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D'Arcy Waldegrave: Why strip back Super Rugby on a long weekend?

Author
D'Arcy Waldegrave ,
Publish Date
Sat, 4 Apr 2026, 9:09am
Codie Taylor of Crusaders dives towards the tryline to score during the round eight Super Rugby match between Crusaders and Fijian Drua at Apollo Projects Stadium, on April 03, 2026, in Christchurch, New Zealand. (Photo by Joe Allison/Getty Images)
Codie Taylor of Crusaders dives towards the tryline to score during the round eight Super Rugby match between Crusaders and Fijian Drua at Apollo Projects Stadium, on April 03, 2026, in Christchurch, New Zealand. (Photo by Joe Allison/Getty Images)

D'Arcy Waldegrave: Why strip back Super Rugby on a long weekend?

Author
D'Arcy Waldegrave ,
Publish Date
Sat, 4 Apr 2026, 9:09am

Easter is a strange time. For many reasons. I won’t do a deep dive into the relevance of compulsory days off attached to a particular belief code, I thought we were a secular society, but it is what it is right? I’ll take the break.

The idea that folk have a long weekend, loosely associated with an archaic concept, is music to most people's ears. A time to reconnect with family, hang out with friends or hide in a dark room watching sport – whatever floats your boat.

The CEO of Super Duper Rugby Pacific, Jack Mesley, joins Piney on Weekend Sport this afternoon to discuss the peeled back nature of this weekend's round.

Three games. That’s all. A captive audience, some with nothing to do, others hiding from their families, some needing to feed their footy habit. 

You could sensationalise this by saying 40% of the fixtures have been torched, but with such a slim comp, 40% is only two games. 

Still. Over the ditch in the NRL, the games have been stretched over five days. Full noise, full steam, full Easter long weekend programme. Yes, the NRL have the teams to do it with eight games to juggle, but even with five games, you’d hope that Super Rugby could capitalise on the long weekend. 

Negligent? Pragmatic? Meh? 

I’m very interested in what Jack Mesley has to say about this scheduling. With him in charge, the competition has embraced the warm props (the attending fans) and the couch bound eyeballs, so I’m presuming there is logic behind this threadbare showing.

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