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It’s about time Super Rugby was radically changed, as has been suggested come 2016, with Australia and New Zealand splitting away from South Africa.
How can you expect rugby to win the hearts and minds of the sporting public when a third of the matches in such a long tournament are played in the middle of the night?
I am all for the idea of having two separate leagues – one between Australian and New Zealand teams and an expanded Currie Cup in South Africa, which would hopefully include a couple of Argentinian sides.
These should be stand alone, separate leagues with different names and separate finals. Fans would be able to watch their teams every week in a reasonable time zone.
Surely having more matches at ideal times would also increase the value to broadcasters.
To supplement these leagues, I would like to see a short Super Rugby tournament played in a cup format.
And instead of making it a champions league style cup between the top few teams from each league, why not have all the teams enter?
The problem with a champions league style tournament is that most of the sides in each country would finish their season several weeks before the Super Rugby entrants.
From an Australian perspective you could have Wallabies playing club rugby for five or six weeks in a row before they played Test matches. It’s not ideal.
My idea would be to involve all teams in this new version of Super Rugby. Have pools of four (two from each league in every pool) with a seeding system to ensure the top ranked sides would not meet until the finals.
The total number of teams would need to be divisible by four so, if necessary, Pacific Island and/or Japanese teams could be included. Longer term you could also include professional American sides.
This format would give each team at least three matches with the finalists playing six (pool matches followed by quarter finals).
Because of the scarcity and importance of the matches the huge range in time zones wouldn’t be as big a deal. You may even get more fans willing to travel when their team plays overseas.
By making Super Rugby a separate cup competition for all teams, you would give the league champions an opportunity to win a coveted double, the teams that got close a second chance at a title and lower ranked teams the possibility to cause the kind of huge shock that would make a dent in rugby history.
The added bonus is that such a format would give our players more exposure to knockout rugby and thus better preparation for World Cups.
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.