February 5, 2025 • 8 mins
The Super Rugby season has been launched in Sydney - a venue the Highlanders will return to next Friday to face the new-look Waratahs.
It's a change for the southerners too - now coached by 2015 title winning gaffer Jamie Joseph again.
Super Rugby CEO Jack Mesley joined D'Arcy Waldegrave to discuss the launch and competition ahead.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Wildergrave
from news Talk Zed be.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Joined now by a chief executive officer of Super Rugby Pacific,
Jack Measley.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Good evening, Jack, Good evening, Darthy. How are you very well?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Probably not quite as excited or maybe exhausted as you
are because Super Rugby Pacific twenty twenty five it was
launched today, So now she she's all on for love
or money.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
Yeah, We've had a great morning in Sydney with representatives
from all eleven clubs to launch the season and yeah,
very much looking forward to kickoff next Friday, Friday, fourteenth February.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
And also it was announced that you hold your Player
of the Year, which was released yesterday. But the fantasy
game that you've been talking about for a while, you've
released that hound as well. It's not a second too soon.
Only a week out from it. You cut that find,
din't you?
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Jack? We did.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Yeah, so it's a late call to get it up
and running, so you know, I underestimated some of the
things that we needed to get ticked off.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
But it's going live on the seventh so.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
This week, and yeah, guys and girls will have a
week to get their Round one fantasy tips in. So yeah,
not a moment too soon, but we're excited that it's
up and running and.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
We're pretty confident people are going to have a great
time with it.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Let's talk about the start of the season, the season
as a whole. You would be happy with what happened
in twenty twenty four. I think a lot of people
are happy because the Crusaders didn't win for a start,
but the quality of the rugby lifted. How can you
lift from now?
Speaker 3 (01:44):
What are your.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Key goals for this season compared to what happened last year?
Speaker 4 (01:49):
Jack, Yeah, it was a great season and we saw
that quality then reflected in all of our sort.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Of key audience measures across the competition.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
And so we've been working really hard in the off
season to make sure you know what we call shape
of game, which is the laws and the mats officials
interpretations are set up to make sure that you know,
we get as good a flow in the game of
rugby and also that fans can understand the decisions that
are being made by our match officials. So yeah, we
(02:20):
continue to focus on that where we're quite happy that
World Rugby has bought into law, some of those law
innovations that we saw through Test Rugby that we trialed
last year, and so yeah, we think we're well set
up to make sure that the quality of rugby is
again improved.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
On you on you right, So what are those key changes?
What will the crowd actually notice, the people on the ground,
the people at home, what will they see?
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Yeah, so from a from a law's point of view,
we continue with the TMO, with the twenty minute red card,
which is which we think was a really good innovation
led by Super Rugby. We're also going to limit where
TMO intervention happens so that you will you won't see
as much TMO intervention as you saw through test matches,
(03:09):
particularly through November. The line out not straight if uncontested
play on that will continue. What we are bringing in
though that if it is a contested lineout and the
line out is not straight, that you will see a
free kick rather than a scrum. So those types of
things you'll continue to see from a law point of view.
(03:30):
And then our match officials are going to work hard
on flow, so you know, encouraging you know, things to
move along quicker, but in static play, so sixty second
conversions and penalties, and they'll be also working to set scrums.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
And move the game along.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
I guess then in stadium, what we're focused on and
throughout with our broadcast partners is ensuring that you know,
spectators have clear communication.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
About what decisions are making.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
So we're working hard to get refs MIC's in stadiums,
particularly around TMO decisions.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Jack Messi, CEO of SIG PACIFICA, joins us with these sanctions.
When it comes to things like how long it takes?
Are you going to be slightly more aggressive around the
time it does take because I know that was in
last year, but sometimes it leaked to a bit longer.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Have you pushed that.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Into the briefs and say we need to make these
decisions quicker we see a bigger change then yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
And you know, we work very closely with the match
official coordinators and the referees.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
And we will be meeting weekly to.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Review the data around all of the games and look
for opportunities to make sure that we keep we're keeping
a really tight watch on that. So we've got meetings
set up already for Monday after round one, where we'll
do our review of every match and talk about the
opportunities to make sure we're getting consistent decision making, but
(05:00):
making sure that the game is moved on.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Player at the center of the room new favorite phrase.
But besides that, what about the clubs themselves and everybody
else who's involved. What kind of input have they had,
What do they want to hear and see?
