That was way back then. Now they have a new coach (very important change) and some new players. I expect them to recruit even further from the Elite, and a much improved performance from them if they step up to SL2/Championship.

Oh, next season eh? You didn't say that in your original post. So here is the answer. The two relegated SL teams, plus the top Championship team plus Toulouse would make the 16.

Wasn't aware there was any union on in Auckland at the weekend jean. I was there and it was a brilliant weekend which will sell out in 2015 in a matter of minutes, but eminen also sold out......I doubt NZRU are fretting about gangster rap or whatever it is he does!

With regard to the millennium nines, it would involve an outside entity to bankroll it as has happened here. Duco events got Auckland council involved and once the base costs were covered, the NRL came to the table.....maybe the good dr at Salford would like to get his chequebook out and show The RFL how it's done

What happened with the Premier Sports coverage?
Was it just me, but the programme came on half way through the 3rd quarter final. We missed all of the last group games and the first three quarter finals.

At least I weren't the only one. Recorded it to watch it the following morning to find out I had missed most of it.

...and yet there were some on here decrying Premier not getting the rights to super league

Live coverage of the Auckland 9's Day 2 wasn't scheduled to begin until after the NASCAR event had finished, which, IIRC would be sometime after 3.30am. This was evident to anyone who made a note of their TV schedules. You obviously didn't do that.

The full Auckland 9s Day 2 schedule (including all the non-aired "live" group and quarter final games) were shown on delay this evening from 8.15pm onwards.

Hope I have helped you resolve your ignorance in this matter.

Ditto

See above.

BTW.....notes for the organisers of the Magic weekend.
Auckland hoteliers didn't decide to play dick turpin this weekend, even though 22k of the 25k each day were "out of towners" at the 9's........if the whining s in Cardiff want to know why they lost Magic, they should ask their hoteliers.......I've already pre-booked the same place for next year at the same rates.

Yeah you're right, sorry, I only caught the start and then the end very early on Saturday morning here, after the Warriors' last game when a lot must have left. Watched the recording back and then all yesterday's games and it looked pretty packed!

Much better than Magic Weekend that's for sure

People should note that rugby league is not as big as rugby union in NZ, so for Aucklanders to get behind the Nines like they did shows that the concept is a winner if promoted properly.

The question is: does the RFL have the wherewithal to make the concept succeed in the UK? Of course Sally Bolton and her team of World Cup organisers could work on it. But I wonder if Nigel Wood is capable of adapting to the very concept of a Nines in the UK in the first place, in order for it to be pursued and for Sally to make it a success.

Alas Jean.....not even on TV....
Day 1 peaked at 148,000 viewers, Day 2 at 175,000 with both peaks at times when the Warriors were playing....lowest recorded figure was 109k on Sunday afternoon. These are encouraging figures, but I hope they can get a deal done for FTA TV next year......the more people that see this the better.