The NRL would be mad not to plant a flag in Crusaders country

August 15, 2026 — 9:30am

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Australians hold many misconceptions about New Zealand and the interaction between rugby union and rugby league, bringing their own prejudices to the table as they try to characterise the NRL’s rise across the Tasman with the same “code war” terms that define the Australian landscape.

But New Zealand sports fans are polymaths, happy to toggle between the Warriors and the All Blacks or Super Rugby teams, which is why Sky Sport enjoys such “dual screen” usage across the ditch, with punters happy to watch one game on their linear channel while using the broadcaster’s digital platform to watch the other code.

Compare that to Australia. One of the cultural surprises I experienced when moving to Australia in the early 2000s was to discover that it wasn’t a rugby country, but a rugby league country ready to experience exponential growth once the sport’s governance was sorted out.

Acquaintances with deep rugby league allegiances outnumbered rugby........

© Brisbane Times