RUGBY UNION WILL have a brief spot in the Australian limelight on Saturday evening with Sydney’s Allianz Stadium sold out, and a big TV audience expected when the Wallabies host Andy Farrell’s Ireland.
As is the case in Ireland with Virgin Media showing the game [KO 11.10am Irish time], this Nations Championship opener will be screened live on free-to-air TV in Australia, with Channel 9 carrying the broadcast.
This will mean a big TV audience, with the hope being that the game could get close to one million viewers.
By Aussie rugby union standards today, that would be serious going. There is ridiculous competition for sporting attention Down Under.
Over the past week, you wouldn’t have guessed that there was a big international rugby union game coming up in Sydney. That tends to be the case with union in a city that loves its rugby league and where AFL is particularly hot right now.
But the naming of Joe Schmidt and Farrell’s teams on Thursday helped create a few ripples in the lake, with news bulletins carrying word of some of the Wallabies head coach’s more surprising selection decisions.
The sell-out at the 42,5000-capacity Allianz Stadium has helped to create positivity too. There was consideration given to hosting the Ireland game at the much bigger Accor Stadium, which is where the Lions and Wallabies played their third Test last summer.
Yet there were doubts that all 83,500 tickets would have been sold for that venue, and no one wanted swathes of empty seats. It’s never a good look. Allianz Stadium is a cracking venue that was opened in 2022 on the site of the old Sydney Football Stadium.
The atmosphere promises to be rocking with such a big crowd of Irish expats expected, along with the Wallabies fans who want to see much better from their team after last year’s promising form trailed off in the November Tests.
Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
But the truth is that rugby union is not top of Australians’ minds right now. At 4am local time on Saturday morning, the Socceroos play Egypt in the World Cup round of 32, aiming for their nation’s first-ever knock-out win at the competition.
Pubs and bars have been permitted to stay open for the game, and there were plenty of sightings of people heading out on the town in their Australia jerseys early on Friday evening. They clearly had no plans to sleep before the big game.
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There will be fan zones open despite the early hour too, with Australia coming together to will their men past the Egyptians.
SBS, who show the Socceroos’ games here, said that a record 4.84 million people watched the final pool game against Paraguay. And there were people packing out the fan zones for that one too.
The World Cup is massively on the agenda in Sydney, where expat communities from all countries have been gathering in force for their homelands’ games. Hearty roars of celebration in the wee hours of the morning have been commonplace.
And, as ever, rugby league is on Sydney’s mind.
The deciding leg of the annual three-game State of Origin series between Queensland and New South Wales, home to Sydney, takes place in Brisbane on Wednesday evening. People all over Sydney will be glued to it, with nationwide TV audiences of more than four million common.
The Blues and the Maroons have won a game apiece so far, with both matches offering the usual thrills, spills, and an astonishing quality of rugby.
‘The most anticipated game of all time’ is how the organisers are billing this decider, and while that’s probably over the top, it is nicely teed up.
State of Origin rarely fails to deliver, and Australian rugby league is excellent at hyping itself up, in stark contrast to rugby union’s seemingly never-ending routine of doom and gloom.
All the while, the NRL – the national club rugby league competition – continues this weekend. It gets huge media coverage in this neck of the woods. Many Aussies will be watching the NRL on Saturday night, rather than the Wallabies.
More than 90,000 people were at the MCG in Melbourne for Origin II. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Much of the discussion recently has been about the NRL’s reported new $5.3 billion TV deal, which is set to top the already staggering deal in place for AFL, the Aussie rules competition. These are simply unimaginable figures for rugby union.
The NRL is currently in the process of expanding from 17 to 19 clubs for the 2028 season, with the two new franchises based in Perth and Papua New Guinea.
Of course, the NRL will need more players for this expansion, and they will look to the rugby union pathways for many of them.
Remarkably, Perth’s new recruitment guru is none other than Wallabies rugby union legend David Campese. That appointment stunned many in union circles.
Aussie rules is big in Sydney too, with the Sydney Swans flying high in second place in the AFL ladder.
The AFL is also expanding in 2028, with the Tasmania Devils joining the fun.
So Aussie rules is a hot ticket, with everyone wanting in on the action while the Swans, who have a stunning $70 million training base, are winning games.
And this is the bottom line in Australia, where cricket, basketball, water-based pursuits, and other sports provide competition for athletes, eyeballs, dollars, and media coverage.
Despite the obvious challenges, the past week has underlined once again that the grassroots in Australian rugby union are in decent nick. There is passion and vibrancy at schools and club level.
Here in Sydney, the Shute Shield has a loyal, engaged following and clubs have strong bonds with their supporters. There are also some incredible rugby union programmes at the top Sydney schools, as is the case in Brisbane.
The Sydney Swans are a big draw in the city. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
The Wallabies are still a big draw too. The problem seems to be the bit in the middle, with rugby league drawing off plenty of players, but Australian rugby union is seemingly struggling to get its pathway into prime working order from bottom to top.
But that won’t be on people’s minds on Saturday night as the Wallabies look to end a five-game losing streak against Ireland.
The Irish fans will flock to the stadium from Bondi and Randwick and Coogee. Having been here for a week now, even in the middle of winter, it is very easy to see why some of these Irish people might never move home from this pulsating, multicultural city.
Farrell has made a big thing about his Ireland team representing those supporters on Saturday night. He told his players that the Irish fans are the envy of the rugby world.
They’ll be there in their droves, and Ireland want to do them proud.
