SEASON REPORT

Transcription

1 SEASON REPORT

2 Contents Season overview... 3 Players... 6 Player of the Year... 6 Fans Player of the Year... 6 Tries by Position... 7 Top Try Scorer... 7 Top Points Scorer... 8 Kickers... 8 Teams... 9 Team of the Year... 9 Final League Table Match Attendances Weekly Score Statistics Season Score Statistics Marketing YouTube Facebook Twitter Website TV... 13

3 Season overview The inaugural year of BUCS Super Rugby (BSR) presented a step change in university rugby, providing a competitive platform for the best teams in the country to compete in weekly fixtures. Over the season 56 league matches and 10 cup games were contested. Over 2,750 points were scored including 347 tries. There were 22 games where the winning margin was five points or less, which highlights how competitive BSR has been. For the first time ever there has been weekly live coverage of BUCS sport. Due to this increased delivery there has been a steep learning curve, both from BUCS and our engagement partner, Rugby Vertical and competing institutions. The technical and physical demands of filming live games at university facilities, often not equipped to deal with this, has been a challenge. All BSR institutions have been very accommodating to the many requests this brings, which is appreciated by BUCS and Rugby Vertical. Streaming BSR live through YouTube has been well received and returned impressive viewing stats. It has taken university sport to audiences that would have previously been out of reach. The impact has been far reaching within HE and the wider rugby community. Social media statistics suggest BSR is the second most watched rugby league in England (behind the Premiership). Including the showpiece Championship Final, 23 games were filmed and shown live over the season. This created a YouTube viewership of approximately 202,000 in over 40 countries. Games were shown live in numerous locations including student unions, bars and pubs, rugby clubs and countless living rooms. We know this through fan engagement as those watching were telling us through social media where they were watching the action from, how amazed they were that BUCS sport was being shown live and how good the playing standard was. From the very first game social media statistics were impressive. This became more apparent after the Christmas break. Marketing statistics are covered later on in the report, but below are some standout YouTube statistics: o Loughborough v Bath - 8,500 views o Hartpury v Bath - 11,400 views o Hartpury v Exeter (Championship Final) 29,850 views BSR average match attendance was 751 for the season (this figure places BSR 10 th in the RFU Championship attendance table for the season). Matches held at prestigious stadiums, such as Bath v Leeds Beckett at The Rec (attendance 5,500), during the University of Bath s 50 th Year Anniversary Celebrations, the Southwest derby between Exeter v Bath at Sandy Park (attendance 4,500) and Loughborough s annual game at Loughborough University Stadium (attendance 3,600) have somewhat boosted attendance stats. However, equally as impressive as large attendances are the regular crowds of over 500 throughout the season at some grounds. The growth in fan engagement, both through social media, on campus and at stadiums, has been one of the most pleasing features of BSR. Moving forward this presents a fantastic opportunity for institutions to raise the profile of sport beyond their usual audience. Institutions have a genuine opportunity to grow a fan base and build a new identity for sport. A great example of this is with Durham, who have scheduled a home fixture in London during season. They are targeting their large alumni network based in the capital and south-east. Other BSR institutions will be watching on with interest to see if this is something they should consider in future seasons. For purity of competition, the season will be difficult to match. Going into the last round of fixtures, fans and teams alike were still unsure who would be crowned inaugural BSR Winners. Loughborough and Hartpury

