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I don't know if that's true. Imagine Super Rugby falls over and all the unions just play domestic club or provincial level tournaments. The NZRU could afford to centrally contract the All Blacks players, but what about the guys on the fringes? Their salaries would fall. Are they going to play...

My point is that if Super Rugby were to fall over the NZ model falls over too. So it's not just about saving or growing the game elsewhere, it's about what's in NZ rugby's best interest. It's very easy to see a future where all the best rugby players from Australia and New Zealand play club...

Well it's not in New Zealand's interest for Super Rugby to fail, and that's the way it's going. And I was referring more to the Sunwolves than any other team. Though also a little to teams like the Force and Rebels. It's in everyone's interest for these teams to be more competitive and popular...

One simple solution to making teams more competitive could be if New Zealand in particular allowed their players to remain eligible for the All Blacks while playing Super Rugby in another country. Even if just on a limited basis.

I'm not at all in favour of cutting an Australian team.

Well not that it's saying much but the Kings conceded more points than them last year. But no doubt they haven't been competitive in a number of games. Concluding that they therefore shouldn't exist, after 1 season and 1 game, just doesn't sit right with me when they get better crowds (at least...

On the other hand they had a full stadium and it looked like next to no one left before the end despite the score. Their fans were passionately cheering the Sunwolves final couple of consolation tries. And the Waratahs and Reds have both conceded more points in super rugby matches. Surely the...

Because they'd be significantly weaker than the Sunwolves. Also there are some international players who play in both the Top League and Super Rugby for other teams. Finally, the Top League teams are company teams and have far less potential to get Japanese rugby fans and general sports fans...

The Argentinian provincial championship is entirely amateur though, those teams would be killed. I think even if they were convinced to make it professional (big, big if) that the wages would be too low to retain any of their top players. The primary reason there's just one Argentinian team in...

So what are the other 4 conferences? Do you need an equal number of teams in each? What determines who plays who in the 2nd phase? And do points gained during the first phase count towards the 2nd? (if they do you won't necessarily get the best 6 teams).

Yeah those are good points. The problem is that it tends to lock in teams as being tier 1 or tier 2 and you get little movement between the tiers even over long periods of time. You see this in European rugby and soccer. The other complication is that in Super Rugby we have two nations with 1...

Wouldn't this essentially be the same as the Super 15 format (or the 18 team format with 3 groups of 6), just without mixing in the international games with the domestic games?

Fair enough, I've only ever seen it suggested as a champions league involving the top 2 or 3 teams from each country rather than a tournament including all the current teams and potentially others. I think that kind of scheduling makes sense. Another option would be for Super Rugby to be...

Another Super Rugby alternative I haven't seen mentioned would be to have a short Super Rugby that included all the current teams, and any number of additional teams from around the globe, that ran for either 6 or 9 weeks including finals, and that was completely separate from domestic or...

Have you actually seen Super Rugby ratings in the UK? I've always wondered if the games in South Africa really do rate a lot better than the games held in Australia at 7:30 AEST. At least on Saturdays. The South African games may be on in the afternoon but they always clash with the big local...

I think on balance it's better than completely losing one team though. With WCR's example you could have the Rebels and Brumbies merge to become the Melbourne Brumbies - they could play 5/6 games in Melbourne, 2/3 games in Canberra. You'd piss off Brumbies fans, but they'd still be the Brumbies...

That might make some difference with supporters who didn't grow up with the team, and especially those who were already rugby fans before the Force came to town, but for the kids who now support the Force they've been around as long as they can remember.

I'd say the difference is that those fans aren't really lost. They're just the bandwagon fans that get off and on. You cut a team and their hardcore supporters could well be lost from the sport forever. For example, I was a huge North Sydney Bears and ARL/NRL fan when I was a kid, and virtually...

Is it worth losing the thousands of fans who will feel betrayed and stop supporting the sport? Keeping in mind that rugby has a global playing base, and the Rebels and Force, and the others to a lesser extent are able to access it to improve depth and quality. The fact they haven't recruited...

Only works if NZ and SA agree to it. In the past both have been keen to protect and differentiate the ITM Cup and Currie Cup as their premier domestic tournaments, and to ensure their Super Rugby teams play against each other in the regular season.