Is the Top 14 the Best Club Competition Right Now? 2023

The crew on NZ's The Breakdown mentioned former All Blacks captain Sean Fitzpatrick talking up France's Top 14 as the best domestic club rugby competition at the moment. Is he right?
00:00 - Intro
01:20 - Top 14
04:45 - URC
08:41 - Super Rugby Pacific
11:10 - Premiership
13:20 - Other Leagues
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#rugby #rugbyunion #top14

[@TwoCentsRugby]

Which Comp is currently the best in the world folks? Also timestamps for the various competitions are available in the description

[@alanfox691]

Alan Shields Hamilton South Lanarkshire Scotland. 1 : Top 14 2 : U.R.C. 3 : Super Rugby 4 : Premiership 5 : Top League ( Japan) 6 : M.L.R. but in terms of both codes N.R.L. markets it's self the best. The Top 14 marketing is poor outside of France. The U.R.C has improved because of The South African teams involvement. The Premiership has become a financial cemetery for Rugby Union. Super Rugby is far to dominanted buy Crusaders. The Japanese have the money to make The Top League financially attractive to top players so I think that Tournament will grow & grow& potentially over take The Top 14 in 15 to 20 years from now. M.L.R. is still trying to grow for me it's difficult to say yet how it works out for M.L.R. From what they where saying on The Brack Down last weekend they where saying Soccer ( Football ) & Basketball are more popular with Children in New Zealand than Rugby Union is now & that's if children are even interested in Sports now with lots in to gameing. I think Super Rugby has been very much impacted buy The Pandemic as I would say has The N.H.L in North America I think both have been hit drastically financially buy The Pandemic more so than other tournaments in other sports. I think Super Rugby needs better T.V deals look what M.L.S has done with Apple why cant Super Rugby do a global deal with Amazon , Netflix or Disney + Super Rugby is not progressive for be it's to entrenched in doing things the way they have always been done Super Rugby needs to get innovative & be forward looking not clinging on to the past. Keep Safe.

[@jonathonwhitiora8102]

@@alanfox691 FOR RUGBY UNION WISE TOP 14 IS WAY BETTER THAN SUPER RUGBY AOTEAROA LEAGUE IS DIFFERENT FOOTBALL CODE WHICH IS GOOD IN ITS OWN WAY NRL IS THE BEST DOMESTIC COMP IN THE WORLD OF LEAGUE BETTER THAN THE UK SUPER LEAGUE

[@brianwahinya1245]

Without a doubt..its like the rugby equivalent of the Premier League

[@Bwk-mj4pm]

100%. All the best players are starting to move there. It has the money needed for this sport that no other league has, they are getting the best players as of late, it’s the most competitive with lower teams being able to beat the top ones, a relegation, and the most passionate fans and always play in front of sold out crowds.

[@victoriaa2281]

I am absolutely drinking the Top14 Kool-Aid at the moment, if not for the rugby itself, but for everything surrounding it. The fans, the atmosphere, the promotion-relegation, just all round loving French rugby and enjoying being here for it.

[@TwoCentsRugby]

It does seem to be a full package deal! In NZ the rugby is good, the viewership numbers are apparently good, but there is no 'mojo' for Super Rugby at all, I see more NRL jerseys being worn around Auckland...

[@victoriaa2281]

@@TwoCentsRugby Growing up in South Auckland, no one cared about Super Rugby, it's all NRL and State of Origin. With the Warriors finally having a good season too, love to see it. Speaking of jerseys, big sale on in the UBB shop at the moment and I'm back in NZ in two weeks, let me know if you're interested in any gear.

[@TwoCentsRugby]

I think I need to get better use out of the existing one before I add more UBB gear to the collection! Maybe if Sky picks up the rights to the Top 14 one of these days ;) Hopefully the weather improves for your return cos it's been SHITE for ages with all the rain!

[@victoriaa2281]

@@TwoCentsRugby Yeah it's a shame there's no easy legal way to view Top14 from NZ. I think your channel would pick up a decent English speaking French audience if you were more easily able to cover the comp.

