Super Rugby:
Time for RA to go it alone (On-line version)
Super Rugby has had its time; Australia's feuture is specifically in the Pacific (Weekend Australian version)
Wayne Smith - The Australia - 22 June 2019
(Wayne appears to have rediscovered his mojo)
Christmas did not come early for Rugby Australia. In fact, at the risk of going biblical, it’s about
to embark on the season of Lent, and it may last considerably longer than the customary 40
days.
Had World Rugby been able to deliver on its promised Nations Championship, there would
have been presents under the tree for everyone. In years to come, one wonders how history
will record the actions of Italy, Ireland and Scotland. Did they save the credibility of the Six
Nations championships by vetoing the mooted $9.2 billion Nations tournament or did they set
back the game’s global development a decade or more by opposing the idea of promotionrelegation?
No doubt, they had only the best in mind for rugby when they made their decision.
It’s only natural when a good idea gets shot down in flames for everyone to give all the reasons
why it wouldn’t have flown in the first place.
The truth is that RA, while comprehensively behind it in a general sense, did have
reservations. It’s all very well bringing Japan and Fiji into The Rugby Championship but when
it means one fewer Test and Japan and Fiji taking the place of return internationals against the
All Blacks and Springboks, one can appreciate why RA had concerns.
At some point in time, however, SANZAAR had to pluck up the courage to open the door to
Tier Two nations and certainly this seemed the perfect vehicle to drive that specific change —
especially if the payback was several million dollars extra every year.
Now, of course, it is coming to the surface that the northern hemisphere wanted the larger
share of the pie, so the intention from very near the start was that the southern hemisphere
would get screwed. And then World Rugby was in such a haste to get the project approved
that it attempted to bulldoze real negotiations around the table.
So, naturally, everyone is now saying “See, I told you it wouldn’t work”, and washing their
hands of the whole thing. The media has picked up the chant that, without these untold —
and as it happens, unseen — millions, Australian rugby is doomed, doomed, doomed.
The only trouble is that nothing has changed. RA is in precisely the same position now as it
was before Gus Pichot, the World Rugby deputy chairman, came up with the idea in the first
place. Its financial position is precisely where it was before the mooted tournament, which is
to say dire.
Then again, that’s been the position of the governing body in this sport ever since the days
when the dogmatic doctor, Mark Loane, was offering free on-field medical treatment to any of
his teammates who happened to suffer a dislocated finger.
It was surprising how many fled to the sideline rather than submit themselves to Loane’s
tender mercies. “This is going to hurt you far more than it’s going to hurt me,” he would say,
just before snapping the offending finger back into position.
Still, one wonders whether now is the time for RA to stand its ground and take some pain to
get its competitive season back into working order.
RA boss Raelene Castle insists that Super Rugby is the way to go. It’s not. At least not in the
guise of the present 15-a-side competition in which each side bypasses a match against one
team in each of the two other conferences. What difference would it have made, for instance,
if these matches hadn’t been skipped — Brumbies: Sharks (who finished sixth) and
Highlanders (8th); the Rebels: Jaguares (3rd), Blues (13th); the Tahs: Stormers (10th) and Chiefs
(7th); the Reds: Lions (9th) and the Hurricanes (2nd)?
Even when they do away with the conference system in 2021 and revert to a round-robin
competition, it won’t solve all problems because it means that one year a franchise will play
seven home games but only six in the next, compared to the current 8-8. If people think that
the loss of home matches won’t hurt the bottom lines of their four franchises, they haven’t
been paying attention.
No doubt the calendar can be filled, with a State of Origin series between NSW and
Queensland capable of attracting a lot of spectators tired of watching homegrown footballers
playing for someone else, but still a lot of promotion would have to go into the concept.
Speaking of which, that’s one thing RA and the various states don’t do anymore — pre-match
entertainment. Even something as modest as the Samoan dancers appearing before the
Western Force-Kagifa Samoa Global Rapid Rugby match at Ballymore last Saturday caught the
eye because it has become so unusual. But merely tarting up the same old program yet playing
matches at 1.30am against the team from Pretoria — who are they again? — has little appeal.
It may be that Super Rugby has had its moment in history. In the years following South Africa’s
return to international competition — the Nelson Mandela era — South Africa was unknown,
unfamiliar but exciting. Sadly, today, South African teams are still unknown but no longer
exciting, even if they do play more enterprising rugby.
What would have happened, one wonders, had the game gone professional at a time when
South Africa was still banned? What format would Super Rugby have followed then?
Almost certainly the pre-existing Super Six — comprising NSW, Queensland, Canterbury,
Auckland, Wellington and Fiji — would have been expanded. The Brumbies would probably
have been added, so too Southland-Otago and Waikato and perhaps Tonga and Samoa. In
other words, the same time-zone friendly, trans-Tasman competition that is being mooted
today.
SANZAAR talks about biting the bullet in terms of bringing Japan and Fiji into The Rugby
Championship.
No doubt it would take a financial hit to do that, at least until Japanese broadcasting rights
cotton on to the fact they’re playing in a regular Tier One competition and start paying
accordingly. Well, SANZAAR may need to take a hit with Super Rugby as well.
Send South Africa on its way to Europe — how long before the Springboks join the Six
Nations, anyway? — budget for the hit in broadcast revenue following SA’s withdrawal and
ramp up the trans-Tasman rivalry.
It seems inevitable. And it can’t wait until the end of another five-year broadcast deal.
