Netflix, which has led survival variety shows such as ‘Physical: 100’, ‘Black and White Chef: Culinary Class Wars’ to global success, has announced another ‘survival hit’. PD Jang Si-won, who created hits such as ‘Strongest Baseball’, ‘Steel Troops’, and ‘City Fishermen’, has created a new sports survival show, ‘Strongest Rugby: Die or Win’ (Strongest Rugby).

‘Strongest Rugby’, which will be released on the 10th, will feature seven rugby teams, including Korea Electric Power Corporation, Hyundai Glovis, POSCO E&C, OK Goatman Rugby Team, Armed Forces Athletic Corps, Korea University, and Yonsei University, fiercely competing to win the championship trophy.

‘Strongest Rugby’ is a ‘Strongest Rugby show with only four professional teams in one league and only about 100 registered players, unlike domestic OTT (online video services) such as Tving and Coupang Play, which are continuously launching entertainment programs featuring popular domestic sports such as baseball and soccer. It is attracting attention as a ‘rugby survival entertainment show’ produced in ’barren land’ Korea.
Producer Jang Si-won said that he was immediately captivated by a rugby match he saw in Sapporo, Japan and decided to produce a rugby-related entertainment show right away. He said, “Rugby is a really rough sport. It‘s a sport where you have to move forward to win. He emphasized, “That’s the charm that only rugby has and the reason I chose this sport.”

In order for viewers who don’t know much about rugby to be able to truly experience the rough charm and energy of rugby, a long period of 1 year and 6 months was poured into the planning and production process, and a total of 140 cameras, including 40 match cameras and 100 stationary cameras, were used, the largest number in the history of rugby broadcasting.

Regarding this, PD Jang said, “I built a new filming system because I wanted to accurately convey the sound of the players’ bones clashing on the spot and the heavy breathing of the 100kg players sprinting for 80 minutes.”

The background music that adds to the dynamism of rugby is provided by vocalist Yoon Do-hyun of the “national band” YB, raising expectations even higher. Yoon Do-hyun, who completed the music exclusively for ‘Strongest Rugby’, was inspired by the relationships between the seven teams and the stories of the players and was confident that “‘Strongest Rugby’ is a work that is more than just a sport.”


Reporter Lee Seung-mi smlee@donga.com