[@tinasherusike7458]

@@TwoCentsRugby This has to be very concerning for the future of NZ rugby. The top 14s popularity is heavily affecting all the other tier one comps except for Japanese rugby. They are attracting a lot of top talent from URC, Premiership Rugby and Super Rugby making those comps weaker. NZ rugby really needs its top athletes to be able to compete specifically with the NRL. Top 14 has good ratings but not as impressive as the NRL. The NRL has higher ratings in stadium attendances, tv viewership and social media following than the Top 14 which is very impressive considering that the Top 14 plays a much more global sport. NZ's Super Rugby TV audience is 75% Boomers and Gen Xers. 15 years time NZs sporting landscape could look very different

[@benmarshall5132]

It's my absolute favourite to watch. The atmosphere of the stadiums, the tension of the Barrage and the overall quality of rugby makes it the best for me.

[@Bwk-mj4pm]

Yup. 100%. Curious to know who you support? I’m American and hate to be a bandwagoner, but I do really like Toulouse. Kinda like rooting for Man City, but I’ll take the bandwagoner title 😂

[@MrGTO86]

I'm seriously thinking of learning French so I can experience the whole thing firsthand without translation. I believe it's the best comp on the planet right now and I'm Kenyan, definitely not French.

[@TwoCentsRugby]

Yeah man I feel like the language thing is maybe one barrier for entry for non-French speakers? In NZ we used to get games with English commentary and an English weekly wrap up show as well... I don't think they renewed the rights though

[@brianwahinya1245]

Ligi kubwa!I just streamed them in English

[@rogerpattube]

Learning a different language is a noble endeavour.

[@alanfox691]

​@@TwoCentsRugby In The U.K. Viaplay how took over from Premier Sports show 4 top 14 games a weekend but there Coverage of the final cut off before the trophy presentation that was poor from Viaplay. The one thing that lets The Top 14 down big time is the lack of marketing outside of France. With The Top 14 the T.V Coverage outside of France is terrible & also Merchandise is not easy to find online it's very limited but on pitch it is the best.

[@justsceptic3085]

it must be easy coz 40% OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS FRENCH...

[@jlsimonable]

What i like in the top 14 is that the 6th , 7th or 8 th teams are pretty good. (depth)Crowds are strong

[@Exiletwf]

For the Australian Attendance in SuperRugby Pacific, I would like to offer the following information. Western Force had a very consistent 6500 fans show up for home games. The only time that number was broken was for the final home game of the season vs the Chiefs. where 10,500 attended. All of the additional fans were very obviously local Chiefs fans. Reds and Waratahs have around 8-10,000 but it's difficult as both teams play in Large Stadiums and their numbers look smaller because of the additional empty seats. Brumbies struggle for numbers at times when the weather gets colder. Melbourne Rebels never announce their attendance figures. But at times it appears they have more seagulls attending than people.

[@TwoCentsRugby]

Bro that seagulls comment had me cracking up

[@thewielloyd988]

It's crazy that the Rebels get such poor attendance given they actually play really attractive rugby. Need more atmosphere than AAMI Park can offer at this stage unfortunately.

[@joshuabutler4271]

@@thewielloyd988 it's odd because for a AA stadium you are soo close to the action. The front seats are genuinely closer to the sides than the end zone is to the goal line. There are lots of seagulls for sure

[@Samizouza]

Which means that the AU teams need serious work on marketing and advertising games with reasonable prices for tickets, food, drinks, and merch, especially when they're competing against the AFL and NRL for crowds.

[@thewielloyd988]

@@Samizouza Damn straight they do. RA just sacked their head of marketing so hopefully that signals a more aggressive approach is on the way. The Newtown Jets suburban League team in Sydney does a cracking craft beer festival round each year at their suburban ground and it’s always a cracker. The AU Super teams need to start experimenting with stuff like that. Craft beer, food trucks and the A-B demographic that Rugby offers sounds like a match made in heaven (which coincidentally is where Rugby is played).

