Get ready for Super Rugby’s expansion
13 Feb 2013
Super Rugby will expand to include the Lions and Kings in SANZAR’s next broadcasting deal.
Australia won’t oppose any expansion as long as they continue to have their local derbies and the Australia Conference is strengthened by way of a possible addition from Japan.
South Africa has pushed for the Kings and Lions to be accommodated in a tournament that then services all six South African regions.
New Zealand is unlikely to want to add to their five regions but it is not out of the question, with the New Zealand RFU chief executive Steve Tew insistent that New Zealand’s only reservation would be around the playing demands on their players and also the make up of the Conference system.
New Zealand currently plays 20 derby matches and hosts 40 games in a Super Rugby season. It is anticipated that if the expansion happens it will be to Super 18 with the additional South African team, one from Japan and one from Argentina adding to the compliment.
Local derbies would remain a priority but you could find a team like the Kings playing in the Australian/New Zealand Conference and a team from Japan possibly playing in the Australian Conference/New Zealand with one from Argentina added to the South African Conference.
‘The only thing we are adamant about is that we don’t want any more rugby for our guys. We think our guys have got enough on their plates as it is. So we have to manage their workload,’ Tew told the Kiwi media.
‘But we have an open mind … nothing has been ruled out, but nothing is definite. We have to look after our players. One is that the workload doesn’t increase, two is that we don’t do anything to devalue the commercial strength of our competitions and, thirdly, they have to remain sufficiently competitive.
‘We don’t want a structure that compromises what we believe is the most competitive competition of its type in the world.’
The new format would be confirmed well in advance of it actually happening.
By Mark Keohane
110 Comments
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13 Feb 2013, 10:12 am
then all the ad nauseum drama can end…thank the angels
13 Feb 2013, 10:34 am
Bring back the super 12 please and thank you.
13 Feb 2013, 10:34 am
This comp is in danger of, at times, becoming less competitive than the Currie Cup.
13 Feb 2013, 10:42 am
SA does not have the strength in depth to field 4 competitive teams and yet here we are trying to make 6? Bonkers.
Also, when will SANZAR realise we don’t actually care more about local derbies? If anything, they are becoming too frequent and therefore repetitive and monotonous.
13 Feb 2013, 10:47 am
I feel the Same, Rage. Super 12 was intense and interesting, 100% of the time. Watched every match, no matter who played. Yet. the last 2 years I found myself only watching about 70% of the Bulls’ matches, as I couldn’t care less at times.
They took something that wasn’t broke, tried to fix it, and ****ed it up.
13 Feb 2013, 10:53 am
I still feel divide it into 2 seperate divisions of 12 teams each. I am sure we would be able to get 9 extra teams from both the current countries as well as external: Lions, 1 Kiwi team, Griquas, and also as mentioned, 1 Japanese team, 1 Argentinean team.
Then we need 4: 1 from Samoa, 1 from Tonga, 1 from Fiji, and one more from the Argies.
Or just 4 extra Argie teams.
Super 12 Premier League and Super 12 2nd League.
13 Feb 2013, 10:58 am
@ShaunB-4: SA has the capacity to have at least 7 teams. Griquas will eventually have to get their place. Too many of their players leave for other areas (yeah, similar to Free State and EP), but they have a massive love for rugby in the Northern Cape. The only thing that messed up SA rugby was forced combined franchises. Too much internal and external politics.
The only reason we don’t have enough Super Rugby experienced players is because most of our players never get the chance to make the step up. There are a lot of quality players that simply disappeared because of the internal politics and buddy-buddy systems in the major franchises.
Money? Only the Stormers seem to have a never-ending amount of finances. But it is to be expected, considering the weird relation SARU always had with WP over the years. Bulls and Sharks took a few years, but they’re on top now. Both the Lions and Cheetahs are much better off now than they were 5 years ago. It is a building process for teams, but you have to start somewhere. But players… there are many.
If the new club system additions start to work and the Northern Cape gets their University in the next few years, you’ll see them grow dramatically.
13 Feb 2013, 11:00 am
@Rage-2:
agree with you…
super 12… or even super 9
13 Feb 2013, 11:02 am
Super rugby must die! Useless boring competitiom. Rather launch a refreshed 8 or 10 team currie cup with the top 4 teams qualifying for 12 team Heineken cup copetiton with the Frogs and Poms.
13 Feb 2013, 11:03 am
luckily SA has all this incredible depth, we’ve seen it over the years with the 5 teams theyve had in super rugby
oh wait..
13 Feb 2013, 11:08 am
@the curse-10:
Oh nice, we have a troll…
13 Feb 2013, 11:10 am
make the competition start with an internal Currie cup type league format, and then the top three from each country go to a finals series. this way you can have an extra two countries in or more. maybe a north conference and a Japan conference and a PI conference….