Speaker 4 (05:14):
Yeah, well, I mean the great thing is we've now
got club representation, player representation as well as union representation
in all of our working groups and committees. So they've
been a really integral part of the things that we're
doing in and around the game, and also an integral
part of the things that we're doing off the field,
so things like Fantasy.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
They've had a lot of input into things like the
Player of the Year award.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
And then you know themselves, they're very focused on access,
ensuring that you know, we're opening up and being more
transparent about what's going on in each of their clubs.
And you would have seen, you know, the Chiefs documentary
is a really good example where they are going to
great lengths to bring fans in and show behind the
scenes workings around the club.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Let's talk about Player of the Year Jack that was
released and I think a lot of people buy into this.
It seems a little it's all deli emos, and we
understand that it's a good idea, maybe overdue, but player
of the Year, you guys must about to come up
with a better name than that, surely.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Well, you know, it says what it does on the box,
so that's a good thing. We don't have to go
through the mechanations of explaining to people what dally.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
M what dalim means.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
But yeah, I mean, I think it's something that the
competition has been talking about for a while and we
just wanted to get it, get it in for this season.
Great way to acknowledge the excellence that exists in our
in our comp and you know, to fuel a lot
of discussion and debate.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
So it's going to be a really interesting race.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
I think we've we've chosen to do it our way,
you know, with captains and coaches voting and so at
the end of each match, both captains and coach will
award a three two one to the opposition team. And
we think that's going to be a really interesting race.
And also, you know, the players tell us that peer recognition,
(07:08):
there is no higher on it, So yeah, we think
We've got a nice point of difference in the way
that we're awarding points and the fact that both teams
will get points from each match.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
That should make this fairly intriguing.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
I think it's not blind toward the end, everybody knows
what's happening. That was deliberate. I presume what do you
hope to achieve out of that?
Speaker 4 (07:29):
Yeah, well, we're not a long competition. We're only sixteen
sixteen rounds, and you know what we're not going to
be able to do in YU one is have an
awards ceremony that would happen at the conclusion of the season,
where you know, for some of those other codes that
do it, they build the suspension and then release that
intrigue at an event.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
So you know, we're going to see how we go
with it.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
It being in its first year, I'm sure we'll learn
lots and if we want to make changes after year one,
we absolutely will.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Absolute crackit. Jack Messi, CEO of Super Rugby Pacific, thanks
so much for your time. I look forward to regular
catch ups throughout the entire season.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Cheers mate, Thank you, thanks for very interesting cheers.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News talks.
There'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Wildergrave
from news Talk Zed be.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Joined now by a chief executive officer of Super Rugby Pacific,
Jack Measley.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Good evening, Jack, Good evening, Darthy. How are you very well?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Probably not quite as excited or maybe exhausted as you
are because Super Rugby Pacific twenty twenty five it was
launched today, So now she she's all on for love
or money.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
Yeah, We've had a great morning in Sydney with representatives
from all eleven clubs to launch the season and yeah,
very much looking forward to kickoff next Friday, Friday, fourteenth February.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
And also it was announced that you hold your Player
of the Year, which was released yesterday. But the fantasy
game that you've been talking about for a while, you've
released that hound as well. It's not a second too soon.
Only a week out from it. You cut that find,
din't you?
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Jack? We did.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Yeah, so it's a late call to get it up
and running, so you know, I underestimated some of the
things that we needed to get ticked off.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
But it's going live on the seventh so.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
This week, and yeah, guys and girls will have a
week to get their Round one fantasy tips in. So yeah,
not a moment too soon, but we're excited that it's
up and running and.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
We're pretty confident people are going to have a great
time with it.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Let's talk about the start of the season, the season
as a whole. You would be happy with what happened
in twenty twenty four. I think a lot of people
are happy because the Crusaders didn't win for a start,
but the quality of the rugby lifted. How can you
lift from now?
Speaker 3 (01:44):
What are your.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Key goals for this season compared to what happened last year?
Speaker 4 (01:49):
Jack, Yeah, it was a great season and we saw
that quality then reflected in all of our sort.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Of key audience measures across the competition.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
And so we've been working really hard in the off
season to make sure you know what we call shape
of game, which is the laws and the mats officials
interpretations are set up to make sure that you know,
we get as good a flow in the game of
rugby and also that fans can understand the decisions that
are being made by our match officials. So yeah, we
(02:20):
continue to focus on that where we're quite happy that
World Rugby has bought into law, some of those law
innovations that we saw through Test Rugby that we trialed
last year, and so yeah, we think we're well set
up to make sure that the quality of rugby is
again improved.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
On you on you right, So what are those key changes?