[@trevorcairns6535]

Premier sports has top 14 in uk and Ireland,4 matches at least every weekend. Had the pleasure of going to Clermont last game of this season against Racing this year the atmosphere was amazing

[@alanfox691]

I think you mean Viaplay not Premier Sports they bought out Premier Sports. There Coverage of the Final was absolutely terrible though.

[@trevorcairns6535]

@@alanfox691 using now TV stick still shows as Premier sports on that

[@rogerpattube]

Glad you took my hint for topic! 😅

[@jpb7887]

In France, Rugby is not far from Football about popularity and being nb1 sport, that may explain. Last Top 14 final was amazing in front of 80000 fans; Probably you would have more English speaking French followers if you would speak about Top 14 results from time to time. Pro D2 (French 2nd division) is also very competitive.

[@teocarre4026]

Thats mostly in the south though and a few pockets elsewhere, rugby is no where near being as big as football in france or as popular

[@jakeclough8090]

Well that’s a big of a stupid stat to use really mate, the premiership final sometimes gets 80,000 and this year it was about 62,000 and wembley holds 90,000 for the football events but I’d say the difference is way more than that, so you can’t use one off finals for comparing the sports. The football league, Ligue Un, averages about 10,000 more per match when the top 14, with more teams in that league and more spread out across the country. Additionally ligue un isn’t the strongest football league in the world and isn’t always competitive with PSG being dominant, so rugby is still a quite a far way behind football in France.

[@Bwk-mj4pm]

Yup. So true. Where Premiership didn’t even fill Twick for last years final. Curious to know who you support? I’m American and hate to be a bandwagoner, but I do really like Toulouse. Kinda like rooting for Man City, but I’ll take the bandwagoner title 😂

[@jamiebatch2470]

I think the quality of the competitions is pretty much in the order you have them on the board. The Top 14 is such a great watch. So competitive. It's such a shame you don't get it in NZ.

[@ThomasBarthoulot]

Hi, here's a detailed average audience by game by city in the top 14 (22-23 season) Of course stadium size plays a big role, for instance La Rochelle have been sold out for the entire season but have a smaller stadium being a smaller city (population of around 75 000 ) : 1/ Bordeaux 28 126 2/ Toulouse 20 801 3/ Toulon 17 870 4/ Lyon 16 405 5/ La Rochelle 16 000 6/ Clermont 15 983 7/ Bayonne 15 211 8/ Perpignan 12 519 9/ Pau 11 218 10/ Stade-Français 11 199 11/ Racing 92 11 095 12/ Montpellier 11 095 13/ Brive 10 306 14/ Castres 9 798

[@victoriaa2281]

Ah yes, Stade Chaban Delmas was sold out almost every week I think. Fantastic atmosphere. Bayonne games are great too with Peña Baiona and Hegoak in full voice

[@okiwatashi2349]

Edinburgh and Glasgow usually are close to sell out most games I think. It’s better to have a full Dam health stadium rather than one stand of murrayfield full. I agree though, generally the top 14 games are of a better quality, or at least consistency is better.

[@Fl_OODY]

If only the NPC was developed into a similar competition to the top 14. I think we need to make it the premier competition here.

[@collian]

I've always believed that too.

[@alexnaismith351]

We don’t have the population and player base to sustain that though. And choosing a squad from so many clubs would take away the All Blacks cohesion advantage.

[@Fl_OODY]

@@alexnaismith351 I feel we definitely have the players to make it happen, NPC is already a legit comp. I just think the issue would be funding of the teams. Turning 14 teams into fully professional squads for the course of a whole year would take a fair bit of money. NZR won’t want to do that and I guess that’s where other leagues have the advantage in that clubs are privately owned by millionaires or massive companies.

[@collian]

​@@alexnaismith351yes but that would always be the case....im thinking more in terms of engagement and interest. Super rugby is stale.. I would reduce NPC premiership to 8 teams. And champions league the top 4 teams against oz, japan etc.... like the old super 10 comp.

