Powerful midfielder Alapati Leiua, who began his profession on the Hurricanes earlier than shifting to the English Premiership the place he performed for Wasps and the Bristol Bears, has 31 Test caps for Samoa and can now make a blockbuster transfer to the Stormers.
Known for his uncompromising physicality on each assault and defence, the 33-year-old brings vital expertise with him to Cape Town the place he’ll hyperlink up along with his new teammates on approval of his work allow.
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Stormers coach John Dobson welcomed Leiua, who he expects to have a significant affect on a few of the youthful gamers within the squad.
“Alapati is a proven performer who will give us a hard edge in midfield while also mentoring some of the talented youngsters we have here. We saw the huge influence Jamie Roberts had in a short time here two years ago and we are expecting Alapati to play a similar role for us this season.
“We are looking forward to seeing the impact he makes here both on and off the field,” he mentioned.
Leiua mentioned that he desires to make essentially the most of this chance to play for the defending champions within the United Rugby Championship.
“We all saw this team play some incredible rugby last season and I want to add to that with my skills. This is a great chance to work with some talented young players and experience a completely new rugby culture, so I can’t wait to get stuck in,” he mentioned.
The Stormers had been one of the in style groups within the URC final season
Over 34 million followers tuned into the inaugural United Rugby Championship (URC) season because the league set various main broadcast information in its first marketing campaign, it was confirmed on Wednesday.
With information set for the season-long viewers, Play-Off viewers and the URC Grand Final itself, it’s clear that the brand new 16-team league has caught the creativeness of rugby followers throughout the northern and southern hemispheres.
Despite decreasing the common season to 18 rounds, the sturdy viewership numbers produced throughout the UK, Ireland and South Africa show that much less is extra. In an extra increase, Italy reported their largest audiences ever whereas worldwide rights protection and the launch of the URC.television streaming service bolstered the worldwide complete.
In its first season, the United Rugby Championship was supported by Free-to-Air (FTA) broadcasters within the UK, Ireland and Italy – BBC Wales, BBC Northern Ireland, Mediaset, RTÉ, S4C and TG4 and by main Pay TV firms SuperSport (South Africa) and Premier Sports (UK and Ireland).
This mixture of broadcast platforms allowed followers to take pleasure in rising requirements of manufacturing whereas the crossover and collaboration throughout totally different territories gave the league a really world really feel.
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THE NUMBERS BEHIND THE RECORD-BREAKING URC AUDIENCES
Regular Season
Thanks to the consolidated experiences from Nielsen Sports, one of many world’s main companies in broadcast reporting, the United Rugby Championship can affirm that the viewers for the complete 2021/22 season reached a excessive mark of 34.6million throughout 7,000-plus hours of protection.
That determine of 34.6m was a rise of 169% in comparison with the 2020/21 PRO14 and Rainbow Cup campaigns mixed.
- The cumulative common viewers per recreation throughout the season was 230k which represented a 109% improve on 20/21.
- A cumulative viewers of just about 3 million individuals tuned into Round 3 with the determine of 2,892,000 setting a brand new document for the best viewers for a single spherical within the league’s historical past.
- In complete, 4 rounds eclipsed an viewers of 2 million, seven rounds drew greater than 1.5 million and 6 of the remaining 7 rounds all attracted a minimal viewership of 1 million.
- The common viewers per spherical within the common season was 1.7 million.
- The cumulative viewers from Italy was 1.6 million.
URC Grand Final and Play-Offs
The first-ever United Rugby Championship Grand Final came about in Cape Town, South Africa between the Stormers and Bulls and set a brand new TV milestone for the league.
A complete of 1.25 million watched the DStormers win their first URC title and set a brand new document for the league decider. Although the Grand Final was an all-South African affair 41% of the viewers got here from outdoors of the territory with RTÉ’s reside protection within the Republic of Ireland accounting for 15%.