13 Feb 2013, 11:11 am
@RL-9: now you talking my language
13 Feb 2013, 11:29 am
Last year I watched the least amount of rugby I have in the last 10 years, and its because of this conference system.
I want to see our teams up against the best from NZ and OZ like it was in the S12 and earlier, and not these incestuous contests between our same old unions from the last 100 years.
The fact that OZ fashions their own little domestic comp out of this arrangement at the expense of what was a great rugby tournament is sickening.
13 Feb 2013, 11:30 am
@the curse-10:
You are ridiculous. Dont you get bored with your games?
13 Feb 2013, 11:31 am
I would like to see the first leg of the comp only being a local conference home & away competition. (like in American Football). Would probably cut down a lot on the travelling.
Then the top 8 teams (by league points) go into a straight knock out after that? (1 plays 8; 2 plays 7 etc.) – followed by semi’s and a final.
13 Feb 2013, 11:31 am
@Stawm-15: you really think SA has the depth for 6 teams?
look back over the competition, two SA teams have consistently propped up the bottom of the table
just pointing out a truth..
13 Feb 2013, 11:32 am
@ Rage… if only…
It’s time for a Pool system ala Heineken Cup. It’s getting too big for the current system.
Expand it to 20 teams of 4 pools, home and away. Top finishing 2 teams go through quarters and the winners into semis and final
That way the winning team will play 8 games in the pool and 3 more to win it.
The bottom finishing teams should also go into a relegation home & away round robin play off with the bottom 2 being relegated.
Pool 1
Stormers
Canes
Blues
Kings
Japan Team
Pool 2
Chiefs
Brumbies
Tahs
Lions
Argentina Team
Pool 3
Saders
Reds
Cheetahs
Force
Samonaon Team
Pool 4
Bulls
Sharks
Highlanders
Rebels
Fiji Team
In conjunction, there could be a 2nd tier 8 team, home and away comp with teams from Japan, Arg, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, etc, etc fighting it out for the top two promotion spots
13 Feb 2013, 11:32 am
Two problems with this, at least. First is that SA doesn’t have the depth. Already the Kings are trying to add more foreigners than SARU has entitled them to. Second, the format. We already hear enough about the travel disadvantage but if one SA team plays in the NZ conference, they’d have a massive whinge. It probably wouldn’t even be such a bad thing, they’d only need to play an extra few games on the road but imagine the infighting to decide who is in the NZ conference.
I doubt that Samoa/Tonga/Fiji could field a team but I’m starting to think the Japanese could. I’m sure their league must run at a loss and it’s just corporations paying for bragging rights. Let them buy up a bunch of foreigners and have a go.
And don’t be too quick to assume NZ doesn’t want another franchise. Tew said he wants to keep things competitive but Taranaki has talked about it and we’re now willing to prostitute ourselves for the right price
13 Feb 2013, 11:32 am
@ 8 ufo
Yes pal,in this case less is more.
@11 hoener
Hehe
13 Feb 2013, 11:34 am
@seamus-18: there’s no way the islands can field a team each. where would they get the money, sponsors, new stadium? Fiji’s international team couldn’t even find sponsorship for the november games. And Tonga, population 109,000 has very little TV viewership. SA would be bankrolling us all
13 Feb 2013, 11:35 am
@ 14 stawm
My sentiments exactly.
13 Feb 2013, 11:38 am
@RL-9:
yes
i would really welcome this.
cannot stand this farcical comp.
13 Feb 2013, 11:42 am
@Stawm-15: any more ridiculous then the rubbish we received in 2009 from the majority of Saffa supporters?
seems you dont like it now the shoes on the other foot..
too bad..
13 Feb 2013, 11:55 am
What pisses me off about this whole business, is the way the Super competition has evolved and been manipulated by the Aussies to acommodate their lack of a domestic competition. What started as a regional competition to pit the best of each countries players against each other just below test level, has morphed into one where the emphasis is on home and away local derbies.
Both SA and NZ had domestic competitions, which now take second place in attendance, that didn’t need to compete with a conference.
The only way to combat thisif the conference format persists, is to completely divorce the franchises and their players from the Unions.
13 Feb 2013, 12:00 pm
@the curse-24:
ja kobus kitty owned you that year, i think you had two public crying fits on here.
it was be-yaw-diful!
13 Feb 2013, 12:04 pm
all this talk about how we could have various “conferences” misses the point imo.
i couldnt give less of a toss for watching the sharks play the stormers 6 times a year in various competitions and then playing a kiwi and aussie side maybe 4 times IF they progress to a final?
the whole point was that it is an international comp, not a domestic comp.
and the c u n ts who run this thing simply wont listen to us.
i will watch very little rugby outside of sharks games this year and even then, only if the water is so green i cant dive.
13 Feb 2013, 12:06 pm
@David-25: Rugby has sold it’s soul to the TV Devil.
