Sanzaar confirm 15-team format
It was a kick every watching neutral was hoping he would miss and Francois Brummer duly obliged to confirm the Sunwolves’ rousing win over the Bulls. It would have been cruel, given the fight they had shown for 75 minutes, for the Japanese outfit to be denied their second ever win in the 76th, when referee Will Houston spotted an infringement and gave Brummer the chance to put the South African side back in front. But, although the penalty opportunity was on a reasonable angle and certainly within range, Brummer pushed it wide. Bummer for him and the Bulls, jubilation for the Sunwolves and just about everyone else. It’s official — one Australian and two South African Super Rugby teams will be cut from next year’s competition.
Organisers Sanzaar announced last night that the format will be simplified into a three-conference, 15-team tournament which will include five teams from New Zealand, four from Australia and South Africa, and one from Japan and Argentina.
There was no indication which teams will be culled or when — it appears Sanzaar will leave that up to the Australian and South African unions — but the favourites are the Force, Kings and Cheetahs, meaning about 100 players and assorted support and administration staff will soon be looking for new jobs.
The new format sees the Sunwolves join the Australian conference and Jaguares join South Africa’s.
Unfortunately for fans hoping for a competition in which every team plays every other, that’s not going to happen, at least in the short term.
Instead, each team will play 12 of the other teams within a season, an improvement on the current formula. The announcement was no surprise; in fact, it brings to a close weeks of speculation following an information vacuum which started when the organisation employed a consultant nine months ago to examine a competition beset by falling fan engagement in terms of crowd numbers and television viewers.
A common complaint has been the complexity and unfairness of the four-conference system which sees some teams miss New Zealand sides — invariably among the strongest — for the entirety of the round-robin. The truth too is that the depth of the player base in Australia and South Africa cannot justify the number of teams they have at the moment.
Pointedly, Sanzaar chief executive Andy Marinos mentioned the feedback of supporters as a major driver of change, adding: “This has been a long and complex piece of work and we make no apology for that. Super Rugby is unique in world rugby in that it is played in six countries across 15 time zones and has numerous stakeholders.
“Sanzaar cannot continue to ignore the extensive feedback that it has received from fans, stakeholders and commercial partners around the integrity of the competition format and performances of the teams. We want to see an engaging, vibrant and competitive competition that delivers a strong high performance pathway in all markets that will have a positive flow into the international game.”
Sanzaar chairman, Brent Impey, who is also New Zealand Rugby’s chairman, said: “This decision has not been an easy one and we recognise the difficulty associated with reducing the number of teams in Australia and South Africa. Naturally we understand that there will be some very disappointed franchises but the tournament’s long-term future and the economic reality of the business at present is something that had to be addressed.”