This development of curiosity was an indicator of the complete URC Play-Offs which additionally set a document for viewership with 3.8 million throughout seven video games. The largest viewership for the Play-Offs got here within the Stormers v Ulster Final Four recreation the place the viewers hit 754k whereas the opposite Semi-Final encounter between Leinster and the Bulls drew 472k.
Including the URC Grand Final, the common viewers per recreation within the Play-Offs was 537k
Top 10 most watched common season video games in 2021/22
In the Top 10 most watched video games of the common season, Munster featured 5 instances, the Sharks had been concerned in three with Ospreys, Ulster and the Stormers appeared twice.
The most watched recreation within the common season was Ospreys’ Round 3 recreation with Sharks which was seen by a mixed viewers of 581k on BBC Wales, SuperSport and Premier Sports.
- R3 Ospreys v Cell C Sharks 580,026
- R3 Cardiff v Vodacom Bulls 560,886
- R2 Munster v DHL Stormers 538,909
- R6 Cell C Sharks v Scarlets 531,421
- R10 Munster v Ulster 523,707
- R4 Munster v Connacht 521,110
- R1 Munster v Cell C Sharks 484,267
- R5 Ospreys v Munster 480,652
- R4 Ulster v Emirates Lions 468,993
- R4 Dragons v DHL Stormers 445,471
Most Watched Clubs
Helped by their look within the VURC Grand Final, the Stormers had been essentially the most seen staff within the league with their complete viewers coming in at over 7.2million. The URC champions are adopted by the Bulls, Munster, Sharks and Leinster for audiences throughout the complete season.
The Stormers and Munster had been essentially the most watched groups in South Africa and Ireland, respectively with Ospreys main the curiosity in Wales, Benetton had been No 1 in Italy and Edinburgh topped the pile in Scotland.
Derby matches that are on the coronary heart of the tribal rivalries within the VURC additionally carried out effectively with just one South African fixture breaking the dominance of the all-Irish clashes.
Top 5 Derby Audiences
The most watched derby video games of the season all came about in Ireland, with Munster’s R10 conflict with Ulster drawing in 523k in a recreation that was additionally No 5 within the record of Top 10 most watched within the common season. Munster additionally characteristic in 4 of the Top 5 derby audiences.
- R10 Munster v Ulster 523,707
- R4 Munster v Connacht 521,110
- R16 Ulster v Munster 428,709
- R15 Munster v Leinster 402,534
- R6 Leinster v Ulster 401,603
Top 5 Games from South Africa
- R6 Cell C Sharks v Scarlets 531,421
- R17 DHL Stormers v Leinster 417,323
- R7 Emirates Lions v Munster 394,416
- R16 Cell C Sharks v Leinster 361,290
- R17 Vodacom Bulls v Glasgow Warriors 323,386
Top 5 Games from Ireland
- R2 Munster v DHL Stormers 538,909
- R10 Munster v Ulster 523,707
- R4 Munster v Connacht 521,110
- R1 Munster v Cell C Sharks 484,267
- R4 Ulster v Emirates Lions 468,993
Top 5 Games from Italy
- R11 Zebre v Munster 439,701
- R1 Zebre v Emirates Lions 295,647
- R1 Benetton v DHL Stormers 213,754
- R10 Benetton v Cell C Sharks 202,283
- R4 Benetton v Ospreys 196,817
Top 5 Games from Scotland
- R3 Edinburgh v DHL Stormers 382,185
- R3 Glasgow Warriors v Emirates Lions 363,674
- R4 Edinburgh v Vodacom Bulls 260,448
- R5 Glasgow Warriors v Leinster 224,494
- R2 Glasgow Warriors v Cell C Sharks 209,027
Top 5 Games from Wales
- R3 Ospreys v Cell C Sharks 580,026
- R3 Cardiff v Vodacom Bulls 560,886
- R5 Ospreys v Munster 480,652
- R4 Dragons v DHL Stormers 445,471
- R3 Scarlets v Munster 330,313