13 Feb 2013, 12:10 pm
@The Rangerman-27:
As I said, it’s all for the benefit of the bloody Aussies. They’ve managed to manipulate the whole competition for their benefit and to the detriment of SA and NZ.
13 Feb 2013, 12:10 pm
@Stawm-14: I fully agree with you, especially your first paragraph.
Super 12
Best four teams from each country
Finish and klaar.
13 Feb 2013, 12:13 pm
@David-29:
the CC was also of a superior standard when it was still s12 and even s14.
13 Feb 2013, 12:14 pm
@David-25: Fully agree David, the Aussies must sort their own mess out.
But I’ll still support them!
13 Feb 2013, 12:15 pm
pray tell…why can’t the ozzies get their own domestic tournament running?
what exactly is the problem?
13 Feb 2013, 12:19 pm
@David-29:
Indeed.
Every partner should have domestic fixtures and then the top 3 teams from each go through to play super rugby afterwards.
We could kill two birds with one stone by calling our domestic comp the Currie Cup.
13 Feb 2013, 12:20 pm
@BrumbiesBoy-30:
I can’t agree. The original S12 concept of the best players in each country being grouped regionally also replaced the old Springbok trials, which were also divided into regions. The emphasis was on the players, not the franchises. To exclude some of the top players based on the success of the team they play for is self defeating.
13 Feb 2013, 12:26 pm
@the curse-17:
Heres a thought:
Why dont you simply state your case plain and simple, instead of using constant sarcasm, ridicule etc, which only opens you up for retaliation, unless this is what you want (thats what I think). Therefore I said “Dont you get bored with your games?”
13 Feb 2013, 12:26 pm
@David-25:
agree…
@The Rangerman-27:
absolutely…
@gunther-34:
that is the way to go…
the less is more approach
13 Feb 2013, 12:26 pm
@David-29: ja, there is that side to it but its naked greed really.
they are trying to boost tv audiences by attracting as many possible viewers through expansion into non-traditional markets but what they are actually doing is diluting the core product.
i think they have forgotten why people were so attracted to the superrugby idea in the first place.
13 Feb 2013, 12:27 pm
@Rage-20:
exactly…
13 Feb 2013, 12:28 pm
the advert was obviously meant for sanzar…
who says less is more…?
MORE is more…!!
make it biiiggaaa…!!
dimtwits…
13 Feb 2013, 12:29 pm
@The Rangerman-27:
Exactly. I used to watch all SA teams when they were on tour against NZ and OZ teams. Then I would watch my favs in the few derbies we had on the home leg.
Now I simply dont watch.
13 Feb 2013, 12:29 pm
@Stawm-36: ag he is just an out and out doos.
and the funny thing is how some saffas try to placate him ignoring all his bile.
13 Feb 2013, 12:30 pm
@David-35: there’s no way Tac will want his Bulls partnered with the bankrupt Lions
13 Feb 2013, 12:32 pm
@David-35: Maybe, but each country should deal with their national trials, etc that as best as they see fit.
I think we all agree that there is far too much “Super” rugby as it is and now they want to increase it even further!
It’s really not so “Super” anymore IMO…
13 Feb 2013, 12:32 pm
@Stawm-41: s10 was the tops man.
we had serious strength vs strength, the comp was short and sweet and the crowds at stadia were huge.
if anyone thinks i am going to sit down and watch the rebels play the force they are out of their minds.
in fact i wont watch the rebels or the force play anyone except the sharks and even that is dire and can be given a miss, even if the sharks lose i couldnt really be bovvered.
and there are so many match ups like that it leads me to missing 80% of the games through lack of interest.
13 Feb 2013, 12:34 pm
@The Rangerman-42:
I hope you dont mean me trying to placate him, I couldnt care less.
It just gets a bit tiring when a nice rugby thread gets full of childish vitriol spewed to and fro. Yes HG, you are included in this childish brigade.
13 Feb 2013, 12:36 pm
@The Rangerman-45:
Agree 100% again.
I now use that time for better things. Beach, mountain, kids, garden etc.
A real pity though, I used to really look forward to Fridays, every weekend had that Long Weekend feel because there was great rugby from Fri onwards.
13 Feb 2013, 12:36 pm
This competition is becoming more and more watered down. Would welcome the Super 12 back.
13 Feb 2013, 12:36 pm
@Transformation-43: promo relegation on a yearlly basis bud.
thats the spur towards professionalism that we need.
and players will stay with their franchises if they know its a year out but they get showcased in a strength vs strength cc which is allowed to be front a centre due to a shorter superrugby schedule.
instead we sit with this sh i t.
13 Feb 2013, 12:39 pm
SANZAR, are you listening?
Was just think I don’t recall ever seeing EVEN ONE BLOGGER suggesting that we need MORE rugby.
And I’m pretty sure bloggers etc on other sites feel exactly the same.
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