4 were side by side all season and it took the final round of games for the latter to take the league title in-front of an expectant home crowd, winning in a hard fought match. BUCS have been recording player and match data throughout the season; it is presented later in the report. Data from year 1 will provide a benchmark on which future seasons can be referenced against. It will also provide tangible evidence of the brand of rugby being played, which can be analysed with data from other leagues. There have been a multitude of positive comments about the brand and standard of BSR. Having a range of data to support this adds significant credibility to any claims or statements made about BSR. The breadth of the data we collect next season will be expanded. This will require team analysts to send player and match data to BUCS after games. This will allow us to present a fuller analysis of BSR playing features. In many ways, the story of the season has been surprise results. Starting with the first live streamed game where Exeter, the then current BUCS champions, lost to Loughborough and followed it up with another loss in Round 2. Exeter found their form and went on a nine game unbeaten run, the longest of the season. Bath were at the centre of surprise results, beating Loughborough at home for the first time in recent history, and also winning away at Durham twice in two weeks. Bath were agonisingly close, a matter of meters in fact, from beating Hartpury in their Championship Semi-final. Coming into the season no one would have expected that Leeds Beckett, who qualified into BSR as the strongest side (based on their performance in BUCS over the previous three seasons), would not win a single league game but feasibly could have won both away games at Hartpury, during the league phase and Championship Quarter-finals. Northumbria kicked off the season with three heavy defeats, but out of nowhere produced a spirited home display against league leaders Loughborough in Round 4 and if not for some poor kicking would have won the match (they lost 24-29). Nevertheless, although the league season was scattered with surprise results, demonstrating the competitiveness of BSR, the best two teams made it through to the Championship Final at Twickenham. True to the standard shown across the season, the final was a highly competitive match. Hartpury were ultimately crowned Championship Winners after a thrilling win over Exeter, completing the BUCS double to go with their RFU National 1 title. Delivering BSR has been hard work for everyone involved. BUCS has led on the programme but a competition of this magnitude could not be delivered and without the collective effort of partners and stakeholders. BSR institutions have successfully met increased demands placed on them, both on and off the pitch. As well as increased travel for coaches and players, there is weekly administration and marketing obligations to fulfil. It has been challenging for institutions, but they have stepped up to the mark. Rugby Vertical, BUCS s engagement partner in delivering BSR are responsible for the production of live games and securing commercial partners, such as Give a Grad a Go, who sponsored Championship cup games. The considerable investment and involvement of Rugby Vertical has helped take BSR to television, through two 30 minute highlight shows aired on BT Sport directly after Anglo-Welsh Cup games. Their work has helped to increase the profile of HE Rugby and HE Sport. BSR is of course a UK wide competition. The support and partnership of National Governing Bodies (NGBs) is pivotal in supporting the growth of BSR. All home nation NGBs are represented on the BUCS Rugby Union Sports Advisory Group and League Management Committee. However, the support of the RFU is invaluable. Particularly the Education Team, headed up by Mark Saltmarsh. They have been ever present and only too happy to deal with the many requests placed on them during the development and delivery of BSR. A wider team BUCS team has been involved with Super Rugby, including Vince Mayne, Mark Brian, Adam Priestly and Intern, James Bramley. However, the core project team working behind the scenes throughout the season included Elecia Douglas and Simon Cruise.

5 Elecia has led on creative features of the league, most brilliantly displayed by the TEAMS video series. Simon is the staff member who tries to translate team sheets sent through by head coaches at 10.30pm on Wednesday evenings. He has also compiled in-depth player, team and match data that has driven social media content. There were so many unknowns going into the inaugural BSR season. Was the playing level going to increase? Would we see increased attendances at games? The eight strongest teams from the previous three seasons playing in a weekly competition were always going to generate competitive rugby. But I don t think BUCS, NGBs or institutions expected BSR to have the impact it has had within HE sport and the wider rugby community, both on and off the field. Year 2 of BSR will see nine teams competing. Nottingham Trent defeated Bristol in the play-off tie in April and they will be a good addition to the competition. During the development of BSR some believed the gap in playing standard between those teams already in the league and those outside of it would become too big for a new team to ever to be competitive. This opinion will be examined next season. We are all excited to see what year two will bring. Paul O Leary BUCS Rugby Union Programme Manager

