Read needs support for Super change

So Kieran Read, like the rest of us, thinks the Super Rugby format is a lemon.

Should we be shocked? Didn’t think so. Just because All Blacks captain Read is bracketed among the highest paid players in the land and one of NZ Rugby’s leading ambassadors, it doesn’t mean he lives in cuckooland.

Far from it. Read is no fool. He knows the Super Rugby competition structure, as it stands, is a farce. It’s clumsy, difficult to understand and unfair.

Tell us something we don’t know, everyone will chirp. Exactly. Those who have trouble understanding how the conference system works are not isolated grumblers, moaning for the sake of it.

This is not the first time a highprofile rugby identity has lamented the state of the Sanzaar competition, but it’s refreshing to hear Read, who told

RadioLive at the weekend that the competition ‘‘needs to be put into a better place’’, keep the pressure on Sanzaar.

It’s not as if Read has made any outlandish statements. He simply likes the idea of a full round-robin, where every team plays each other once and noted ‘‘we can’t continue with this conference system moving forward’’.

Read isn’t alone in feeling frustrated.

Prior to Sanzaar agreeing to an expansion of the competition, which seems likely when the three-conference 15-team model is revamped after 2020, he suggested the governing body formulate a plan which would be fair for ‘‘everyone and result in a better product for the fans who turn up every week’’.

There have been reports that a team from Fiji, Samoa or Tonga could be added to Super Rugby, and adding a fourth conference from the United States was mooted in a high-level Sanzaar strategy paper leaked to the

Sydney Morning Herald in May. A 20-team four-conference format was one of the models mentioned in that publication.

Sanzaar, and maybe his bosses at NZ Rugby, may think Read is bang out of order with his remarks.

Perhaps some even wish he adhered to the ‘‘are you with us, or against us?’’ motto that is sometimes espoused by the true evangelists in the industry.

In other words, keep your head down and your gob shut. Those who smile, nod and don’t dare question the power brokers are given a rub between the shoulders and offered a kind word for not rocking the boat.

That’s the last thing Super Rugby needs. Read has fired a shot. He needs support from his peers in South Africa, Australia, Argentina and Japan and they need to go public and be brave.

Leading Springboks, Wallabies and Jaguares players should feel compelled to speak up, and if they are worried about getting a slap from their employers they should prove they are big boys and can accept their medicine.

Same goes with the coaches. Keep the heat on Sanzaar. Speak up. Keep turning up the thermostat. Make Sanzaar squirm and search for logical solutions.

Because at the moment the most important members of the rugby community, the fans, are the ones being compromised. As Read noted, they deserve a better product.

And when the All Blacks captain has the courage to speak out, that has to count for something.