So the wildebeest and sharks could play in the same tournament.

How long piss ?

They will probably have to.

The 3 smaller unions are not performing well enough to make the CC 8 team tournament. So they either have to keep their players and NOT play CC at all or allow their players to play for the Spears and get CC exposure.

I would think that the smaller unions would probably get some financial incentive for participating in the CC.

I agree with your ideas to a certain extent.

I just think that, for the second tier (for lack of a better description) tournament it may be best to keep the games to the same timelines.

So, the proposed SA franchises can make up teams ina tournament that can include Africa and Europe, maybe contributing to development in Africa, but also tapping into the media strength and money from Europe.

Big Wig media companies in Europe may make vast contributions to such a tournament, but only if European teams are also playing. Don’t know though whether it will be feasible in Europe with the Heineken cup being played.

If there are enough second tier teams in UK, France and the rest of Europe it may work out well.

Still on that theory of yours?

Wonder if the small unions at SWD, EP and Border will let their players get released for the Spears in CC?

Spears would at least get decent crowd attendence figures.

1. reduce from 5 to 3 SA teams in the competition.
2. allow the 3 coaches to pick from a pool system of talent.
3. renegotiate number of home matches.

i also saw that, and its a great idea, but lets see first.

david,

lets assume then it is a completely different competition to the S14.

we can even have argi’s based in SA, and PI’s based in NZ or OZ to make travelling easier.

The VC is going to be scrapped pretty soon in favour of a national club competition based on semi-pro teams.

This is all part of the acenture high performance report. The first part of the report was to implement a S8 currie cup. The key to the report was that it was in fact possible to rejuvinate rugby from the top down in this manner.

Another key aspect of the report was to re-implement Varsity rugby. WHich SARU are doing with FNB, this year their will be a Varsity Bowl.

The next key step in the process is Clubs and the money previously spent on the VC will be spent on Clubs instead

drop the VC, it is useless and serves no purpose, viewer ratings are low because very simply, the standard of rugby is ****.

there are 5 franchises that compete in the S14 – keep it that way.

during the S14, let the smaller unions form franchises too.

pumas, leopards, BB (VC side)
lions (VC side), falcons
griquas, cheetahs (VC side), griffons
boland, WP (VC side)
natal (VC), SWD, EP, border

play a pan-african comp, or even better, an international comp against argie’s and maybe the pacific islands.

possibilities can also be entertained whether NZ or OZ has lower level teams (under the S14) which can take part in a competition that will run concurrently with the S14.

these games can be scheduled as warm-up games or run as a competition on its own.

the home venues for each franchise will not be one of the big 5 stadiums, but one of the smaller unions.

we have 6 franchises or regions in SA, we all know the spears story.

in a year or two’s time, saru employs an automatic promotion relegation system. not this play-off 3 match scenario – if you are not good enough, you lose your spot for the next S14. this franchise will then compete in the same competition as the re-vamped VC as explained above.

so for arguments sake, next year the spears will compete in the competition that will run concurrently with the S14. if the cats gets relegated next year, they will play as the cats in 2009, etc etc.

saru can implement strict quotas here, not in the S14. not only will players be developed and play against international teams, but our PDI’s gets exposure where they need it most – competitive rugby.

this pool will support the S14 franchises participating (by widening and strengthning the depth of our rugby talent playing in an international comp), but support the smaller financially through international broadcast deals and sponsors, etc.

players get developed and saru force minmum quotas at this level and not S14 – the cream will rise no matter what colour. and the S14 teams’ coaches can pick the cream of the crop.

after the super 14 and this other international comp we can either have a 14 team CC system, or a CC ‘a’ and ‘b’ division with a 8/6 split.

the competitions for each division also runs concurrently with a 2 team promotion/relegation system put in place, no play off matches, automatic promotion and relegation where the top 2 ‘b’ division teams are promoted to the ‘a’ division with the latter bottom 2 teams dropping out to the ‘b’ division.

very simple system, which administratively is not as clear cut as i wrote it here of course, but a framework where rugby is #1 truly developed and #2, the smaller unions have a fighting chance in survival.

for instance, saru needs to take ownership of the S14 and they, with the national coach need to pick the 5 franchises coaches, and also control the draft system which is a mess.

but just an idea.