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With the three SANZAR countries all having different agendas and trying to map out the way forward for Super Rugby, I wondered if another alternative was to move The Rugby Championship (TRC) to April-May?
Or if the June Tests were moved to July, as has been suggested at a high level, then TRC could be played in May-June.
That would free up August-October for each country to have their national domestic competition on centre stage, with all the Test stars available, and at the traditional time of year.
March-April could then be used for Super Rugby, which could be conducted in a truncated format.
With a national domestic comp on centre stage in South Africa, I don’t think they would be so desperate to have six teams for Super Rugby.
Super Rugby could still have conferences, but they would act as pools, with teams only playing each other once.
In the South African conference would be five South Africa teams and one Argentinean team.
In the New Zealand conference would be five New Zealand teams and one combined Pacific Islands team.
In the Australian conference would be five Aussie teams plus one Japanese team.
Play all the teams in your own conference once as a round robin, with the top two teams from each conference moving through for a three week finals format.
The year would look as follows:
March-April: Super Rugby – eight weekends.
May-June: TRC – six weekends spread over eight weeks.
July: Inbound tours – three weekends.
August-October: National Domestic Comps (ITM, Currie Cup, ARC) – 9-11 weekends.
Oct: Possibles v probables or third Bledisloe.
Nov: Outbounds.
The key would be a conducting a cost-analysis of moving TRC to May-June.
But from a humble fan’s perspective, the year looks really exciting. There is plenty of rugby fixes, with shorter, more intense competitions.
There is no drag. TRC wouldn’t need to compete with the NRL and AFL finals. Rugby would have its own ARC! And Super Rugby would regain its hype.
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.