SANZAR officials say they want "high intensity and high octane rugby". Good to hear. But they can also help by telling their referees to do everything they can to stop 'slow play' this season.

Several Super Rugby first-round matches degenerated into near unwatchable affairs due to endless dead and dull moments. The worst encounter turned out to be a match that should have been a round highlight, with the defending champions, the Waratahs, at home in a time slot their spectators love - 4pm on a Sunday; it's the perfect time to watch football, even in summer. However it was instead a dreadful afternoon - not helped by the Waratahs performing like dunderheads - made even worse by the tedious stop-start nature of the game, especially at scrum-time. Even though referee Steve Walsh constantly told both teams to "hurry up" as they took an eternity to set the scrum, some set-pieces took so long to complete that you could make a cup of tea, drink it, wash up and not miss a thing. You were even able to watch an over or two of a Cricket World Cup match on another television channel, and again not miss a thing. Such dithering should not be allowed, and the sooner teams who muck around at scrum-time get penalised, the better.

If rugby in Australia wants to properly compete with rugby league, AFL and soccer for audience affections, it must do all it can to eradicate the code's endless dead moments.

As confounding is the Super Rugby schedule that doesn't see the Waratahs back in Sydney until late March. Then again, after witnessing how dreadful they were on the weekend, Waratahs spectators may look upon that as a blessing.

Can Michael Cheika coach both Waratahs and Wallabies?

It didn't take long for the Michael Cheika duel-coaching role to become an emotive issue. Within seconds of the Waratahs' first-round loss, social media was bubbling on about how Cheika cannot be both New South Wales and Australia coach. The issue was also raised at the after-match Waratahs press conference, prompting a terse response from Cheika. We hear an Australian Rugby Union official also mentioned it after the game and, according to our snouts, it 'got the reply, it deserved' from Cheika.

No doubt all year, when the Waratahs win, it will be a forgotten issue; when they lose, it will be brought up. How Cheika reacts will be interesting. There's bound to be an eruption some time.

Michael Cheika: Wallabies irrelevant to loss. reality is this loss about Waratahs training. pic.twitter.com/MGzJXaxJ9C

— Andy Withers (@witho68) February 15, 2015

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SANZAR broadcast funds should boost Australian grass roots

As the Australian Rugby Union is anticipating a considerable financial boost from an improved SANZAR broadcasting deal, there are already calls for officials to do the right thing and use the funds to improve the poor relationship with many of their constituents.

Numerous National Rugby Championship franchises are miffed about the lack of support they received last season, while anger persists at grassroots level over a contentious participation levy.

The ARU has in recent times cried poor, repeatedly throwing out the threat of insolvency, to explain why they been so frugal, but the new SANZAR broadcast television deal, scheduled to be announced midway during the Super Rugby season, is expected to see Australia receive more than Aus$35 million annually for five years from 2016. Boosted by a northern hemisphere television bidding war and a drop in the value of the Australian dollar, as the contract is in US dollars, the deal will be a substantial increase from the previous broadcast contract.

The grassroots level will naturally ask why they have to help to finance the Australian game when the broadcasting dollar has improved, and the ARU could do far worse than getting the punters back on side by opting against the participation levy; it would be a very wise PR move in an important Rugby World Cup year.

And as the NRC is apparently now a confirmed part of the broadcasting deal, those championship franchises, which are struggling to stay afloat and have complained about 'no new income or optimism', are hoping to receive more than sympathy from head office. A return telephone call would be an improvement. Already we hear the partnership at one NRC franchise is 'cracking appreciably'. As for when the NRC is played this season, it appears the opening round has been set down for late August - ensuring that it will be played during the World Cup.

Andrew Mehrtens: giving the viewers what they want

The television commentary in some Super Rugby matches can be the ultimate in blandness, as many of the microphone brigade are scared to upset anyone. That's why former All Blacks No.10 Andrew Mehrtens has been so refreshing with his sideline eye observations of New Zealand matches. He was right on form during the Crusaders-Rebels match in Christchurch, giving his succinct opinion of visiting back-rower Sean McMahon going to the sin-bin for a dangerous tackle. Said Mehrtens: "That decision reminds me very much of a big, steaming heap of stuff down the end of the ground that one of the Crusaders horses left earlier on." The silence of several seconds after Mehrtens comment was also 'Gold'. And Mehrtens was right. It was a shocking refereeing decision.

Tom Kingston starring in legal circles

Rebels winger Tom Kingston has had his injury problems lately, but he has been able to shine in other areas. The latest RUPA newsletter reveals that Kingston, studying Law at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, recently finished top of the class in Torts. This has prompted him to be invited to participate in the International Maritime Law Arbitration Moot. This annual competition, which involves settling a dispute relating to commercial maritime law, involves teams of law students from around the world.

Rumours of the Week

- The Western Force to continue chasing talent from South Africa and are also looking at potential AFL recruits.

- Murmurs that the Shute Shield competition, after decades on the ABC, could this season appear on 7Two. Interest from SBS has cooled.

Enter your Super Rugby tips at http://www.footytips.com.au/tipping/superrugby for your chance to win an Auckland Bledisloe Cup travel package. Enter the ESPN Scrum Super Stars tipping league at http://www.footytips.com.au/comps/ESPN_Scrum_Super_Stars to claim bragging rights over the ESPN Scrum rugby journalists including Greg Growden..