So is Tompkins tbf. Great debut so far.

It looked far from sold out last night.

Quote ="Bovrick"Johnson is made for this. His footwork is sublime.'" Touch Football is his background. youtu.be/u-zy6uK62S0

Quote ="Bovrick"Johnson is made for this. His footwork is sublime.'" Touch Football is his background. youtu.be/u-zy6uK62S0

NZ Warriors, with Johnson and Tomkins on fire, have the final in the bag.

Pity Souths didn't select Sam Burgess, Isaac Luke and Greg Inglis.

Six clubs --Sydney Roosters, Melbourne, Souths, Manly, Canterbury and Canberra -- rested most of their stars. Only the Roosters -- with the WCC next week -- had a good justification for doing so.

The Coach has to make a decision on what his seasons goals are.
You can not create a touch football comp and expect all teams to fall in line.
Several players looked like they may have been injured early on.

How can you call the Nines a "touch football" competition? Did you watch the matches?

I watched them all and I saw some fierce tackling. This was a highly entertaining format. It will be around for years to come, possibly for decades. Please stop your loose talk about "touch football."

And while we are at it we can take note of two highlights: 41 year old Brad Fittler making an intercept and running 80 metres with Martin Kennedy in hot pursuit to score, and Shaun Johnson bamboozling everybody on the field before he scored. On top of that Sam Tomkins has won over the hearts of New Zealanders and TV commentators alike with his elusive running and good passing.

What more can you Englishmen ask for?

Depends when you watched. Looked packed out for the Warriors games but gaps at other times as people had drinks/food.

Was a patch behind sticks reserved for players apparently which was empty throughout....

And yes, I did an all-nighter. Won't make it tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hangover subdued with the mother of all fry ups and a medicinal pint! Day 2 is going to take stamina and fortitude but I am sure it will be even better. Atmosphere in town an at the ground brilliant and most definitely a sell out.......
If the RFL don't see this and change magic weekend into the same then they need their heads looking at.......$69 (£35) for this much fun......brilliant!

The RFL should certainly be looking at binning off the pointless round of games played at the magic weekend and replace it with a nines weekend with a cup for the winner. I'm astounded that they didn't do this several years ago it's a shame

The RFL should certainly be looking at binning off the pointless round of games played at the magic weekend and replace it with a nines weekend with a cup for the winner. I'm astounded that they didn't do this several years ago it's a shame

maybe... more likely the coastal strip along the national park... new granddaughter in the Illawara is pulling us south


great entertainment from the nines... I like rugby 7s but the is better ... way better,

Results Update

Sharks - 15
Knights - 12

Titans - 22
Tigers - 7

Eels - 18
Roosters - 11

Broncos - 20
Bulldogs - 4

Warriors - 25
Raiders - 14

Manly - 17
Cowboys - 8

Panthers - 14
Storm - 11

Souths - 23
Dragons - 4

Tigers - 21
Sharks - 15

Knights - 25
Titans - 14

Roosters - 14
Broncos - 7

Eels - 23
Bulldogs - 6

Warriors - 27
Manly - 4

Cowboys - 24
Raiders - 0

Storm - 18
Souths - 12

Panthers - 23
Dragons - 8

Sharks - 30
Titans - 14

Knights - 25
Tigers - 0

Bulldogs - 16
Roosters - 4

Broncos - 15
Eels - 14

Warriors - 28
Cowboys - 23

Raiders - 18
Manly - 4

Dragons - 14
Storm - 10

Souths - 18
Panthers - 16


Blue Group Table

1st - Knights - 4 Points - 62 Points For / 29 Points Against (+33 Differential)

2nd - Sharks - 4 Points - 63 Points For / 44 Points Against (+19 Differential)

3rd- Titans - 2 Points - 50 Points For / 62 Points Against (-12 differential)

4th - Tigers - 2 Points - 28 Points For / 62 Points Against (-34 Differential)


Green Group Table

1st - Eels - 4 Points - 55 Points For / 32 Points Against (+23 Differential)

2nd - Broncos - 4 Points - 42 Points For / 32 Points Against (+10 Differential)

3rd - Roosters - 2 Points - 29 Points For / 41 Points Against (-12 Differential)

4th - Bulldogs - 2 Points - 27 Points For / 47 Points Against (-21 Differential)


Yellow Group Table

1st - Warriors - 6 Points - 80 Points For / 42 Points Against (+38 Differential)

2nd - Cowboys - 2 Points - 55 Points For / 45 Points Against (+10 Differential)

3rd - Raiders - 2 Points - 32 Points For / 53 Points Against (-21 Differential)

4th - Manly - 2 Points - 25 Points For / 53 Points Against (-28 Differential)



Red Group Table

1st - Panthers - 4 Points - 53 Points For / 37 Points Against (+16 Differential)

2nd - Souths - 4 Points - 53 Points For / 38 Points Against (+15 Differential)

3rd - Storm - 2 Points - 39 Points For / 40 Points Against (-1 Differential)

4th - Dragons - 2 Points - 26 Points For / 56 Points Against (-30 Differential)



Finals Schedule

Quarter Final 1 - Newcastle Knights vs Brisbane Broncos

Quarter Final 2 - Parramatta Eels vs Cronulla Sharks

Quarter Final 3 - NZ Warriors vs South Sydney Rabbitohs

Quarter Final 4 - Penrith Panthers vs North Queensland Cowboys


Semi Final 1 - Winner Quarter Final 1 vs Winner Quarter Final 2

Semi Final 2 - Winner Quarter Final 3 vs Winner Quarter Final 4


GRAND FINAL - Winner Semi Final 1 vs Winner Semi Final 2

Well that's spoiled it for UK fans!

Broncos win quarter final 1 after Knights lynchpin Jarod Mullen does his hamstring and the wheels fell off. Good news for Michael Dobson, who should now get the Knights 7 jersey for round one of the NRL.

sorry if this has been posted elsewhere but the attendances for the weekend were
43600 saturday
45403 sunday

Sensational crowd for NZ! Rugby Union has been overshadowed completely in Auckland!

The RFL needs to abolish Magic Weekend as conceived and replace it with SL Nines.

Also RFL must request six Super League clubs, including Catalans, plus PNG and Toulouse, be admitted to Auckland Nines next year. This would create 6 pools of 4, with the SL clubs distributed one in each pool. Winners of each pool plus 2 best runners up (on for and against) will go though to the quarter finals.

Those are desirable policy reforms. Methinks Nigel Wood and colleagues are too conservative to even consider these changes.

Great event and the nines format was exciting and a decent blend of defence but plenty of attacking flair.

Def should consider changing the magic weekend to a nines event and invite French clubs to make up the 16.

I agree regarding a nines tournament replacing the Magic Weekend, however, why fill it with sub-standard French clubs, why not the four teams who didn’t get into S.L via the gimmicky new system?

We won't have [isubstandard[/i French clubs. We will have Catalans which is a top Super League club, and Toulouse, which is being invited into the RFL's second division, whatever that is going to be called. As far as the Manchester Nines goes the 16th club could be the winner of the Championship. So then the lineup would be 14 SL clubs, plus Championship winner, plus Toulouse. A total of 16, divided into 4 pools, just like the Auckland Nines was yesterday.

The Auckland Nines, however, is the prestige event of Planet Earth, and it requires 16 NRL clubs, plus 6 SL clubs (including Catalans) plus Toulouse and PNG. Resullt: a total of 24 clubs divided into 6 pools.

I was purely musing about next season, when there will only be twelve SL teams, therefore four extra clubs will be required.

But I’m sure you could magic a few more French teams who would be competitive.

Toulouse were sub standard in the championship Jean.

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.