NZ players the winners as Japan walks

So, it seems the Sunwolves can look close to home for the reason they won’t be part of Super Rugby from 2021 onwards.

That was the clear message from Sanzaar’s statement yesterday, which made pointed reference to the JRFU deciding ‘‘that Super Rugby no longer remains the best pathway for the development of players for the national team’’.

Ouch – that’s quite the hospital pass.

But regardless of where the responsibility lies there is one group of stakeholders that will benefit from Super Rugby’s return to a round-robin format from 2021: New Zealand’s players.

Some of the most senior and respected players in the game, including Kieran Read and Ben Smith, have been saying with increasing assertiveness that the conference system had to go.

Players love New Zealand derbies, but four a year is quite enough.

Eight? Well, they’d rather like to be able to pick up their grandkids in years to come without knees, ankles and shoulders falling apart.

As Smith told Stuff a few weeks ago: ‘‘The format and how it is now is just what we’ve got to roll with because that’s what it is for this year. But going forward I think there probably does need to be a change.

‘‘Maybe it is the round-robin scenario but I think there needs to be a change with how that’s going at the moment.’’

In other words, stop flogging us because we are at our breaking point.

And it’s not just the physical side of the New Zealand derbies that takes a toll.

If you play eight games a year against Kiwi sides that’s eight games where you have the pressure of All Blacks matchups, and that’s even before you get to the finals.

The New Zealand derbies are intense encounters and you only had to look at the ChiefsHurricanes game last week to see that.

After a lot of lip service to ‘‘player welfare’’ over recent years it appears the message is getting through.

There is also a more cynical reason New Zealand might quite enjoy Japan’s pivot from Super Rugby towards its own domestic competition.

Kiwi players have been increasingly open to the financial opportunities the Top League presents and they are only likely to grow if Japan’s rugby bosses see it as their future.

While playing Super Rugby and then a season in Japan might seem hypocritical given the players’ concerns about workload, the Japanese competition is rated somewhere between Mitre 10 and Super Rugby in terms of physicality and Super Rugby teams are becoming increasingly sophisticated in managing players who also play in Japan.

So, this is not the end of New Zealand’s relationship with Japan. Far from it.

For example, the Highlanders have a tie-up with NTT Docomo, the Japanese club that Liam Squire will join on a two-year deal after the Rugby World Cup.

Japanese players train with the Highlanders and play for their ‘B’ side, the Bravehearts.

New Zealand Rugby, for its part, has been virtually pushing players towards the Top League as part of its answer to European club raids.

Those links will continue despite the Sunwolves’ exit.

And in the meantime, the return of a round-robin format to Super Rugby will give New Zealand’s players relief from a system that was brutal on body and mind.