Tew happy with format changes to Super game

New Zealand Rugby boss Steve Tew is happy with the new Super Rugby format, saying the changes will mean a simpler competition for players and fans.

Speaking to Radio Sport’s D’Arcy Waldegrave, Tew said the new format is good news for New Zealand Rugby.

“We are happy because we’ve been part of that decision-making process,” Tew said. “From a New Zealand point of view, we backed the Japanese entry into the competition. We worked hard to help them make it work but ultimately it hasn’t.”

The round robin format — with the axing of the Sunwolves, as reported earlier in the week — will see the end of the three conference system, and all 14 teams will play each other home or away each season. The new format will start in 2021.

Tew says the simpler format will create a stronger competition.

“You’ve got to go back to the

14-team round robin so everybody plays everybody, home or away, so it’s a very clean competition.

“You’re going to be a good side if you’re in the top six. We wanted to keep as many teams alive for as long as possible.”

The changes bring good and bad news, as rugby fans will see fewer Kiwi derbies but that will reduce the workload for New Zealand players, especially All Blacks.

Tew believes the return to the

14-team format will increase interest among fans while benefiting player welfare.

“Our high performance people and our All Blacks coaches will be happy because there’s no doubt that we see the impact on our player workload and welfare from the increased local games. But [it gets] very strong fan engagement and that is one of the factors we had to take into account.

“We believe we can drive more interest from a clean round robin competition with a very simple finals format and that will overcome any loss of commercial interest because the derbies have dropped off.”

Despite the loss of Super Rugby’s only Asian team, Tew says the state of the sport in Japan is still strong and believes there are other opportunities to build interest.

“There’s a lot going on in Japan. There’s a lot of interest with the World Cup taking place up there later this year. A lot of interest in the game will be back in 2020 if we qualify our two teams for the Olympics and there’s considerable interest in what their competition structure is going to be.

“This is just one element of it and there’s plenty of other activity I think will build rugby in that country.”