So I watched the Houston Sabercats vs NOLA Gold on ESPN+ yesterday. The Gold won an upset in front of what looked like a pretty small crowd, here are my thoughts in general about the product and Sabercats overall:
They need to work on the camera angles. The camermen were too focused on getting in tight, and frequently from ground level. I assume they are trying to bring the game closer, but they're severely limiting the ability to see anything beyond the ball. It takes away from the flow of the game because you can't see guys out wide and running lines etc... so it makes it look kind of like a bunch of little kids in their first soccer game - just a mass of bodies around the ball. Also, on at least one of the kick attempts they never showed the goal posts even once - they were focused in close on the kicker, but you couldn't even tell where he was on the field (kicks can be taken from either sideline all the way across the field) and they never zoomed out or switched the camera so the only way to tell if it even went through was to look at the score.
The venues could be a problem if they want to attract fans. I saw a pretty subdued crowd there - part of it was probably because of the weather, it looked cool and drizzly. But it was probably also because the game was held at a high school stadium so there was no alcohol allowed. They are limited because they need grass fields, and I know that the Sabercats are having their own 3500 seat field being built, but that won't be until next year. Hopefully the owners are not expecting a big turnout in the meantime, because I have a feeling that playing where the fans can't drink is going to put off quite a few potential customers.
They had a French ref. In general I don't like them because they are too quick with the whistle IMO and way too quick to yellow or red card people - but that might be because of their recent history of screwing the All Blacks vs the English and Irish Lions. However in this case I thought it was a great decision, it was clearly not the ref's first rodeo. It was good to have someone who was both clear when instructing the players and not afraid to exercise his authority. At one point he even gave the Sabercats a 10 meter penalty when one of the players was getting a little lippy questioning a call. It's funny because I was just on youtube the other day discussing that penalty because someone posted how it's basically disappeared from the top level rugby, and I said that in a year and a half I had never even seen it given and didn't know it's a rule. Clearly this particular ref wasn't afraid to throw it out there, and I think that's a good thing. The ref needs to be the guy in charge and the players can't start thinking they can question him excessively - if there is a question about a penalty the captain should probably be asking it, and respectfully. Arguing with the ref is never a smart move, and it's become a little more prevalent in rugby lately. I was glad to see this ref nipping that in the bud.
The Sabercats need to work on their scrummaging and seem weak at the hooker position in particular. Their hooker didn't strike at the ball in the scrum, it was more of a weak pawing motion. He also sucked at throwing in the lineouts. So basically the guy looked like a converted prop or something to me, he lacked the skills that define the hooker position. And that goes for both of the guys who played the position. I'll have to re-watch to see how much difference there was between the starter and his replacement, but they didn't look strong at the scrum at any point in the game. I was actually kind of surprised about that because their coach played as a prop in Irish rugby. I'd expect that to be a strong part of their game.
Overall I thought it was ok. For the first day ever for the league and team I'd say it was fine. It's tough because I watch primarily New Zealand rugby, both Super Rugby and the Mitre 10 Cup, and they have the production down to a science and obviously have outstanding skill levels from grade school on up to professional. So this product needs to be graded on a curve IMO.
