2022 final was a sellout but a bit of a flat tyre of a game, the Blues went in as favourites but lost their nerve against a cerebral Crusaders side, losing 21-7.
Obviously, a sold-out Eden Park is a win in itself for rugby, given that down the road at Go Media Mt Smart Stadium the Warriors have been able to say that all season. While neither side wants to admit it, the narrative around just how many bums on seats there are is a major talking point among fans.
The two codes' cold war has warmed significantly since the bad old days of pseudo-class warfare, but it's still very much going on in the guise of attendance figures and TV ratings, plus the proxy battlefield of social media.
Warriors players stand during the National Anthem. Photo: Andrew Cornaga / www.photosport.nz
The TV part of that is, admittedly, a win for both. Sky TV have been very happy to shine a rare light on their ratings for this season, which are up 11 percent on 2023.
But the sold-out status does conversely highlight Super Rugby Pacific's biggest issue. Last Friday night the Blues' semi-final was played in front of a crowd of around 10,000, which looked terrible in Eden Park's cavernous stands. A month ago, the Chiefs played the Hurricanes in a full FMG Stadium Waikato, while their quarter-final a week later was barely half that against the Reds.
There's similar examples for the other NZ teams, but the message is clear: The competition still has an issue convincing fans that non-derby games are worth attending.
Case in point: The Reds came into their game against the Chiefs with a winning record over the last two seasons and had pushed them hard in the corresponding game last season. It took arguably the Chiefs' best effort so far in the season to get over them in a dominant opening. Besides, the Reds were just simply worth watching for what they had achieved in 2024 anyway - sure, it didn't turn out that way, but simply knowing what they were capable of seemed like a bridge too far for NZ fans.
Fraser McReight (left) of the Reds celebrates scoring a try during the Super Rugby Pacific Round 3 match between the Queensland Reds and the Chiefs at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Saturday, March 9, 2024. (AAP Image/Darren England / www.photosport.nz) Photo: DARREN ENGLAND
How does this change?
Simply, Super Rugby needs to seize the initiative from a narrative point of view. A lot of that will have to do with incentivising a dwindling sports media landscape into simply devoting more time to it, which is where the Warriors have a serious advantage given they are based in Auckland.
The NRL gets an inordinate amount of coverage because of this, however Warriors-skewed it is. It also has a massive advantage as the conversation is always grounded in the premiership, while Super Rugby always has the looming implications of the test season hanging over it. That's not going to change, nor will the All Blacks being rested throughout the competition.
One proposition that has come up again recently is the loosening of eligibility rules so NZ players can play for Australian sides. It is a complicated topic but would create a market conversation, which takes the narrative around the competition past its final and into the off-season.
Put simply, Super Rugby Pacific has to start feeling like a whole competition - big rivalries are great, but they shouldn't be relied upon to simply get people through the gate.
This Saturday's final shapes up to be an excellent game between two very good teams, but the hard work needs to continue on Monday to make next season an intriguing and more fan-friendly product off the field, no matter how good it's been on it.