[@alanfox691]

I am Scottish but I agree that would be a far better option than Super Rugby. Super Rugby is just not competitive enough most seasons Crusaders win it what do The Australian trams really add in reality.

[@seanofarrell8896]

I personally think there is a gap between the top sides and bottom sides in the urc i feel once teams know they can't make Europe or the knock outs i feel they just play for pride i feel there needs to be a 2nd tier make it stronger so it is no get relegated and get promoted the following year. Remember like the premiership the top14 is only in one country compared to other league's

[@stephanebaixas2453]

Hi Marc, maybe you could prepare some videos explaining how these competitions are working ? Where are the team located ? Is there any relegation/promotion system ? Is there lower divisions (like Pro D2 in France) ? What are the average team budgets ? For instance, Top14 is a regular Championship but the 6 first teams must play a small tournament (quarter, semi and final) to get the title. First team in regular season is not necessarily the champion.

[@TwoCentsRugby]

Yeah I did do a video about three years ago on this - it's out of date now though cos Super Rugby destructed and the URC came along

[@kepprr]

Hey TwoCents, I know you like to keep your opinions to yourself a lot and be very open, however since all the teams are now revealing there jerseys for 2023, would you consider doing a mainstream “S A B C D tier” tier list on your thoughts on home and away jerseys this year?

[@winterrising8738]

the all blacks one would be an E

[@benjicool2808]

The thing is the top 14 is definitely the first rugby club competition, but actually Pro D2 might be the second best in the world

[@peteruren2050]

Let's just face facts. The money is in France right now. My team, Racing 92 just signed Kolisi. I'm pretty certain he's doing it for the money. But why not? As a rugby player you only have a short career and I can confirm Paris is quite a nice place to live, despite the riots

[@alanfox691]

Allez Toulouse. I had family there for 6 years on my Dads side work took them there.

[@peteruren2050]

@@alanfox691 I'm going to hazard a guess and say they worked for Airbus?? I know someone who does and they say it's a very multi-national workforce.

[@joshuabutler4271]

Top 14 is broadly difficult to access legally. It's not just NZ; Australia and even the UK don't have great access to it.

[@TwoCentsRugby]

It does seem crazy so many places don't have a deal in place.... We used to get it here, maybe 3 or 4 years ago?

[@johnryan509]

I watch most of my rugby through PremierSportsAsia now and yeah I cannot watch the Top14 either.

[@jennifer68]

It’s still a bit tricky to get to watch it here in the UK, usually it’s on BT Sport or something similar. Usually end up watching all the games days later when some lovely person puts them on KZbin 😊 x

[@Bwk-mj4pm]

Do you get Flo Rugby in the UK? All the games are on there for 150$/year. Curious to know who you support in Top 14 if any? I’m American and hate to be a bandwagoner, but I do really like Toulouse. Kinda like rooting for Man City, but I’ll take the bandwagoner title 😂

[@nakedref8997]

Compare Super Rugby before we started expanding to today, we really shot ourselves in the face. I’ve been to all the major European finals since I’ve been over here. They’ve all been amazing in their own right but (my bias Tigers glasses aside) the Top 14 has to take the cake, most of it due to the off field atmosphere. I remember cars that had driven up from Clermont going through Paris, flags hanging off every available surface of the vehicle, music blasting. MASSIVE official Top 14 fan zone/party on the grassy field by the Eiffel Tower, all the regular tourists wouldn’t have had the foggiest what was going on. Big parade within the stadium with some (Greek?) goddesses on a double decker bus escorting the trophy around. The most tense game I’ve ever seen, only penalties, but the fans were incredible. The most epic atmosphere I’ve ever experienced as a neutral.

[@f1j11slander4]

Premiership Rugby attendance is usually always good, but for most of the game u could probably hear a pin drop it gets that quiet. When u compare them to the Top14, they are on totally different levels.

