Super Rugby v URC v Premiership – Best Comp in 2022?

50 thoughts on “Super Rugby v URC v Premiership – Best Comp in 2022?”

1. The Urc is the 2nd division, number 2 to the Gallagher premiership. Would love to see the north play the south, but I suppose there us too much rugby already especially for the Northern lads 40 games a year?

2. I'm gonna be a one eye fan here and say Super Rugby Pacific, has some of the best players in the world well maybe not auzzie but the Dura and Moana are just getting started and add the kiwis
   Biases much 😅… Yup 😄

3. I might be too late here but fyi in Italy(where I'm living rn) premiership games a free on Mola TV. Don't know if that's long term or not, it seems to be a newish Indonesian company but it is official. Downside is commentary in Italian(still learning)

4. As a South African im biased, so I'll not comment too much… other than to say that the best competition will be the one with the most south africans playing in it 🤣

5. I really hope Stan can pick up Top14 next season but i'm not holding my breath

6. I live in Denmark, and follow Super Rugby and the Premiership closely, and the URC occasionally.
   I watch every Super Rugby game, and for the Prem, I watch at least all the extended highlights.
   The accessibility is a sore spot. I don’t expect a free lunch, so in my view it’s unfair to even consider that in the “accessibility”. Where I live, the problem is more like: can I access it at all, or does no one want my money.
   Super Rugby and the URC get a pass from me. They both have a paid online option, so I can watch games live, or on replay.
   The Premiership does not get a pass. The only option to watch the Premiership live would be by subscribing to the top Viaplay package (films, series, and sports, none of which I’m interested in, I just want my rugby) which costs about 60 GBP per month for which I would get one (yes, in a word ONE) selected Premiership match per weekend. So, they can just go pound sand. Oh, and Viaplay owns the rights to 6 Nations here in Denmark, so I have to pay that extortion racket for 2 months every year.
   Last season, the Premiership was even geo-blocking their extended highlights and delayed full matches.
   I could watch those again this season, but this is just to illustrate the unpredictability and frustration of a rugby fan based in a non-rugby country. The Premiership gets a straight F from me in accessibility. Why can’t they just provide an equivalent to what the URC and Super Rugby are doing?
   I’ve said this dozens of times before, and I will say it again: this fossilized system of regional broadcasting rights for sports needs to die, and it needs to die 20 years ago.
   It’s inconceivable, that people around the world stand with their wallets open, ready to shell out $ to be able to watch their favorite spirt, and no one bites. That’s when you know it’s not capitalism and free market competition, but a politically controlled monopoly. It needs to end.
   The music industry could figure it out, the movie industry figured it out, the video games industry figured it out. It’s not rocket science. It’s perfectly technologically possible.
   I want an a la carte solution. People anywhere around the world just click what they’re interested in: which sport and which competition, and pay accordingly.
   We need someone like Elon, or Tim Apple to slap those TV oligarchs in line and show their convenient excuses for the self-serving lies they are.

7. Stooooorrrmeeeers!!!! (I'm still drunk)

8. Which tournament has the most live viewership? And maybe comment on which final was the most watched. Would be an interesting statistic.

9. I believe it was Spinoza who wrote URC = best league.

10. I love them all now that I know more of the players thanks to you. Generally watch highlights for most and then premiership ones the day after for free after listening to them love on the radio. It works for me!

11. itv had 3 free prem games. this incuded the final

12. You should look at number of people playing Superbru….. Hands down – URC

13. I think the urc from next year will be mutch more competitive. I think the first 4 games sa sides played away the Irish welsh and Scottish side thought this is easy . we South Africans always knew , and even our competitors said wait until the euro side visit our shores . South Africa is a hard place to be successful. the all blacks won their first series in 1996 in South Africa. it almost took a 80 years to do so . I think if you combine all outside teams the crusaders probably is the most successful side to visit sa of all sides .

14. I actually would have been pretty interested to see some of the detail for the Heineken Champions Cup and Top 14. But I like the way you went about this.

15. Love the Stormers kit!!

16. URC gets my no1 🙂 right behind it Super rugby…rest are meh!

17. Enjoyed this video Mark👌

18. Brilliant analysis bud! Truly informative with no bias👌As always love your work.

19. Great Vid

20. I SA supersport gives us all 3 these comps and also currie cup,challenge cup,champions cup and all tier 1 test witch includes six Nations rugby championship and any series both july and autam Not to mention we have a different channels if a game can be shown on super sport rugby it will be shown on one of the other super sport channels basically if your life goal is to watch rugby move to SA

21. Would like to know the viewership numbers for all the competitions not sure if that possible to work out. Great vid,thanks Mark.

22. I'd rank from 1 to 3 as follows: The Premiership, URC and Super Rugby. But I would place Top 14 as number one if it was in the mix.

23. Good video. Really enjoying Premiership, although the refs are card crazy. Great atmosphere in England. URC was pretty good for the first year too.

24. Interesting video, nicely done 🙂
    If I was advising a neutral from Mars re which to watch, then Top 14 all the way. Best quality, and prob best number of teams in the mix every year.

