Opinion
Australians hold many misconceptions about New Zealand and the interaction between rugby union and rugby league, bringing their own prejudices to the table as they try to characterise the NRL’s rise across the Tasman with the same “code war” terms that define the Australian landscape.
But New Zealand sports fans are polymaths, happy to toggle between the Warriors and the All Blacks or Super Rugby teams, which is why Sky Sport enjoys such “dual screen” usage across the ditch, with punters happy to watch one game on their linear channel while using the broadcaster’s digital platform to watch the other code.
Compare that to Australia. One of the cultural surprises I experienced when moving to Australia in the early 2000s was to discover that it wasn’t a rugby country, but a rugby league country ready to experience exponential growth once the sport’s governance was sorted out.
Acquaintances with deep rugby league allegiances outnumbered rugby lovers by 10-1, and of that rugby league cohort many weren’t just ambivalent about the 15-man code – they actively wanted to see it fail.
But when the move to New Zealand was made more than a decade ago – long before the Wahs phenomenon – it was clear rugby league had a foothold: you could measure it by the sheer amount of NRL footy shorts sported by a younger demographic.
It is not uncommon for New Zealanders to love rugby and also have a preferred NRL side, which they follow with affection.
So, if the NRL expands and puts a second team in New Zealand’s South Island, it will not necessarily be the death of rugby but an accurate reflection of a country that is sports-mad and produces an apparently endless supply of collision-sports athletes.
Let’s get real about the NRL player depth fears. I could go through every one of the 14 New Zealand provinces in their National Provincial Competition and pick two players not contracted by Super Rugby teams who would be good enough to play in the NRL tomorrow.
And that’s even before the NRL goes deeper into the First XV rugby system.
The NRL, in fact, would be mad not to plant a flag in Christchurch, the heart of Crusaders country, because the South Island is ready to host a side in terms of talent, stadium and supporter interest.
Furthermore, the operator of Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin would be keen to host up to four games a season, according to sources not authorised to comment publicly due to confidentially reasons.
A second Kiwi team would only fail if the NRL asks too much of local government.
New Zealand does not have the apparently limitless ability of Australian state governments to spend taxpayer money on sports teams. If the NRL asks for too much, it invites political risk because voters’ tolerance for the government largesse that has become de rigeur in Australia is much lower.
What will it mean for rugby? There will probably be a few stages. The first will be a bit of natural anxiety, the second will be the ditching of any complacency that still remains about rugby’s position in the pecking order (and that is a good thing), and the third will be the acceptance or even celebration that Christchurch can support two codes.
You will find that the Crusaders and the potential second New Zealand team would have the capacity and willingness to co-exist in a way that would be alien in Australia.
You could even see someone such as All Blacks and Crusaders icon Richie Mo’unga, whose brothers played rugby league, expressing a desire to finish his career in the 13-man code in his home city of Christchurch.
There will be other compelling bids for the 20th NRL licence, particularly from Ipswich, on the outskirts of Brisbane.
If cash is the deciding factor, south-east Queensland will probably win.
But if the NRL is serious about making their code the sport of the Pacific, the South Island of New Zealand is the obvious choice – especially as the Warriors have become so well embedded that a second team would be more of a rival than a threat.
Rugby would have to deal with it. In fact, it could be the catalyst to look anew upon Super Rugby and ask if serious changes are required in the face of a newcomer.
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Paul Cully is a rugby columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.
