Hoskins calls for a 17-team Super Rugby competition
SOUTH AFRICAN Rugby Union president Oregan Hoskins says he wants a 17-team Super Rugby competition in 2016 with less debilitating derbies and an Argentine team in the mix.
Saru will table Hoskins’ proposal at a Sanzar meeting next week. It envisages the current 15 teams, as well as the Southern Kings and a new side from Argentina playing against each other once, with the double round of derbies between teams from the same country being done away with.
There has been months of speculation as to which Super Rugby format Sanzar would implement when a new broadcast deal takes effect from 2016, with options varying from maintain- ing the status quo of 15 sides divided into three conferences to a 20-team competition including sides from Japan, the Pacific Islands and the US, as well as a two-conference system.
But Hoskins said yesterday that Saru want to heed the concerns of the top players in the country who feel that they have to play too many high-intensity matches in a season, while the spectator interest in the double round of local derbies in the conferences is also on the decline.
That is why the president feels a 17team round-robin is the best scenario. Saru’s delegates Mark Alexander and Jurie Roux will attend a Sanzar meeting in Dublin next week, where it is hoped a final decision on the future Super Rugby format will be made.