What will the crowd actually notice, the people on the ground,
the people at home, what will they see?
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Yeah, so from a from a law's point of view,
we continue with the TMO, with the twenty minute red card,
which is which we think was a really good innovation
led by Super Rugby. We're also going to limit where
TMO intervention happens so that you will you won't see
as much TMO intervention as you saw through test matches,
(03:09):
particularly through November. The line out not straight if uncontested
play on that will continue. What we are bringing in
though that if it is a contested lineout and the
line out is not straight, that you will see a
free kick rather than a scrum. So those types of
things you'll continue to see from a law point of view.
(03:30):
And then our match officials are going to work hard
on flow, so you know, encouraging you know, things to
move along quicker, but in static play, so sixty second
conversions and penalties, and they'll be also working to set scrums.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
And move the game along.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
I guess then in stadium, what we're focused on and
throughout with our broadcast partners is ensuring that you know,
spectators have clear communication.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
About what decisions are making.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
So we're working hard to get refs MIC's in stadiums,
particularly around TMO decisions.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Jack Messi, CEO of SIG PACIFICA, joins us with these sanctions.
When it comes to things like how long it takes?
Are you going to be slightly more aggressive around the
time it does take because I know that was in
last year, but sometimes it leaked to a bit longer.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Have you pushed that.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Into the briefs and say we need to make these
decisions quicker we see a bigger change then yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
And you know, we work very closely with the match
official coordinators and the referees.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
And we will be meeting weekly to.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Review the data around all of the games and look
for opportunities to make sure that we keep we're keeping
a really tight watch on that. So we've got meetings
set up already for Monday after round one, where we'll
do our review of every match and talk about the
opportunities to make sure we're getting consistent decision making, but
(05:00):
making sure that the game is moved on.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Player at the center of the room new favorite phrase.
But besides that, what about the clubs themselves and everybody
else who's involved. What kind of input have they had,
What do they want to hear and see?
Speaker 4 (05:14):
Yeah, well, I mean the great thing is we've now
got club representation, player representation as well as union representation
in all of our working groups and committees. So they've
been a really integral part of the things that we're
doing in and around the game, and also an integral
part of the things that we're doing off the field,
so things like Fantasy.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
They've had a lot of input into things like the
Player of the Year award.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
And then you know themselves, they're very focused on access,
ensuring that you know, we're opening up and being more
transparent about what's going on in each of their clubs.
And you would have seen, you know, the Chiefs documentary
is a really good example where they are going to
great lengths to bring fans in and show behind the
scenes workings around the club.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Let's talk about Player of the Year Jack that was
released and I think a lot of people buy into this.
It seems a little it's all deli emos, and we
understand that it's a good idea, maybe overdue, but player
of the Year, you guys must about to come up
with a better name than that, surely.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Well, you know, it says what it does on the box,
so that's a good thing. We don't have to go
through the mechanations of explaining to people what dally.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
M what dalim means.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
But yeah, I mean, I think it's something that the
competition has been talking about for a while and we
just wanted to get it, get it in for this season.
Great way to acknowledge the excellence that exists in our
in our comp and you know, to fuel a lot
of discussion and debate.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
So it's going to be a really interesting race.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
I think we've we've chosen to do it our way,
you know, with captains and coaches voting and so at
the end of each match, both captains and coach will
award a three two one to the opposition team. And
we think that's going to be a really interesting race.
And also, you know, the players tell us that peer recognition,
(07:08):
there is no higher on it, So yeah, we think
We've got a nice point of difference in the way
that we're awarding points and the fact that both teams
will get points from each match.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
That should make this fairly intriguing.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
I think it's not blind toward the end, everybody knows
what's happening. That was deliberate. I presume what do you
hope to achieve out of that?
Speaker 4 (07:29):
Yeah, well, we're not a long competition. We're only sixteen
sixteen rounds, and you know what we're not going to
be able to do in YU one is have an
awards ceremony that would happen at the conclusion of the season,
where you know, for some of those other codes that
do it, they build the suspension and then release that
intrigue at an event.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
So you know, we're going to see how we go
with it.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
It being in its first year, I'm sure we'll learn
lots and if we want to make changes after year one,
we absolutely will.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Absolute crackit. Jack Messi, CEO of Super Rugby Pacific, thanks
so much for your time. I look forward to regular
catch ups throughout the entire season.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Cheers mate, Thank you, thanks for very interesting cheers.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News talks.
There'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio
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