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In Monday’s Australian, Bret Harris quoted an unnamed Australian rugby CEO saying the ARU had to be prepared let South Africa and New Zealand go “if a thorough cost analysis demonstrated that expanding to a 17 or 18-team Super Rugby competition would imperil the financial viability of the professional game in Australia.”
Such sentiment has been met with derision from plenty of commentators in New Zealand and South Africa, who see Australia as a basket case. This is at least partly fair; the ARU squandered its early, TV-provdied financial strength. But what’s done is done, so the question is: how does the ARU come up with a way to survive in the face of clearly conflicting interests from its SANZAR partners?
At this stage, the only realistic solution appears to be in line with Harris’ unnamed CEO; the ARU must leave New Zealand and South Africa to it in Super Rugby if they insist on an expanded format that would threaten the solvency of Australian Rugby.
From here things get trickier still. What does Australian rugby do in the interim to ensure it remains competitive internationally? There is a way forward that doesn’t involve Super Rugby.
First, use this as an opportunity to plough more into the National Rugby Championship. Have it functionally replace Super Rugby at the start of the year, when the new Super Rugby tournament featuring only NZ and SA teams starts. You can then run that tournament through to May or June with a proper finals series.
This would obviously have a much weaker pull than Super Rugby. To at least partially make up for the drop in standards and interest, you follow this series with a three-match rugby union State of Origin series.
The vast majority of Australian Rugby players continue to be drawn from NSW and Queensland, so holding an Origin series would not exclude too many players, and would restore the ‘representative’ identity that both teams lost with the formation of the Super Rugby franchise system.
The sad fact is these games no longer posses the spite and feeling that they once did, as players go back and forth between the provinces, leaving little room for the entrenched historical angers of rugby league’s hallmark series.
Given the dominance of the Sydney and Brisbane, only a few players will be excluded from this match, meaning it would also be the perfect litmus test for would-be Wallabies prior to the international season.
Ultimately, it would be better if we could keep Super Rugby, but the ARU has to start thinking smarter about the future, and a remodeled calendar which places the national competition front and centre before a rugby union Origin series makes sense from a development and marketing perspective.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.