‘What’s best for Australian Rugby?’
MELBOURNE: The Australian Rugby Union must protect the nation’s five Super Rugby teams even if it means forging a new competition with sides from New Zealand and Asia and limiting South Africa’s involvement, former ARU Chairman Peter McGrath said.
During his tenure from 2007-12, McGrath oversaw the introduction of Australia’s fifth side, the Melbourne Rebels, into Super Rugby in 2011, five years after Perthbased Western Force joined the tournament.
Neither of the expansion sides have made the playoffs and have proved a heavy financial burden for the ARU.
Super Rugby’s governing body SANZAAR has flagged changes to the competition’s unwieldy 18-team format but kept them under wraps pending ‘final consultations’ with stakeholders, prompting speculation that at least one Australian team could be cut.
Prominent former Wallabies players and media pundits have argued that Australia has neither the funds nor the depth of talent to field five teams, but McGrath said turning back the clock was not the answer.
“I think it’s absolutely fundamental that we keep five teams and the ARU should be ensuring that,” he said.
“I disagree totally that we don’t have enough talent. I believe we do have enough talent.
“People need to take a back seat and ask ‘What’s in the best interests of Australian rugby?’ The other (SANZAAR) unions from New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina will be doing exactly the same.”
The Super Rugby competition, which was already a sprawling tournament of longhaul flights between South Africa and Australia and New Zealand, grew even bigger last year with new teams from Japan and Argentina coming on board.
The shake-up also included the introduction of a confusing conference system that critics have blamed for lowering the standard of competition.
McGrath said that if Australia could not afford five teams in the current format it should set up a new tournament with New Zealand and Asian sides in a more friendly timezone and only involve South African teams during the playoffs. – Reuters