Why URC is the new 'super rugby'

Super Rugby was once the most popular and attractive (superior) franchise (or club/provincial) Rugby Union competition on the globe.

That was before the brain-dead decision to overexpand to an unworkable, confusing and overexposed 18-team tournament.

Super Rugby was at its most entertaining as a single round (all teams play everybody once) in the Super 12 and Super 14 years.

However, New Zealanders now readily and regularly admit they regret the decision to give South Africa the boot in 2020.

It hastened the SA teams’ move to the Northern Hemisphere.

Joining the URC, with its diverse, multi-national format, was the best move for teams from the Republic.

The high-pressure, physical URC games suit South African players, and even the AAA fans embrace the entertainment value of more tactical contests.

Super Rugby (add Pacific if you wish), in contrast, still favours a fast-paced, high-offload approach.

New Zealand coaches also spontaneously confess that their players are worse off than when they regularly fronted up to the physical beasts from South Africa.

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The evidence is in the improved form of the national teams of Ireland and Scotland on the international stage since the arrival of South Africans, both in their teams and as opposition.

That ‘abrasive edge’ has helped their players in the higher-intensity Test arena.

While the URC brings far more diversity (with teams from South Africa, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Italy), Super Rugby remains hamstrung by the predictability of just two styles, New Zealand and Australia.

PS: The Pacific ‘style’ is inherently New Zealand and has always been, with some minor ‘tweaks’.

If you are not convinced yet that the URC is the new ‘super rugby’, let us look at some statistics.

Both competitions are in the final stages of the regular season, with the play-offs just around the corner.

The URC, with its higher intensity and tighter defensive structures, produced on average 165 tackles per game and a lower scoring of 49 points per game.

Conditions will play a role, but perhaps not as much as the styles and attitude do.

Super Rugby’s more expansive, higher-scoring approach, where defence often seems optional, produces 55 points per game.

It is styled (PR labelled) as a higher ‘tackle evasion’ approach, but the stats tell a different story.

In the URC, teams mostly focus on set-piece dominance and physical breakdown play, attracting higher stadium attendance, particularly with South African teams.

URC sides have superior defensive work rates, with roughly 165 tackles made and only 21 missed per game, compared to 148 tackles made and 26 missed in Super Rugby.

Super Rugby also have more ‘lopsided’ matches, with larger winning margins (average 16 points), compared to the tighter contests often found in the URC (average 11 points).

The South African teams, like the Stormers and Bulls, have a strong defensive discipline and efficient attacking structures.

That has spilt over to other teams, with former World Cup-winning coach Jacques Nienaber involved in the Leinster coaching structures.

The products are also reflected in the television and attendance audiences.

The Stormers are one of the top performers in TV audiences, frequently exceeding seven million total viewers across the season.

The Bulls, in the 2024 Final against Glasgow Warriors, attracted 610,977 unique viewers in South Africa.

Munster is the top-ranked Irish side in viewership, while the Sharks also get high audience figures for local derby matches.

Leinster’s best numbers come from top-table clashes, like those Irish derbies at Croke Park.

The URC’s official YouTube channel grew dramatically, with video views rising from 8.7 million to 40.6 million in 2023/24, a 336 percent rise.

By the end of the 2024/25 season, it reached 56 million views.

Live URC consumption rose by 32 percent, but viewership on secondary platforms (streaming/on-demand) increased by 42 percent.

Last month, it was reported that subscribers on the digital platform grew 2.7 times, with over 1.25 million sessions.

The Crusaders are the most-watched Super Rugby team, leading viewership in 2025 and featuring in the most-watched matches.

They are followed by the Chiefs, featuring in both the 2024 and 2025 finals.

The Blues are another ‘high-interest’ team, especially in New Zealand derbies.

New Zealand’s leading broadcaster recorded more than 8.5 million digital streams, with 650,000 unique digital viewers in 2025.

The 2025 Final between the Crusaders and Chiefs saw 306,000 viewers on digital platforms, which is more than double the 113,000 who watched the 2024 Final.

The URC boasts higher average and total stadium attendances than Super Rugby Pacific, with the URC reaching records of over 1.8 million fans (average 12,100+ per game) last season.

Super Rugby has strong attendance in New Zealand, but the URC shows higher consistency, regularly drawing over 50,000 to major derbies.

South African sides like the Stormers and Bulls consistently draw huge crowds, with the Stormers holding records exceeding 50,000 in Cape Town.

Intense regional rivalries, such as in Wales and Ireland, combined with SA derbies, fill stadiums more consistently compared to the often sparse crowds at Super Rugby games.

Super Rugby had averages around 11,000 per game, slightly lower or comparable to the URC.

However, the numbers are based on New Zealand derbies, which bring strong crowds, but attendance drops when Kiwi teams visit Australia.

The URC generally holds the edge in total spectators across the season.

@JanDKrugby
@rugby365com