Make rugby tribal again
‘‘Super Rugby has been fantastic but domestic competitions are important and need to be strong.’’ John Kirwan
Sir John Kirwan’s beloved Auckland will open the gates to everyone for their Mitre 10 Cup Premiership final against Canterbury today, but he is thinking much bigger than that.
The All Blacks legend wants New Zealand rugby to be dramatically revamped with the provincial unions at the core, Australian sides invited to join a beefed-up NPC and Super Rugby to be replaced by a Heineken Cupstyle format that would bring in sides from South Africa and Japan.
‘‘We’ve got to get the tribalism back,’’ Kirwan said.
‘‘The game is changing pretty quickly. There’s a couple of things we need to get back to. We need to get back to some tribalism and some traditionalism, so get back to Auckland, North Harbour, Otago.
‘‘Super Rugby has been fantastic but domestic competitions are important and need to be strong.’’
Kirwan’s plans will find plenty of admirers around the country and raises some tantalising prospects, particularly the possibility of All Blacks turning out for their provinces.
For example, the idea of the Barrett brothers all playing for Taranaki together in a clash against Wellington has plenty of feelgood factor.
Top-end All Blacks frequently stress their desire to turn out for their provinces, even if the current structure of professional rugby does not allow them.
But Kirwan says this is more than just feeding nostalgic desires and insists the commercial aspects of the revamp would stack up.
The international component of Super Rugby – and the money it brings in – does not disappear in Kirwan’s vision, it simply fits into a model based on Europe’s Heineken Cup.
‘‘We need Australian football to be strong so I think they shouldbecome part of a 20-team, NRLtype situation,’’ Kirwan said.
‘‘For example, we would have possibly 14 New Zealand sides and then six Australian sides – get back to their traditional sides – and I think we’ve seen a resurgence of support [in Australia] for them.
‘‘And then the Japanese play their domestic competitions, the Africans play their domestic competition, and we could possibly look at a couple of Island sides coming in and then every four to six weeks we break into a four-round Super Rugby where we all play each other.
‘‘It would be Manly playing Auckland, playing the Cheetahs, playing Fiji.
‘‘The other reason I like it is that commercially we have more things to sell to Sky or whoever. ‘‘You can package up the New Zealand comp, the Japanese comp, the Currie Cup, the Heineken Cup and then the tests.’’
Super Rugby is at an interesting stage, particularly on the Australian side of the Tasman.
The expansion to 18 teams was widely seen as a failure and TV audiences and attendances in Australia and South Africa suffered as a result.
Sanzaar has been in discussions about how to take the competition forward after the current broadcast deal ends in 2020.
Jaded Australian rugby supporters have been vocal about how the competition lacks the ‘tribalism’ Kirwan wants to restore and the passionate scenes at the end of Otago’s recent Ranfurly Shield challenge against Waikato showed that fire still burns brightly in New Zealand.
As a result, Kirwan believes New Zealand Rugby would not necessarily be dismissive of any significant changes.
‘‘I think New Zealand have always been open to discussion about it and I think they also realise that it [the structure of the game] continues to be looked at. They went to Super 18 and now they’ve changed it.
‘‘It’s a discussion that needs to be had. What’s the domestic funding method now? A handout from New Zealand Rugby?’’