[@Bwk-mj4pm]

Yup. That’s why Premeirship is dying in interest for me. Many empty seats. Quiet crowds and doesn’t feel there is much passion and strong atmosphere. Also, losing 3 teams and having only 10 teams in the entire league ruins the competitiveness for me and no relegation takes away from my interest. I started watching rugby in 2018 on the Premiership, and it holds a place in my heart because of that, but the league is in a horrible place and makes it less fun to watch

[@ricotalactea]

Toulon being 7th with their budget speaks about the level of competition

[@rugbyrese15]

I love the tribalism within and around the Top 14 and that gives it the edge.

[@Bwk-mj4pm]

Yup. So true. Curious to know who you support? I’m American and hate to be a bandwagoner, but I do really like Toulouse. Kinda like rooting for Man City, but I’ll take the bandwagoner title 😂

[@brom18711]

From a historical perspective, highlights of South African domestic rugby from the 1980's are eye opening. AFL sized full stadiums with equal atmosphere. I can see why rugby was a big thing - politically speaking - during that incarnation of South Africa.

[@tinasherusike7458]

In those days even Zimbabwe was pulling in 25 000 in Harare for Currie Cup games

[@gezzarandom]

The URC does suffer from squad rotation, especially when there are Champions Cup fixtures and internationals. It’ll be interesting to do a count of how often teams would put out their full strength teams during the season.

[@ChrisBrown-or8ky]

In nz so can't watch top14, so when I watched a stack of Heineken cup, i chose matches with the french club. Mostly impressive. Couple of disappointments, but wondered if they were concentrating on top 14 and resting players. My pov is that the spread of top players across so many competitions will lead to more leagues in the same state as srp and urc. A few top teams and the rest battling. Essentially, I'm far more interested in watching the top urc and Gallagher prem teams play each other than the landers vs the rebels. Sad maybe, but quality is quality

[@MauriceLeahy]

More Sunday afternoon games in NZ would help crowd attendances at super rugby games i believe

[@TwoCentsRugby]

Yeah man I'd be WAY more likely to take my son in the afternoon - rather than 7:05pm which means I don't get him home until probably closer till 10pm

[@victoriaa2281]

Definitely, would love to see NZ tap into the family atmosphere more. Though it's funny how different start times are accepted in different cultures. I've been to a couple of 9pm Sunday kickoffs here in France. NZ could never 🤣

[@johnryan509]

League One in Japan is 100% based on who has the money to buy the best players. It is rumoured here that (NTT) Urayasu D-Rocks have a budget of over two billion yen since merging the two previous NTT teams into one (and the rebranding of teams to include city names). I spend some time for work in Urayasu city and you can see buses covered in the teams colours, a pop-up shop in Shin-Urayasu station and met players out and about meeting folks. So, I would predict big things from them in the seasons to come whereas Suntory (Sungoliaths) , Toshiba (Brave Lupus) and Panasonic (Wild Knights) would have been the usual top teams. EDIT - TOP14 the "best" league in my opinion.

[@Samizouza]

No surprise there, a crossover comp between League One and SR would give it an extra umph in attendance IMO. Anyways the Top14 is thriving compared to the Premiership with three axed teams due to financial issues which is unfortunate. And the two comps in the Americas have a long way to go but its definitely helping alot with the growth of rugby there.

[@yvonnemullen3325]

I feel like the Welsh teams would go under if the structure was even a little bit like the Prem. Great video.

[@Noobkx]

Top 14 certainly seems like the healthiest league at the moment. Every league could be healthier though. The world game aspect of rugby and nation play really kills some of the local leagues. Too many national games in my opinion. But if you take those top 4 leagues on the board, they could all do better if international play did not affect their seasons. The champions league stuff seems detrimental too. It’s cool to see the best teams play each other, but again it waters down the local leagues.

[@YOUSEFTECALB]

If the Top 14 is the best league in the world then the Pro D2 has to be the most wackiest league.

