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I love Super Rugby, but let me clarify what it is about Super Rugby that I love. Over the past 18 years the best players in the world have been in my South African living room on a weekly basis.
I have seen players like Sitiveni Sivivatu, Christian Cullen, Ben Tune, Joe Roff and a plethora of other world-class players grace the lawn in my living room.
I still fondly think back to my previous HD flatscreen, a casualty of war in the final of 2012.
I have had heartbreak, I have experienced the ultimate joy and I have seen the best skills, biggest tackles and most incredible results on the lawn in my living room.
Through the years social media has developed to a point where on a daily basis I could debate moves, decisions and results with kinsmen from New Zealand and Australia. During this time I have come to realise what wonderful people exist from all corners of the globe.
But let’s get back to what I love about Super Rugby. We have a little tournament called the Currie Cup, which during the years of isolation had been the mainstay of our sporting culture and was our safety net.
It would bring together the best players of a generation and would entertain each and every rugby lover to the core.
Then came the opportunity to test our best against the best other countries could offer – the great rugby nation of New Zealand, and Australia, a country similar to South Africa in many ways.
I still get nervous when our teams play against an overseas team. There were a few teams that had periods of dominance such as the Brumbies, the Blues, the Bulls, the Crusaders and the current dominant force of Super Rugby, the Chiefs.
I suppose for each person Super Rugby provides something different. I keep hearing Australians and, as recently as today, New Zealanders don’t even know where South African teams come from, that they don’t know our players and really don’t care that much to play against them.
My question to those who believe that to be true is this: where the hell have you been these past 18 years?
What on earth were you doing?
Fortunately not everyone feels that way, otherwise I would not have made the friends I have over the past number of years. Faceless they may be, but in this day of technology and social media, I consider them friends nonetheless.
Now it is all about to fall flat on its face, the core ingredient of playing the best teams of New Zealand and Australia will soon whittle into a drop in the ocean. There was a time when South African teams would play 66 per cent of their matches against foreign opposition, in the current format that has gone down to 50 per cent, and soon it will be down to 33 per cent (not including the incoming two teams).
Super Rugby has always been a tournament where I not only got to know the players of New Zealand and Australia, but would select teams for them. I knew who the danger players were, I knew how our players would measure up to them and ultimately it taught me about the inadequacies of our players compared to the playmaking ability of their Antipodean rivals.
It has not only opened my eyes to the type of rugby that can be played, but is has brought with it a new age of player in South Africa. Players such as Willie le Roux, Paul Jordaan, Faf de Klerk and many more willing and begging to play a more open, daring game.
Now it seems Super Rugby will lose it’s magic. I will watch two Currie Cup tournaments under two different guises. One is our traditional and much-loved Currie Cup Premier Division, and the other a condescending compromise looking more like the “development school” than the real rugby that will be played on the other side of the Indian ocean.
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.