this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2023
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Rugby Union
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Is that for a URC game? If it was at Murrayfield it must have looked empty!
Super Rugby's attendances are hard to guess and will change a bunch based on the home team and who they're playing. I'd guess some of the NZ home games against the weaker Aussie teams might only get around that many into the stands. But the big NZ derby matches would still be pulling over 15k regularly.
Hawkes Bay pre covid times would have been pulling in 6-8k crowds for the NPC fairly regularly. McLean Park is a 12-15k ground, and the stand opposite the camera isn't huge so even only half full it looks & sounds like a much bigger crowd.
There is a semi-permanent stadium behind Murrayfield now for 7.5K. So it must have been pretty busy. Edinburgh used to regularly struggle to break 4
But we're now 3 from 4 and so crowds might well stay this season!
Oh right, so they'd only put a URC game in Murrayfield if it was a big one like a playoff where the extra capacity is warranted?
One thing that was kinda cool about the NPC this year is the bigger unions that have struggled to fill their Super Rugby / International sized stadiums were forced to play games elsewhere because of the FIFA Womens World Cup taking over those stadiums. It made a lot more sense having NPC sized crowds in smaller grounds including a return to the Onewa Domain for the Battle of the Bridge this year. That ground hadn't hosted a match that big in 30 years.