6 Players Awards were designated in the following categories: Player of the Year Co-winners - Tom Lawday (Exeter); Seb Negri (Hartpury) Award criteria: The head coach and captain of each BSR team nominated a player from an opposing team. The following players also received votes: Alex Dombrandt (Cardiff Met) Jamie Forrester (Hartpury) Ted Landray (Exeter) Rob Stevenson (Durham) Oli Robinson (Northumbria) Fans Player of the Year Winner Ted Landray (Exeter) Award criteria: Each head coach nominated a player from their own team. The players were put forward for a public vote (through social media), which closed at half time during the Men's Championship Final at Twickenham. The nominees were: Bath - Will Britton Cardiff Met - Alex Dombrandt Durham - Rob Stevenson Exeter - Ted Landray Hartpury Jamie Forrester Leeds Beckett - Jack Barnard Loughborough - Will Kaye Northumbria - James Christie

7 Tries by Position Tries by Position Bath Card Met Durham Exeter Hartpury Leeds Bec L'boro N'bria Total by Position Prop Hooker Second Row Flanker Number Scrum Half Fly Half Inside Centre Outside Centre Wing Full Back Penalty Tries Forward Back Total by Team Top Try Scorer Top Try Scorer Player Position Team Tries Tom Lawday Back Row Exeter 10 Alex Dombrandt Second Row Cardiff Met 9 Tom Doughty Hooker Bath 9 Rob Stevenson Wing Durham 9 Jack Owlett Prop Exeter 7 Dan Rowland Wing Bath 7 Harry Cochrane Scrum Half Hartpury 6 Luke Stratford Hooker Hartpury 6 Rhys Tudor Wing Hartpury 6 Mark Dixon Fly Half Loughborough 5 Callum Young Hooker Exeter 5 Brendon Mandivenga Wing Loughborough 5 James McRae Back Row Exeter 5 Edward Bloodworth Second Row Northumbria 5 James Christie Scrum Half Northumbria 5

8 Top Points Scorer Top Points Scorer Player Position Team Tries Conv P/DG Total Edward Landray Centre/Fly Half Exeter Will Kaye Wing Loughborough Sam Leeming Fly Half Hartpury Thomas Morgan Outside Centre Cardiff Met David McIlwane Outside Centre Leeds Beckett Tom Lawday Back Row Exeter Hugo Stiles Fullback Bath Callum Watson Scrum Half Loughborough Alex Dombrandt Second Row Cardiff Met Tom Doughty Hooker Bath Rob Stevenson Wing Durham Kickers Kickers Player Position Team Conv P/DG Total Edward Landray Centre/Fly Half Exeter Sam Leeming Fly Half Hartpury Will Kaye Wing Loughborough Thomas Morgan Outside Centre Cardiff Met David McIlwane Outside Centre Leeds Beckett Hugo Stiles Fullback Bath Ryan Murray Fullback Northumbria Henry Slater Fly Half Durham Callum Watson Scrum Half Loughborough Nathan Holmes Fly Half Durham

9 Teams Team of the Year Selection criteria: Each coach selected their team of the year (1-15), which BUCS collated to form BSR Team of the Year. All BSR teams are represented, Hartpury 5, Exeter 4, Loughborough 4, Leeds Beckett 3, Bath 2, Durham 2, Northumbria 2 and Cardiff Met Will Kaye (Loughborough) 14 Rob Stevenson (Durham) 13 George Wacokecoke (Northumbria) 12 Jamie Forrester (Hartpury) 11 Brendon Mandivenga (Loughborough) 10 Edward Landray (Exeter) 9 Harry Cochrane (Hartpury) 1 Adam Brocklebank (Durham) 2 Tom Doughty (Bath) 3 Rory Mason (Leeds Beckett) 4 Alex Dombrandt (Cardiff Met) 5 Simon Linsell (Exeter) 6 Seb Negri (C) (Hartpury) 7 Jack Barnard (Leeds Beckett) 8 Tom Lawday (Exeter) Reserves 16 Luke Stratford (Hartpury) 17 Alfie Barron (Hartpury) 18 Will Britton (Bath) 19 Josh Longson (Leeds Beckett) 20 Matt Eliet (Exeter) 21 James Christie (Northumbria) 22 Joe Doyle (Loughborough) 23 Yiannis Loizias (Loughborough)