[@conorcahill5422]

To me, I can definitely say the Top 14 is the Premier Competition; however the URC is gaining ground and momentum each season. The ever-increasing Saffa base is a huge reason, plus the fact it's the only club competition in the whole rugby world where North meets South. no other league has that unique trait. Munster were 5th in the league before they won it and Connacht were 7th but made the semi-final. It's starting to get more and more competitive, and to me, if it keeps going in fanbase, media followers, attraction of the world's best players, it will surpass the Top 14 no problem at all.

[@tinasherusike7458]

South Africa has brought with them Super Rugby problems to the URC. URC ratings have been very mediocre and if you are not pulling in good crowds and good tv viewership in these 1st few seasons then the future is going to be bleak. I dont think URC has the legs to last 10 seasons. I know the Welsh are not thrilled about it

[@conorcahill5422]

@@tinasherusike7458 They're not thrilled about it but even they know it's not the URC's fault their clubs are in a predicament. It's solely down to the poor management and handling of situations by the WRU.

[@tinasherusike7458]

@@conorcahill5422 Scottish clubs along with Irish, Welsh and English clubs are all still struggling to make profits and rely heavily on support from their unions. Also when you look at the overall revenue of the URC that comp makes less revenue than the Azerbaijan Soccer League, Mexican Baseball, 3rd tier Japanese Football and Bangladesh 20/20 cricket. For a comp that includes 6 tier one nations its very obvious that its in desperate need for a lot of growth but its hard to imagine growth when the club game is also suffering in other tier 1 markets. In fact the fact that 2 cent rugby has MLR and Super Rugby Americas on that board really shows the lack of depth and opportunities in professional rugby. Many of the athletes that play in those leagues are semi-pro with most of the clubs still playing in front of a few hundred spectators. He should have just included Pro D2 and D3 instead.

[@TOTN17]

Top 14 is on Bein Sport in Australia might be the case in NZ

[@Sixfootsix]

What is going to happen next year with the premiership? Will teams get promoted from lower leagues?

[@TrystaneTheBlack]

It's certainly more exciting than super rugby

[@JCASSETTES]

Here in south africa we use to get the Top 14 up until URC came to us then our biggest sport broadcaster started pushing the URC

[@somersetfan1]

English Premiership started to slide when Saracens got relegated. These days the English teams really lack depth... which is down to the salary cap... which is down to attendances/tv deals/big money owners. The clubs that went under, Worcester was down to mismanagement, London Irish and Wasps, I think ultimately down to the lack of a permanent home which is probably down to property prices in London, so their supporter base fizzled away.

[@silversolver7809]

Mark, are you catching the U-20 World Cup, which is now at semi-final stage? It's good stuff.

[@TwoCentsRugby]

Yes bro been watching!

[@uSbusiso_]

I miss super rugby with 🇿🇦🇭🇲🇦🇺🇦🇷

[@jack88liyuan]

Yes this super rugby sucks

[@rogerpattube]

Traitorous Jappies.

[@uSbusiso_]

@@jack88liyuan from 9am to 10pm we had rugby followed with a dreadful hangover Sunday 😢 good ol days

[@fleshen]

Can't see it ever coming back to that!

[@april-tui3524]

I have to admit I don’t watch the Top 14, maybe I’m missing out! I like that the teams are more evenly matched and quite competitive, tends to mean they’re good games to watch.

[@TwoCentsRugby]

Yeah I know they don't show it here, and someone else mentioned it's not shown in the UK! So it's maybe no wonder some of us are missing out!

[@april-tui3524]

@@TwoCentsRugby 😂 ok that explains it!

[@alanfox691]

You are missing out big time.

[@victoriaa2281]

Hey April-Tui, usually the games are good but there can also be a lot of stinkers with big scorelines made up of penalties. The atmosphere of the comp is where it's at though.

[@april-tui3524]

@@victoriaa2281 hey! Thank you for that :)

[@frankerck]

MLR Championship this weekend, San Diego v New England.

[@iamnutty8471]

you missed 1 other league Rugby Europe Super Cup which is PAn europe outside the big comps with teams from portugal , israel to georgia!

[@TwoCentsRugby]

Oh yeah the Georgian team - the Black Lions are the only team I'm familiar with!

