Super Rugby fixed. Free trade means a much more equal comp. Interest in Super Rugby grows. Also better for Aussie player development. And TBH, might even help the style of the Aussie teams improve.
All of this reignites a real interest in the Bledisloe every year. And if the whole thing brings in more revenue than now, it could also help NZ and Aus (not to mention Fiji), better retain players.
The only obstacle might be the desire of the NZRU to be able to control the conditioning/rest of the test players. How do you think this obstacle could be overcome?
To truly 'fix' Super Rugby I think the best bet would be biting the bullet and going back to 12 teams and expanding the schedule to a double round robin. Accept that the Rebels experiment is a failed one. Sad but true and designate the state as part of the Brumbies catchment. In a double round robin format each team would host 11 games. The Brumbies could play 4 games in Melbourne each season while maintaining 7 in Canberra. For the record this isn't 'shrinking to greatness' more acknowledging out limitations.
In order to go from 13 to 12 from there I would encourage SA to send another team north. Say the Bulls. This would essentially cut the number of weeks one of our squads would not be playing in favourable time zones to 4 which would mean 18 would be. Which isn't too bad of a trade off.
This would mean our teams would host 33 games as opposed to the 26 we'll have under the proposed 14 team structure with another 21 games in workable time zones (away games in New Zealand and against Aus opposition) as opposed to the 10 we'll soon see.
In order to keep the pathway open maintaining the NRC would be key. A academy would be established in Melbourne in lieu of a franchise which would play in an NRC tournament (essentially the Rising) which would also see an expanded schedule (to at least 10 games equally a 40 game block) alongside the other 7 teams that currently feature. As well as the NCC if it's done in the form of a national league structure. Which would actually only be the one national division of 12 teams with the Shute Shield and Hospital Cup forming the 2nd division and including regional based squads. Top 4 from each play off each season to determine who gets promoted.
In terms of the RC. This would be expanded to 6 teams playing a single round robin of 5 games. This would feature a wait for it. A winner takes all Bledisloe Cup game.
Beyond that. I'd like something a little more radical in terms of revisiting the Nations Championship structure but looking at it from a much more expansive perspective. Instead of two divisions of 12 as originally proposed. Go for a 32 team structure. One that would feature a similar competition structure to that of 7s. Being a Cup, Plate, Bowl, Shield. With the July window used as the 'qualifying' rounds and November the finals. In the first round, teams would play teams that they are randomly draw to play. The winners would progress in the Cup with the losers falling into the Bowl Category. The 2nd round would see the top 16 playing each other with the winners continuing in the Cup and the loseing 8 going into the Plate. Similar in the Bowl with the winners continuing in that category and the losers falling into the Shield.
The 3rd round would essentially be the 1/4 for each category. With the winners progressing to the 1/2 and the losers going into rankings playoffs. In November the 4th round would occur which for the teams still competing for silverware would be the 1/2 finals and for the losers from the 3rd round would be rankings. For those who lost in the 3rd round teams would play to determine what final ranking they will play off for in the 5th round. While everyone else is playing for rankings. This would allow for a greater level of engagement among T1 and T2 nations and potentially even some T3. While eliminating the whole relegation issue for the T1. Would leave the respecitve regional competitions untouched while provided most of the 32 with 10 Tests every year.
So. Super Rugby featuring 12 teams would run 22 rounds plus a 6 team finals series. The NCC would run alongside this mirroring it's length. Beyond that. A 10 game NRC would run afterwards. Internationally we'd ply our traditional structure plus 5 extra Tests against a broader variety of teams. With wriggle room to add additional fixtures if we wished.