    Probably because I was a player, but I value quality of play a lot more than excitement. Some blowouts are due to a superb performance on the day, while MANY close games are due to neither team being at the races—plenty of close games in the local pub league 🙂 So I regard those two as low-value metrics.

    Sadly I'm hard pressed to catch the 4 Irish games each week, never mind watch any others, so access isn't a concern as long as it's available on delayed for diner-time viewing 🙂

    Only caught a few MLR games. Looks to be a large number of foreign players in it now, the winners NY had 11 NZ in squad and runners-up Seattle had 5 SA!

25. URC and premiership was fun this year. I enjoy the diversity of URC more. That’s just me though.

26. My favourite bit of Welsh – Padlockeygami https://youtu.be/lHlOXOb3vwQ

27. Mark I've emailed you about a streaming service I use to watch just about anything. For interest sake. Cheers mate.

28. At my age, I'm a traditionalist, hence nothing beats our Currie Cup, the world's oldest competition. 😉. But it's actually true to an extent: although South Africa's top four franchises (those in the URC) basically play their B sides in Currie Cup, the rugby public still attach great sentimental value to the competition, for historical reasons. As a Lions fan (the old "Transvaal"), I still get a helluva thrill from the Lions beating their traditional foes in Currie Cup. And that, of course, applies to the supporters of all the traditional Currie Cup sides. To the point though: WAY too much rugby to watch everything on offer, so I watched URC addictively (because of the SA teams' involvement), but only some games from the other competitions, including MLR. I can therefore not comment sensibly on the other competitions.

29. Very good parity for these three comps so far in comparison.

30. Fascinating video, bravo

31. S4c you can watch in English if you press the red button and change the language

32. TOP 14

33. The correct answer is the MLR 🥴😂

34. I know you have more than enough rugby to watch, but this year I started to watch Top 14 more and I must say it is fantastic entertainment, the players are crazy but amazingly skilled and often I just find myself laughing at the brilliance or nonsense that is happening. I mainly follow the URC as an Ulster fan but occasionally watch the Premiership and Super Rugby if it’s on in the morning!

35. Great video. I would add spectators as another thing to evaluate as it is always more interesting to see packed stadiums (aussie crowds make you wanna weep). Overall, I would chose Prem, although SR is probably the one with the most fun games to watch.

36. one thing i will say on the urc is that weaker teams were sent at times this season due to the risk of covid and being stranded in south africa for example the week before a european stretch of fixtures, so next season i think stronger teams will be sent travelling. plus the south africans took a little bit of adapting at the start of the season

    Great vid!

37. URC had to teams in the final that couldn't make it in super rugby.

38. None of them. I don't like ring-fencing.

39. Wow, just seen next seasons Heineken cup draw, amazing can not wait.
    Saracens only team with easyish draw.

40. Awesome breakdown. Great parity within the league makes for an exciting competition.

41. Tbh I think the top 14 is the best in the northern hemisphere at least at the moment

42. Very controversial play my friend, excluding the french. Im all for excluding the french from most things, but i expected better from you 2c's

43. Love you Sir keep up the great work 👏 👍 ❤️

44. great video pal

45. I watch the top 14 which is incredibly unpredictable on both ends of the table, at the top teams fighting to get into the top 6 and at the bottom teams fighting to get out of the relegation zone which are the two bottom spots of the table.
    Here are the numbers for those interested.

    Teams: 14
    Games : 182 + Barrages (like a quarter final but between 3rd & 6th and 4th & 5th) + SF + F
    Close Games: 43%
    Blowouts: 26%
    Tries: 4.5

    I don't know where to find the bookies' predictions for the top 14 but as far as predictability goes :
    9 teams were in contention for the top 6 spots, 9th missing out by 6 points
    5 teams were trying to avoid relegation, 10th being 7 points away from relegation

46. Super rugby by far🔥🔥🔥 Toughest and the best, that's why everybody wants to leave. Look at the Stats people. Dark streams everywhere 🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️ Boxing watcher. Delayed YT and sites

47. Super Rugby could have decided to host the final at Eden Park, with the knowledge that it would be between 2 NZ teams even before the season started. I do agree that the quarter finals were overkill.

48. Great video mate!

    I think the URC is going to be wider open next year, this year was a kina feeling each other out type deal, especially for the NH teams playing the best of the SA teams because lets face it the Cheetahs and the Kings in the Pro 14 weren't up too much.

    In the URC as well the home nations clubs still play on during the 6 Nations, or am I getting mixed up with the old Pro14 with that?

49. Top 14.

50. The reason for alot of blow outs in the urc is because there is not alot of funding for the Welsh sides and they have not prefermed well since 2017 and the itlay sides always benetten do well over zebra unbalanced between the sides Scottish sides you get 1 team do well one season and another do well the following season. Did you see the draw for the champions and challenge cup. Plus promotion and relegation is another reason why the premership is doing well because there are lots to play for and staying in top devision

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