[@iamnutty8471]

@@TwoCentsRugby could you do a quick piece on Avg age of team Vs WC winners/runners up!

[@onlookervb]

It's definitely the best run, best produced and most intense but its probably my third favourite league to watch in terms of the games themselves

[@ottavio2dr]

Well, your questiong could be justified if you wouldn't try to compare a true domestic competitiom with international ones...URC, as Super are international competitions so not really domestic ones. If you look at the atemdance numbers, than is no matter of discution; one game in TOP 14 could some up the Super, Premiership and URC put together.

[@Slipperygecko390]

For Rugby, the NPC is my favorite, because it always surprises me and delivers more than I expect of it, the shield makes it special too. But I don't watch much NH rugby tbh, I watched the LR vs Leinster final and I thought it was ref'd slowly. The game was fast when they did play, but it seemed like they spent a lot of time not playing, especially with how much time they've been playing in Super this year. Outside that, the atmosphere and intensity was really good, felt like an NBL game. It became a bit of a meme with millennials to not like rugby if they weren't playing it themselves, as well as all the other cool shiney sports that turned up over the last 20 years, and video games. I think inflation is going to be good for NZ Rugby though, mountain bikes are way too expensive now and kids don't have boomer parents to fund their expensive hobbys...Under 85kg's game needs to be invested in I reckon.

[@thewielloyd988]

Yeah rugby has so much competition for attention nowadays, not just from other sports but also from constant, on-demand entertainment cheaply funnelled into every home at every hour. Feels like the Rugby Unions need to invest in a touch version of the game that's more compelling and less one-out than touch league or Oztag to capture those that don't have the appetite for contact at a young age. And when they do come up with something, a little investment in marketing it to people would be nice too. (Looking at you Rugby Australia.)

[@ablocd]

just like super rugby back in the days ay 😂

[@izakslabbert3534]

The Stormers had a 30000 average attendance this past season.

[@TwoCentsRugby]

They did get 30k against the Sharks and Bulls in the regular season, then a bump in numbers for the finals, but when the northern teams came to town in the regular season it was a lot lower (some less than 10k), which makes sense I guess

[@tuhuster]

Top 14 and HC is the best in the world. Super Rugby NZ team is quality

[@elliearmstrong9843]

i miss watching the top 14 :(

[@n-tertainmentx-tended4760]

Nearly every major French city is experiencing riots, yet the Frenchies can't stay away from their rugby. I reckon France is on the verge of becoming a superpower in union - will probably leave British teams in the dust. I'm not a fan of them recruiting Pacific players or South African players, but it is what it is.

[@9502937]

I’ve watched a bit of both this season (on FloRugby in the states). My opinion is that Super Rugby has a higher level of play among the top five or so teams, but Top 14 is more competitive across the board without as many mismatched contests.

[@hartley9958]

You can start up twenty new comps it will still have the same rules that are killing rugby today...

[@ianhorn5975]

Currie cup???

[@clemfandango619]

The Premiership's decline is shocking.

[@billasgija390]

By a mile

[@Stephno86]

NOPE! URC is far! better :)

[@alanfox691]

I am Scottish I Scottish I strongly disagree The Top 14 is buy a billion miles supper to The U.R.C. The U.R.C has to many none comparative games Dragons & Zebre offer nothing never have.

[@therugbynoise2116]

Nah it's not hard to make that statement when the so called domestic top14 is full of overseas players and kiwi I might add ex all Blacks but hey let the french have moment in the home RWC year🎉

[@polo-cx3ze]

It was like that on the past but there is less and less. French club should have an average of at least 16 french on 23 player per game. Next year it will be 17.

[@fleshen]

@@polo-cx3ze Exactly! Times are a changing and it's upsetting some people!

[@thegoodgunner]

Actually that s completely BS,few years it was ,the toulon,montpellier,racing were spending on the best foreign,that's when france was dreadfull,since then the federation has push for club to have a minimum french player,plus french league doesn't stop for any internationnal test 6nation so the young player get more chances too