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Ireland get Saturday night Aussie limelight amid staggering competition
RUGBY UNION WILL have a brief spot in the Australian limelight on Saturday evening with Sydney’s Allianz Stadium sold out, and a big TV audience expected when the Wallabies host Andy Farrell’s Ireland.
As is the case in Ireland with Virgin Media showing the game [KO 11.10am Irish time], this Nations Championship opener will be screened live on free-to-air TV in Australia, with Channel 9 carrying the broadcast.
This will mean a big TV audience, with the hope being that the game could get close to one million viewers.
By Aussie rugby union standards today, that would be serious going. There is ridiculous competition for sporting attention Down Under.
Over the past week, you wouldn’t have guessed that there was a big international rugby union game coming up in Sydney. That tends to be the case with union in a city that loves its rugby league and where AFL is particularly hot right now.
But the naming of Joe Schmidt and Farrell’s teams on Thursday helped create a few ripples in the lake, with news bulletins carrying word of some of the Wallabies head coach’s more surprising selection decisions.
The sell-out at the 42,5000-capacity Allianz Stadium has helped to create positivity too. There was consideration given to hosting the Ireland game at the much bigger Accor Stadium, which is where the Lions and Wallabies played their third Test last summer.
Yet there were doubts that all 83,500 tickets would have been sold for that venue, and no one wanted swathes of empty seats. It’s never a good look. Allianz Stadium is a cracking venue that was opened in 2022 on the site of the old Sydney Football Stadium.
The atmosphere promises to be rocking with such a big crowd of Irish expats expected, along with the Wallabies fans who want to see much better from their team after last year’s promising form trailed off in the November Tests.
But the truth is that rugby union is not top of Australians’ minds right now. At 4am local time on Saturday morning, the Socceroos play Egypt in the World Cup round of 32, aiming for their nation’s first-ever knock-out win at the competition.
Pubs and bars have been permitted to stay open for the game, and there were plenty of sightings of people heading out on the town in their Australia jerseys early on Friday evening. They clearly had no plans to sleep before the big game.
There will be fan zones open despite the early hour too, with Australia coming together to will their men past the Egyptians.
SBS, who show the Socceroos’ games here, said that a record 4.84 million people watched the final pool game against Paraguay. And there were people packing out the fan zones for that one too.
The World Cup is massively on the agenda in Sydney, where expat communities from all countries have been gathering in force for their homelands’ games. Hearty roars of celebration in the wee hours of the morning have been commonplace.
And, as ever, rugby league is on Sydney’s mind.
The deciding leg of the annual three-game State of Origin series between Queensland and New South Wales, home to Sydney, takes place in Brisbane on Wednesday evening. People all over Sydney will be glued to it, with nationwide TV audiences of more than four million common.
The Blues and the Maroons have won a game apiece so far, with both matches offering the usual thrills, spills, and an astonishing quality of rugby.
‘The most anticipated game of all time’ is how the organisers are billing this decider, and while that’s probably over the top, it is nicely teed up.
State of Origin rarely fails to deliver, and Australian rugby league is excellent at hyping itself up, in stark contrast to rugby union’s seemingly never-ending routine of doom and gloom.
All the while, the NRL – the national club rugby league competition – continues this weekend. It gets huge media coverage in this neck of the woods. Many Aussies will be watching the NRL on Saturday night, rather than the Wallabies.
Much of the discussion recently has been about the NRL’s reported new $5.3 billion TV deal, which is set to top the already staggering deal in place for AFL, the Aussie rules competition. These are simply unimaginable figures for rugby union.
The NRL is currently in the process of expanding from 17 to 19 clubs for the 2028 season, with the two new franchises based in Perth and Papua New Guinea.
Of course, the NRL will need more players for this expansion, and they will look to the rugby union pathways for many of them.
Remarkably, Perth’s new recruitment guru is none other than Wallabies rugby union legend David Campese. That appointment stunned many in union circles.
Aussie rules is big in Sydney too, with the Sydney Swans flying high in second place in the AFL ladder.
The AFL is also expanding in 2028, with the Tasmania Devils joining the fun.
So Aussie rules is a hot ticket, with everyone wanting in on the action while the Swans, who have a stunning $70 million training base, are winning games.
And this is the bottom line in Australia, where cricket, basketball, water-based pursuits, and other sports provide competition for athletes, eyeballs, dollars, and media coverage.
Despite the obvious challenges, the past week has underlined once again that the grassroots in Australian rugby union are in decent nick. There is passion and vibrancy at schools and club level.
Here in Sydney, the Shute Shield has a loyal, engaged following and clubs have strong bonds with their supporters. There are also some incredible rugby union programmes at the top Sydney schools, as is the case in Brisbane.
The Wallabies are still a big draw too. The problem seems to be the bit in the middle, with rugby league drawing off plenty of players, but Australian rugby union is seemingly struggling to get its pathway into prime working order from bottom to top.
But that won’t be on people’s minds on Saturday night as the Wallabies look to end a five-game losing streak against Ireland.
The Irish fans will flock to the stadium from Bondi and Randwick and Coogee. Having been here for a week now, even in the middle of winter, it is very easy to see why some of these Irish people might never move home from this pulsating, multicultural city.
Farrell has made a big thing about his Ireland team representing those supporters on Saturday night. He told his players that the Irish fans are the envy of the rugby world.
They’ll be there in their droves, and Ireland want to do them proud.
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Australia County Coogee Ireland Letter from Australia Sydney