Nick McArdle was the host of a launch event today for the Super Rugby AU season, the first sport coming to the new Stan Sport platform. Nick McArdle co-hosted with Roz Kelly. McArdle joins Stan Sport and Nine’s WWOS from Fox Sports, while Kelly returns to Nine after most-recently working at 10.
Every match of the 2021 Super Rugby competition will be available on Stan Sport, the new home of rugby, and a weekly Super Rugby AU game every Saturday on Nine. Kicking off from February 19th, all games will be presented by a team of hosts and experts and produced by the Wide World of Sports team.
Stan’s recently announced add-on sport package will be the only place to watch every match of the Super Rugby AU, Super Rugby Aotearoa and Trans-Tasman tournament, along with every match of the Rugby Championship, Bledisloe Cup, Shute Shield, Hospital Cup, Currie Cup and New Zealand’s National Provincial Championship, plus Super W, Wallabies and Wallaroos test matches, SANZAAR Union home tests and more for $10 a month. Consumers can pre-activate the sport package now to get a 30-day free trial for a limited time by visiting: Stan.com.au/sport
Spearheading the line-up of talent are rugby hosts Kelly and McArdle, both of whom have interviewed the who’s who of the sport, and have experience hosting some of the biggest blockbuster events in the world over their distinguished media careers.
Joining them will be a team of former Wallaby superstars including Tim Horan, Morgan Turinui, Drew Mitchell and Justin Harrison, former All-Black legend Andrew Mehrtens, and former dual-code international star Allana Ferguson to analyse and explain every aspect of the match.
Experienced commentators Sean Maloney and Andrew Swain will be there to call every cunning play, crunching tackle and heart-stopping moment of all the biggest games throughout the year.
Nine’s head of Rugby Murray Shaw said: “I’m extremely proud of the incredibly talented and qualified line-up of talent we have brought together to deliver what will be the most comprehensive rugby coverage seen to date in Australia. We are bringing a fantastic product to rugby fans new and old as we kick off a new era of the game.”
For the first time in the professional era, Super Rugby will be available to a free-to-air audience on Nine, with a game from the competition broadcast each Saturday live on 9Gem. Wallabies test matches played in Australia and New Zealand will also broadcast live on Nine.
Main image L-R: Andrew Swain, Morgan Turinui, Andrew Mehrtens, Tim Horan, Roz Kelly, Nick McArdle, Allana Ferguson, Drew Mitchell, Sean Maloney, Justin Harrison