Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry: Mike Tindall picks player of the series and defends South African pilot flying through ‘exploding fireworks’
Rugby's Greatest Rivalry: Mike Tindall picks player of the series and defends South African pilot flying through 'exploding fireworks'
World Cup winner Mike Tindall has suggested holding one weekend of the Six Nations in America to generate interest in the States ahead of the 2031 global tournament.
Speaking on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast, Tindall reflected on the success of the recent Greatest Rivalry series final Test, set in Baltimore, USA.
Thousands of American fans turned up to watch two of the greatest teams compete in a thrilling decider. There’s no doubt the series was a success, and despite some criticism, the conclusion in the USA had all the theatrics the tour deserved.
Wishing to build upon the recent success, Tindall suggested: “I reckon you should take a Six Nations weekend over there.”
“All teams play, Baltimore, Chicago and New York, or keep it around the same area. I think it’d be an amazing idea. So, the amount of fans that would travel over there as well.
“If you’re doing that many games on one weekend, you’d have people who go watch two games or have a Friday night game and Sunday game, and do something on Saturday, and it’s what you need if you’re going to then take this World Cup there in 2031.”
The USA is quite clearly a sleeping giant. They often struggle to compete at high levels in sports that didn’t originate from the US due to the focus sports fans and athletes have on American Football, Baseball and Basketball, plus the likes of athletics and other similar disciplines.
If the nation can turn their attention to rugby, there’s no question as to what they could achieve. For now, however, it’s just about trying to capture that audience.
“There is a massive audience, and it is so easy to travel internally in that country,” continued Tindall. “So I think people travel.
“There’s reportedly 14 million rugby fans in America. Obviously, it’s small in the 400 million people that they’ve got, but for rugby, it’s arguably the biggest rugby network in the world.
“The women’s game is even more prime for America, because there is no women’s NFL.”
“I think he got excited, the pilot”
One country already known for its incredible atmosphere is South Africa, with one of their most famous traditions being the Ellis Park flyover.
The iconic Ellis Park flyover tradition began during the 1995 Rugby World Cup final when a South African Airways Boeing 747 flew low over the stadium, and it continues to be a staple today.
The opening round match of the Greatest Rivalry series saw the iconic flyover once again, but this time the reactions were mixed. The planes appeared to fly incredibly close to the stadium roof, raising concerns about the risks to human life that the stunt posed.
“I think he got excited, the pilot,” Tindall speculated, adding, “It was incredible, but I can imagine that flying through the exploding fireworks was not on the plan.”
Many thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle, however, with Tindall explaining: “That is like their Haka. It’s part of the warriors coming out and then the flyover that has been since ’95. It’s amazing and I love it. Sod health and safety.”
The flyover wasn’t the only reason to tune in; there was plenty of incredible rugby going on on the field. There were many fantastic showings from a whole host of world-class players, including Will Jordan, Damian Willemse, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Jordie Barrett, but Tindall argued that one player truly stood out.
“It would be hard to look past Malcolm Marx,” he said. “Pieter-Steph du Toit was fantastic again. Jesse Kriel. The thing is, they rotate quite a bit, so it’s hard to pick a man of the series because it is someone who then moves to the bench and then comes on and makes it, and that’s probably Malcolm Marx to a T, isn’t it?”
The 2025 World Rugby Player of the Year will surely be in contention to retain his crown after an outstanding series. His influence was evident throughout, but perhaps none more so than in the third Test, when he finished off a breathtaking maul try that steadily marched forward for what seemed like an eternity, with the All Blacks powerless to stop it.