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In Part One of my series, I put forward my ideas for including two Argentinean teams in the expanded Super Rugby competition from 2016.
I also outlined why expanding into Argentina is the best option moving forward for SANZAR, and the establishment of the Pumas as a competitive fourth nation in the Rugby Championship.
In Part Two I will put forward how I feel this expanded competition should run for each respective conference and why this format would be best suited to maintaining the high-standards of Super Rugby.
In my proposed format each team would play a total of 15 matches home and away, with byes in between. There would be a total of four Conferences – two African, an Australian and New Zealand one.
African Conference A: Bulls, Sharks, Lions, Buenos Aires.
African Conference B: Stormers, Cheetahs, Kings, Tucuman.
Australia: Reds, Force, Brumbies, Rebels, Waratahs.
New Zealand: Hurricanes, Crusaders, Chiefs, Highlanders, Blues.
Every season would start with the first six rounds of the competition being dedicated to inter-conference matches for the South African and Argentinean teams, where they play each other home and away. For instance the Bulls would play the Sharks, Lions and Buenos Aires only, while Cheetahs would play the Stormers, Kings and Tucuman.
At the same time the Australian and New Zealand conferences would play inter-conference and cross-conference games against one another for the first six rounds of the competition.
After the conclusion of the first six rounds, home and away, there would be an international cross-conference touring phase where teams from South Africa and Argentina played three games at home and two away to Australian and New Zealand teams or vice-versa. Whereas the Bulls may travel for two weeks and then host three home matches against foreign opposition, the Cheetahs may travel for three weeks then play host for two.
Again in the Australasian conferences, teams would play one of the two African conferences, by touring Africa and Argentina for two weeks and then in turn play host to the teams they haven’t already faced from that respective conference. Allocated byes during this touring phase would also take place to allow for the overall structure of the competition to run smoothly.
At this point, there would be the usual three-week break for the June Test internationals to take place for each respective SANZAR nation. At the competition recommencing, there would be the final four rounds of derby matches to be played by each conference. For perspective, teams from African Conference A would play all teams in Conference B once each, home or away, and vice-versa.
Australian and New Zealand teams would simply finish off their remaining four matches against the teams they hadn’t played in their previous matches or play two of the four teams from their conference a second time.
The finals series format which SANZAR has put forward makes logical sense considering we are talking about staging an international competition in the first place.
For summation, I’ve included an example from a South African, Argentinean and Australasian perspective of how their matches would look in a full season. The Australasian group teams would play a total of six national derbies against teams from their own country, five against Australian and New Zealand opposition home and away and four against one of the two African conferences.
African conference teams on the other hand, would play seven local derbies, three matches against Argentinean opposition and five matches against varying Australian and New Zealand teams.
African Group
Bulls versus Lions
Sharks versus Bulls
Bulls versus Buenos Aires
Lions versus Bulls
Bulls versus Sharks
Buenos Aires versus Bulls
Reds versus Bulls
Crusaders versus Bulls
Bulls versus Force
Bulls versus Chiefs
Bulls versus Waratahs
Stormers versus Bulls
Bulls versus Cheetahs
Kings versus Bulls
Bulls versus Tucuman
Australasian Group
Brumbies versus Waratahs
Reds versus Brumbies
Brumbies versus Crusaders
Force versus Brumbies
Brumbies versus Hurricanes
Brumbies versus Rebels
Tucuman versus Brumbies
Stormers versus Brumbies
Brumbies versus Cheetahs
Brumbies versus Kings
Chiefs versus Brumbies
Brumbies versus Reds
Blues versus Brumbies
Brumbies versus Highlanders
Waratahs versus Brumbies
Argentinean team
Tucuman versus Kings
Tucuman versus Cheetahs
Tucuman versus Stormers
Kings versus Tucuman
Cheetahs versus Tucuman
Stormers versus Tucuman
Tucuman versus Brumbies
Tucuman versus Highlanders
Rebels versus Tucuman
Hurricanes versus Tucuman
Blues versus Tucuman
Tucuman versus Lions
Tucuman versus Sharks
Buenos Aires versus Tucuman
Bulls versus Tucuman
In effect, African Conference A teams will play five of the 10 Australasian teams while African Conference B will play the remaining five during the tour phase of the competition.
I think this is the best way forward for Super Rugby and SANZAR, with a format in place to help our product grow to its full potential and have a truly global Southern Hemisphere competition.
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.