I never thought I'd say this!

I'm not sure that it's all down to cost as the cause of 20,000 empty seats at Saturday's game against Australia.

When I was younger, visits to these shores by Australia, the All Blacks and Springboks were on a regular cycle, but there were long periods of time between each visit. Autumn internationals on an annual basis make those visits far less special, in fact they make it easier to see Australia at the Millennium stadium than England or Scotland who visit every two years. Add that factor to Sky's coverage of Tri-Nations rugby and the aura and mystique of southern hemisphere teams is eroded by familiarity. A few weeks ago my sister in law sent me a text from Ellis Park saying she was at the Lions game. I replied saying I was watching it on Sky and whereabouts were they sitting! Moving rugby into the full spotlight of televised sport has not been 100% beneficial for the health of the game.


nick