10 Final League Table Detailed League Table Home Away Total P W D L F A W D L F A W D L PD Hartpury Exeter Loughborough Durham Bath Northumbria Cardiff Met Leeds Beckett TB P LB P Pts Match Attendances Attendance Team Highest Total Average Bath Loughborough Exeter Durham Cardiff Met Hartpury Northumbria Leeds Beckett Weekly Score Statistics Weekly Stats Round Tries Conv Pen/DG Pen Tries Kicked Pts Total Pts

11 Season Score Statistics Season Stats Tries Try Pts Conv Conv Pts Pen/DG Pen/DG Pts Kicked Pts Total Pts Total Per Round Per Game

12 Marketing Marketing and social media engagement has been a strong feature of BSR. Stats returned across the season were impressive in direct comparison to engagement stats from other sports and events BUCS delivers. BUCS Nationals is a major event; it consists of nine sports and several thousand athletes and spectators. It has huge social media engagement. BUCS Super Rugby/Championship social media engagement during the Quarterfinals week (from Monday to Friday) was at a similar level to BUCS Nationals in its entirety. BUCS ran a season long campaign to raise the profile of the league and its eight competing institutions with comprehensive weekly coverage of matches. This included live tweeting by BUCS and teams, match reports and digital video content for social media. Featured below are headline stats from the season. YouTube Including Championship games, overall YouTube views of the 23 live streams and highlights reels was 206,000 equating to approximately 36,000 hours watched. The table below breakdown the YouTube viewership by round and team: Viewership by Round Round Match Views 1 Loughborough vs Exeter Leeds Beckett vs Cardiff Met Bath vs Loughborough Bath vs Leeds Beckett Durham vs Cardiff Met Northumbria vs Loughborough Hartpury vs Northumbria Exeter vs Loughborough Exeter vs Cardiff Met Durham vs Loughborough Leeds Beckett vs Hartpury Cardiff Met vs Loughborough Loughborough vs Hartpury Loughborough vs Bath Northumbria vs Leeds Beckett Hartpury vs Loughborough Exeter vs Bath 7229 Viewership by Team* Live Games Average Total Bath Durham Loughborough Exeter Hartpury Cardiff Met Leeds Beckett Northumbria *Figures DO NOT include Championship games Round Match Views L16 Cardiff Met vs Nottingham Trent 5622 QF Durham vs Bath 6259 QF Loughborough vs Cardiff 8241 SF Hartpury vs Bath SF Exeter vs Loughborough 7471 F Hartpury vs Exeter 29850

13 Facebook On Facebook, the TEAMS video series was shared natively on both the England Rugby (RFU) and BUCS Facebook pages - collectively, achieved an organic reach of 7.6 million (3.4 million alone on the BUCS Super Rugby Facebook page). All video content on the BSR Facebook page; had collective views of 618,000. Twitter Across the season (October-March), there were approximately eight million impressions of hashtags #BUCSSuperRugby and #BUCSRugbyChamps Website From September 2016 May 2017, the BUCS Super Rugby website received 81,500 unique page views. The BUCScore section of the website over the same period, received 11.9 million page views. The Rugby results are housed in BUCScore although specific stats for rugby are unavailable. The top news articles, including match reports, received over 1,000 hits. On average a match report received hits. TV BSR had two shows on BT Sport: Show 1 - first aired on Sunday 12 th March. It featured matches from the Last 16 and Quarter finals of the Championship: o Average viewership was 3k and peaked at 5k Show 2 - first aired on Sunday 2 nd April. It featured both Semi-finals and Final of the Championship (it also included the Women s Championship Final): o Average viewership was 7k and peaked at 18k Both shows were shown four times on BT Sport Channels over a seven day period immediately after they were first aired.