Super-sized rugby
19 May 2009
Sanzar has announced a new-look Super Rugby format that will feature 15 teams competing over 24 weeks from late February to August.
The new competition guarantees each team a minimum of eight home matches and a 16-match regular season. A new six team finals series includes an extra round with two ‘sudden-death’ qualifiers before the semi-finals.
All teams will have a three-week bye while the tournament is suspended during the June International Test window, while the Tri-Nations series has also been given a new time slot in the calendar to run at the conclusion of Super Rugby.
The key features are:
– A 15th team playing in the Australian conference will be added to Super Rugby following a tender process open to all territories, and with Sanzar making the decision on the new side’s location. A timetable for tenders will be released shortly to ensure adequate lead-in time is provided to the successful bidder
– The tournament will kick off in the last week of February and conclude in the first week of August, except in 2011 when the calendar will be shifted earlier to accommodate the World Cup
– Teams will be divided into three national conferences of five teams each. The new team will compete in the Australian conference
– Teams play the other four teams in their conference twice (home and away)
– Teams play four out of the five teams from the other two conferences (four home, four away). Each team will therefore play against 12 and not 14 Super Rugby teams in a season (opposition will change every year)
– All teams will have a three-week bye during the June Test window
– The three conference winners and three wildcard teams with the highest number of competition points from any conference qualify for the play-offs
– The wildcard teams and the conference winner with the least competition points will play an elimination round to meet the two conference winners with the greatest number of competition points in the semi-finals
– Tri-Nations will always kick-off in South Africa in mid-August and conclude with two of the three trans-Tasman matches in early October to allow for early release of Springboks to Currie Cup. The will allow for Tri Nations Tests between particular teams in particular countries to become permanent fixtures on the rugby calendar
‘This new structure will enable us to further embed Super Rugby as the premier provincial competition in world rugby,’ said Australian Rugby Union CEO John O’Neill. ‘The extended season, the home and away local derbies and a new-look finals series – we are building on what has already been an enormously successful rugby tournament.
‘This is an important and necessary evolution for Super Rugby and the fans, I’m sure, will embrace the changes we have made.
‘From an Australian perspective, having a presence in the marketplace from February to August delivers us the capacity to compete with the other codes from a stronger and more compelling position. Australia is the only country in the world where four football codes compete head to head.
‘Expanding the Super Rugby season presents us with a wonderful opportunity to further increase the profile and popularity of our game – and in the long term that will benefit Sanzar and the game worldwide.’
NZRU CEO Steve Tew said the agreement was a welcome one for rugby in New Zealand.
‘We have said at every juncture that our preference was to maintain the three-country alliance and to build on it. We are delighted that we have reached an agreement which allows us to move the Super Rugby competition to a new platform which we believe will capture and excite rugby fans in all three countries. It will also create benefits for our players and Super Rugby franchises and give us a certain competition structure we can build on in future years and a protected window for our domestic competitions.’
The Sanzar partners will present the proposed structure to the rights-holding News Corporation by the end of June. Any new deal only comes into force from the 2011 season.
174 Comments
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19 May 2009, 20:31 pm
super 14/15/16/200
is going
to lose
its punch
and become
boring
19 May 2009, 20:43 pm
bring back
louis luyt
he has balls
and brains
19 May 2009, 20:44 pm
#147 byoboy: Rugby will only be as strong as it’s collective parts.
The biggest weakness of teh game as it stands is that it centers around – Britain, Ireland & France. South Africa. NZ & Australia. (Argentina is pretty much NH).
If one of those lomited power countries falters the rest fall with them and that includes economics.
Look at Rugby League. Queensland & NSW “don’t need” any one else. But League in UK is essentially dead. NZ is marginal (despite winning RLWC).
So …
Don’t be dof. Jingoism is just dofness in a macho shell.
19 May 2009, 20:46 pm
Australia wins. SA is the big loser. Our CC will now be an even more watered down affair than before. I won`t be following this super **** for an extra 2 months. It`s already too long as it is. Currently I only watch about half the matches after round 6. The matches between overseas opposition are of little interest to me. **** decision. Too much and too long.
19 May 2009, 21:02 pm
#150 SodaJoe: jingoism..ha ha is that the pot calling the kettle black.
the settlement if you can call it that is definitely not good for SA rugby especially not our Currie Cup. But SARU will want to fill their pockets so the will cow tow to arrogant o’neil, to think what is good for aus rugby is also dof duffus
19 May 2009, 21:03 pm
#152 byoboy: Well written. Great syntax. Excellent argument.
19 May 2009, 21:06 pm
You can watch so much Rugby and no more. Soccer became boring when defense became the criteria and the same is happening to Rugby. The semis, finals of Super15, Curry Cup and Internationals will still be worth watching but I have my doubts about the rest. On the other hand anything is better then boring American movies so it might just take off and become a conversation piece around a braai.
19 May 2009, 21:06 pm
#151 Springbokvel: I agree, the format is very cumbersome.
We should just have done away with the June tours. They are a joke anyway. At best C teams.
The Conference idea takes away the national rivalry concept, which is what really makes s14 sing.
19 May 2009, 21:10 pm
#152 byoboy: last sentence to read: to think what is good for aus rugby is also good for world rugby is also dof duffus.
ooooh good use of the thesaurus jingoism boy, u must be aussie
19 May 2009, 21:10 pm
Koos was walking through his veld one day when he spots someone drinking water from a pool.
He shouts, “Moenie die ****** water drink nie, poephol, dis vol ****** kak en kolera!
The other guy says, “I’m a visiting Australian rugby supporter mate, can you speak English !”
Koos replies, JA “Use bofe hands, you gets more that way”.
19 May 2009, 21:12 pm
#156 byoboy: Much improved. D+.
