Justin Marshall: New Zealanders ‘switch off’ when Australian sides play in ‘unhealthy’ Super Rugby Pacific

Colin Newboult
Hurricanes taking on the Waratahs in Super Rugby Pacific and former All Blacks scrum-half Justin Marshall (inset).

Hurricanes taking on the Waratahs in Super Rugby Pacific (James Foy/Speed Media AU/Iconsportswire) and former All Blacks scrum-half Justin Marshall.

All Blacks great Justin Marshall insists that the performances of the Australian franchises are vital if Super Rugby Pacific is going to be a success in 2025.

The New Zealand sides have dominated the various Super Rugby guises over recent years with 2014 the last time a team outside of the country won it.

In 2020, it became a trans-Tasman competition when South Africa were ousted, leaving the Kiwis to prey on their arch-rivals.

Two Pacific Island sides – Moana Pasifika and Fijian Drua – have since been added to create its current format, but there is little sign that the New Zealand franchises can be usurped.

Progression

That is Marshall’s main worry, but the 81-times capped former All Black saw improvements in Australia in 2024 and hopes that they can continue to progress.

“One word: Australia. If Australia can continue to grow from what we saw in the end-of-year tour then we’re going to be healthier for it,” he told DSPN with Martin Devlin.

“Let’s face it, and I’m not saying this arrogantly, it’s factual and the Australians know this. Basically, we tune into the derby games because that’s where the excitement levels are, that’s where the true contest is.

“In general, throughout the course of the year, it’s very rare that an Australian team would beat a New Zealand team, so we switch off. And that’s our players switching off to a degree as well.

“Yes, they’re still out there and they’ve got some healthy competition, but ultimately 85, 90 per cent of the time they’re winning those games against the Australian sides. It’s not healthy because it’s not creating the edge that they they need.

“Now that Australia have dropped the Rebels – hopefully reinforcing some of those other sides with squad depth and competition for places – they’re going to grow and be much more resilient.

“If they’re much more resilient, all of a sudden there’s no switching off. We’re going to actually want to tune in to the Crusaders or the Hurricanes or the Blues versus the Waratahs.”

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Australia’s strongest challenger

The Waratahs were the last non-New Zealand side to win Super Rugby and Marshall believes that they are the best placed Australian side this year.

Despite a few difficult seasons, the former All Black reckons that the Sydney-based outfit have benefited from the Melbourne Rebels’ demise and could well be a threat.

“By the look of the Waratahs squad, with what they’ve been bulked with by Rebels players, on paper they look really, really strong,” he said.

“That’s how the competition will grow, that’s how we will generate more excitement because all of a sudden every game is important.

“When Fijian Drua are playing in Fiji, you go, ‘man, you want to watch that’, because they can cause an upset, but when they travel, you kind of switch off.

“If all those dynamics come into play, every game we’re going to want to tune in to.”

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