I believe there are 6 rules that make a competition, something that SANZAR and the NZRU seem to have forgotten over the last few years; which shows in the declining viewings and attendance. With the new Super Rugby broadcasting contract being finalised and the climax of another season last week, now is a good time to remind these organisations of these rules.
- Keep it simple – The proposed Super 18 is a clear indication that SANZAR have forgotten this rule with a format that is harder to decipher than a rubik’s cube on crystal meth.
- Fairness – The best should be rewarded for being the best, and everyone should have the same opportunities. South African Super Rugby teams will have a distinct advantage in the likely format, especially the conference which won’t have to play any NZ based side every second year. Playing arguably weaker teams more often and being guaranteed three of eight playoff spots. This is similar to how the Australian teams have been getting a leg up over the past 4 seasons.
- Competitive – You want a competition to be even, blow out scores aren’t entertaining even though there are lots of tries.
- Money – It’s a professional world and money dictates. Whether it’s making sacrifices to get money in or making sacrifices to stop money going out, money is always a factor.
- Balance – The fact that the two best teams of this and last year’s competition didn’t play each other in the regular season is abysmal. It cheats other teams that play against all top teams and cheats the fans of a quality game.
- Meaning – Being the best team in a country or a region has meaning and the reason why these guys slog their guts out over the pre and regular seasons.
MY VISION
The original Super 12 was effective, exhilarating and fascinating. Clubs from the Tri-nations played each other once with the top four teams going through to a finals series. Somewhere along the line – in a board room – the desire for money became too great and Australia managed to punch above their weight to end up with a fifth team.
They knew that derby games were the most exciting so they decided to thrash them; they are now as unappealing as the rest of the competition. We can’t go back to the Super 12 but I think the current proposal could benefit from a slight change.
South Africa gain another team, the threat of them leaving and taking all the income that they generate is far too great to be ignored. Give them their sixth team, they have the population and the playing numbers for it. Yes they generally have several teams anchored to the bottom but the Southern Kings have a team assembled and their players won’t dilute much more than they already have.
Argentina have to be included; this will give better meaning to the Rugby Championship and will hopefully improve their national team. I personally would have located another team within Argentina, with a greater player pool than New Zealand they should have been able to cope. SANZAR believe otherwise therefore they only receive the one. However it will be inevitable that we will be talking about another team based here in a few years – another needless alteration to the format.
Japan should be left alone. Allow the Pacific Rim to establish their own international club competition with Canada, USA and the Islands. Japan is just too far away from South Africa / Argentina to make this work.
If Argentina are only able to find the players for one team, then Singapore is a more logical inclusion. Players will have to be found however the proximity to the southern hemisphere compared to the other options must be taken into account.
That makes an 18 team competition. The major change that I would like to suggest is to have a nine-team Western Conference (African/Argentina including Western Force and either a second Argentina or a Singapore team), and a nine-team Eastern Australasian Conference.
SANZAR are clearly not worried about a Singapore team having to travel to South Africa and Argentina therefore the Western Force shouldn’t have any issues with this either. Their home attendance for Australian derby matches on average are lower than playing against other teams, so a split from the Australian conference shouldn’t have any negative impact.
After playing each other in the conference once, a second round is created with the top five teams of each pool and bottom four teams going into a Cup / Plate type format. This gives the players and fans of the weaker teams something to play for. Points against other teams in your conference are carried through as they won’t be playing these teams again in the second round, but not the points that were accumulated against the teams that have gone to the alternative division; these are wiped therefore levelling out the playing field if one conference has significantly weaker teams.
After the teams have played the corresponding conference teams, then the top four from the cup and top four from the plate have a standard finals series deciding on an eventual winner for both divisions.
A simple, fair, balanced and competitive competition, that will get fans interested from week one, not weeks out from the finals series.
Pool Play:
- All teams play each other once in the pool
- Resulting in eight games played, with a bye week (nine weeks).
Second Round:
- Top five from each pool playoff, bottom four play off.
- Carry points from first round games against other top / bottom qualifiers
- Games: Cup – three home / two away or vice versa and Plate – two home / two away. Another bye week
Finals:
- Top four team’s playoff 1st v 4th, 2nd v 3rd. This includes a play off for the bottom eight. Plate finishes a week earlier than Cup as the cup final is the showpiece.
Competition Advantages:
- 17 week competition, four less than the current Super Rugby Competition.
- Push the June tests back a week to allow all northern competitions to be finished before southern tours start.
- Less meaningless games
- Keeps the poorer teams with a chance to win a competition, keeping fans interested. Bigger crowds, better atmosphere and more revenue.
- Less overall travel.
jeremypvanvliet 