SOS for Super Rugby

One of the great attractions of sport is the cerebral simplicity of them and us, me and you, in direct competition. In the protracted season just concluded following the final in Wellington, Super Rugby tried to refashion this matrix.

It led to a steady fall off in live attendance figures, a decline in viewership numbers and dissatisfaction from broadcasters who have become accustomed to raking in the revenue, and a rugby public uncertain of, and bemused by, a format that at best is lopsided and confusing.

But some sense has prevailed in that Sanzaar, the body encompassing South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina, which regulates both Super Rugby and the four-nation Rugby Championship, has reportedly engaged consultants Accenture to review the unwieldy system of 18 representative sides drawn from Japan and the Sanzaar constituents to get some zing back into the southern hemisphere competition. The consultation process involved 28 stakeholders, including the current teams, the national unions and the host broadcaster from each country.

The results of these deliberations are unlikely to be either speedy in coming nor are they likely to be universally accepted.

It is also doubtful whether the Japanese Sunwolves or the Jaguares from Argentina will be jettisoned to bring the team numbers back to a logical, manageable 16. The prevailing thinking is that the most expedient solution would be to cut one Australian and one South African side, which would mean that the dysfunctional Kings and the serial under-performing Force – only the Sunwolves fared worse on the combined Super Rugby log – would be the obvious choices.

The initial political fallout in South Africa would be considerable if the Eastern Cape was shunned once again, but if a sensible system of drafting emergent talent into this country’s remaining Super Rugby sides was augmented by SA Rugby, this would surely be more beneficial to both the players and the game. But consensus on this course of action is a pipe dream.

Losing an Australian side also has its drawbacks, not least of these the overall wellbeing of the game Down Under.

It remains a conundrum, but clearly some urgent surgery is required.