AUSTRALIA and New Zealand are prepared to walk away from South Africa if negotiations over the expansion of Super rugby break down.
The three SANZAR partners, which must put forward a new broadcasting proposal to News Limited, publisher of The Australian, by June 30, cannot agree on a way forward. There are differences on the timing and length of an expanded season, and the location of an additional 15th team. Australia and New Zealand want the season to start in March and finish in August, but this conflicts with the South African domestic provincial competition, the Currie Cup.
The South Africans said last week they would support an expanded Super series through to July, as long as it did not affect the integrity of the Currie Cup, which meant Springboks must be available to play in it.
ARU chief executive John O'Neill said Australia and New Zealand had compromised to appease the South Africans, but they could only go so far. "Still talking. It's very ambiguous at the moment," O'Neill said. "All the moving so far has been by Australia and New Zealand. That's the truth of it. You get to a point where you can't move any more. Australia and New Zealand have shifted. At this stage, all we have had out of South Africa is a press release, which I've held up to the light and I still don't understand it. I'm sure we'll hear more this week. It's a very difficult negotiation."
If they cannot agree, Australia and New Zealand would consider creating a trans-Tasman or Asia-Pacific competition, which would not include South Africa. "Inevitably, you always have to have a plan B," O'Neill said. "Our preference is still very much a Super 15, round and a half, what we call the Perth outcome. We have been absolutely consistent about that. Then we shifted to this Sandton option, which was a compromise, and we are still waiting to hear what precisely are the conditions that South Africa are attaching to the Sandton option. If you end up in a complete impasse, then we've got a game in Australia and New Zealand that requires a big chunk of mass entertainment product. If it can't include South Africa, then trans-Tasman, Asia-Pacific options have to be looked at."
The ARU believed it had an understanding with New Zealand and South Africa on the expansion of Super rugby at a meeting in Perth in June, which included a fifth Australian team in a 24-week season. But the South Africans sought an extra team on the Eastern Cape and were insistent any expansion did not affect the Currie Cup, which has its own broadcasting deal.
At another meeting at the Sandton Hotel in Johannesburg, the three partners discussed a compromise that involved a conference system under which all teams did not play each other. "The Sandton option is still Super 15," O'Neill said. "An extra team in the Australian conference and the difference being you don't play everyone. You play everyone in your conference, but in cross-conference, you don't play everyone. It turns out to be instead of 18 regular games, which gives you nine home games, this is 16, which gives you seven to eight home games. We were willing to accept that as a compromise. Then South Africa added these conditions. Start early, don't play through June and no overlap with Currie Cup. That's where we are at at the moment."
