ROSEMARY ABBOTT | Sport
DREAM BOAT
Sky Sport executives are bracing for an unexpected ratings surge this Saturday, following news that 24 year-old fullback Ruben Love will make his first Test start for the All Blacks against France in Hamilton.
“We usually see viewership drops for dead rubber Tests,” said Sky’s head of programming. “But within 10 minutes of Love being named, we had a 400% increase in female subscribers Googling ‘how to watch All Blacks vs France live NZ time’.”
Hannah Inglis, a 22 year-old accounting student at Vic Uni, admits she wasn’t planning to watch the final Test after her long-time crush Beauden Barrett was ruled out with injury, but her interest ramped up when she saw Love’s name on the starting team sheet.
“I’d seen Ruben play for the Hurricanes a few times and knew he was in the AB’s frame. But when I saw he was named today, it put me in a hot flush that lasted all day,” said Hannah, whose crush on Beauden Barrett is slowly drifting.
“You know when someone just stops texting? That’s how it feels with Beauden lately,” she said, twirling her hair while refreshing Love’s tagged Instagram photos, zooming in on the ones with him topless.
“Honestly, they should just have a camera on Ruben the whole time and I’d still consider it match of the year.” Hannah concluded, continuing to like all of Ruben’s Instagram photos.
In response to the skyrocketing interest, Sky Sport confirmed they’re looking into a dedicated Ruben-cam stream, although a spokesperson insisted, “It’s purely for tactical analysis. Nothing to do with his jawline.”
More to come.