19 May 2009, 21:24 pm
#157 SodaJoe: common at least a B+ by aussie standards
19 May 2009, 22:35 pm
What a truly messed up format this new Super series will be.
Teams not all playing each other that sounds like a Marino’s idea. The conference thing, that sounds like the antipodes there. A break in the competition for the June test that sounds like Marino’s right there. A longer season that is definitely the antipodes speaking.
There you have it a mixed bag of bad ideas. With this big Super series there is really no way to manoeuvre in future and after 2 years after this thing kicks off and the public lose interest (the antipodes that is) what then? The only good thing is the equal 4 away matches for all teams against teams from the other conference.
The kiwis have decided to follow the convict route and do away with their domestic competition because they just cannot pay for it with their small television market. They are the biggest losers here the NPC is gone forever.
As for SARU it looks like they will finally have the ammo to reduce the amount of full time professional teams from 14 to 6. This will reduce the amount of professional players from the nearly 500 to about 250. As for the minnow unions they will just have to accept their semi-professional status.
As for bottom dwelling teams like the WP, Cheetah’s and the Kings they will have to qualify for this competition right? And if they do not qualify then all they will have is CC rugby and perhaps a match or 2 against a super team when they have a bye.
19 May 2009, 22:46 pm
#159 RedLion: I agree – very hard to be half pregnant.
19 May 2009, 23:19 pm
#154 posts: defence is different in rugby and football, defence is actually enjoyable to watch in rugby. Ironically, since you said you watch the finals, it is actually the finals which are the most defensive.
19 May 2009, 23:45 pm
one thinmgs for sure – no way in hell the boks should play currie cup once this tournament kicks off.
this is a necessary evolution for rugby in the southern hemisphere and i think we should embrace it. the Home conference of S15 is effectively the currie cup which then merges into a Souther hempisphere 2 phase grand finale to find the finalists and then winner. i think it is very clever. we could award the currie cup to the SA team that finnishes top of the home conference of 5 teams.
the existing currie cup then becomes a B-league semi-professional domestic competition which acts as a feeder for S15 and a competition for the non-bok s15 players to play in.
as it is our players play too many games. my sums are right, the most games a team can play is (8+8+3) 19 games. plus 3 mid season tests + 6 trinations tests + 3 end of season tests. thats 31 games a bok player could play over a season without being invloved in the currie cup.
I have no odubt SARU see this – its just going to be a case of convincing the self serving provincial presidents that no boks should play currie cup.
of course this means all S15 players should now be centrally contracted as in NZ – because if WP Bulls Lions cheetas and Sharks unions contract the players then its a problem as they’ll want to flog the hell out of them.
20 May 2009, 00:02 am
#162 munkiboi: Good post.
20 May 2009, 03:38 am
In the Tri-nations, every country play each other 3 times – once in one country and twice in another country.
Why not change it to still play 3 games against each other – once home, once away and the third match at a neutral location as a semi-exhibition match. These third tests can be played in places like Japan, Hong Kong, Dubai, North America, South America or even smaller European rugby countries like Russia, Spain, Germany etc to grow the game.
20 May 2009, 03:39 am
cheers soda.
and here’s a thought. if we really want 6 teams, why not let SA sides start 2 weeks earlier and we have 6 in our conference – playing 10 games (5 home 5 away) each. then when we move to stage 2 the team that finnishes last does not get to partake. all we have to do is provide 5 teams to each play 8 games against foreign teams.
it could also expand to a S18 in time with the top 2 teams from each conference and next 2 highest scoring teams going straight into a quarter final situation.
i have no doubt this format benefits aussie more than anyone else because they have no domestic competition – but given they always had the most to gain this is natural – fact is it has benefitted all the sanzar countries.
20 May 2009, 05:13 am
I’ve notice nobody has mentioned, on top of the O’Neills wizardry in creating an entire Aussie provincial league funded out of the S14 coffers, that an Australian team is now ‘guaranteed’ a semi-finals birth… something it could not achieve on it’s own this year!
The man is masterful and ruthless… in two seasons… shut down a potential white elephant in the ARC, taken the ARU from a deficit to surplus, restored ARU cash coffers to around $20million… and single-handedly created an new 5 state league funded out of the Super14 coffers… brilliance…
Then we have the hacks at SARU!
20 May 2009, 05:26 am
O’Neill is hired to look after the interests of Australian rugby.
Not SANZAR. Not growing the game worldwide. Not racial “transformation”. Not anything peeping through the slats in the fence hoping to get lucky and score some free bucks …
Australian rugby, as a money-making and trophy-winning venture, is O’Neill’s sole mission.
That’s all.
He’s very, very good at it. Give the man credit.
20 May 2009, 09:47 am
#167 TheTackler: not really, he wrote the teamtalk for England in the 2007 World Cup with his ‘hate’ comments, Aus exited at the QF stage. He also propelled the useless ELVs into the limelight which has seen S14 viewers/crowds turning away in their thousands. O’Neill is no genius, far from it.
20 May 2009, 12:41 pm
#168 Big Hit: You handle the truth carelessly Big. JON was recruited to the ARU to turn the black hole around., this he achieved in his first year of tenure. His next duty of care was to SANZAR of which he has parlayed a deal to reinvigorate a tired format. JON is not wholly responsible for the new deal he has partners. NZ, SA & Aus are all equally responsible. JON has broad shoulders and will be the whipping post., he quite likes the dis-information game. Judgment will be dealt in due course.
We have all read a lot of **** on this site lately and I would have to say it has been a case of cloak and daggers. SANZAR is not the divided alliance the media has fed us. We have been served up a $hit sandwich which has infact turned out to be a palatable salad.
20 May 2009, 13:31 pm
If I wanted a format like that then I would watch forking rugby league!
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