The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Pulling the plug on South Africa makes sense

Roar Guru
27th June, 2014
Advertisement
Bryan Habana played the last time the All Blacks went down in New Zealand. (AAP Image/NZN IMAGE, SNPA, David Rowland)
Roar Guru
27th June, 2014
190
3551 Reads

In April I wrote an article titled Super Rugby would be better off without South Africa.

At the time it was met with howls of dissension and its fair share of Aussie bashing. Bizarrely some comments even suggested I was part of some grand, News Limited conspiracy.

I couldn’t understand all the fuss, particularly from our friends in the Republic. Put simply, it benefits everyone, most of all South Africa.

However, if there are grounds to scream conspiracy here, those grounds can be found in the boardrooms of London, Durban and Cape Town.

Saracens Club Chairman Nigel Wray has come out publicly and stated that “sooner or later” South Africa will join the Six Nations. It is unclear whether he is also saying that South African provincial rugby will transfer to Europe, but that would seem the logical implication.

Wray is not the sort of guy who makes throw away comments. He has owned (or part owned) Saracens since the sport went professional. He’s in partnership with Johann Rupert, one of the most powerful men in South Africa.

Wray’s comments come at the end of a remarkable chain of events that suggests SARU and the powerbrokers in London are manoeuvring away from the Southern Hemisphere. And taking the New Zealand Rugby Union and ARU on a ride while they are at it.

The politically charged decision to force SANZAR partners to accept a sixth South African Super franchise team was the first ridiculous demand. Rather than seeking to grow into Asia or South America, SARU’s natural instinct was to put a gun to everyone’s head and demand a sixth side.

Advertisement

Then there are the less than full and frank TV revenue dealings that have cast a shadow over the spirit of the SANZAR union. As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald it seems clear that SARU has been taking liberties, the Wayne Pearce if you will.

Wray and John Smit have probably not had much opportunity to discuss Wray’s point of view. Unless they had a chance to speak during the Sharks v Saracens exhibition game earlier this year.

Of course South Africa’s links with north west London go back far further than that exhibition game.

Francois Pienaar captained Saracens soon after the game went professional. Brendan Venter was director of rugby and former SARU Chief Executive Edward Griffiths is now involved at Saracens. Johann Rupert, a prominent South African businessman with ties to the Stormers and Bulls owns half of the club.

Exactly what is going on here? My view is that those running South African rugby care very little for Australian or New Zealand Rugby.

Afterall, why should they? Providing they get a few games each year against the Wallabies and All Blacks all is well. The money is much better in Europe. And as Mr Wray says, “Whether you like it or not, TV is the master.”

Of course, as I said back in April, this isn’t all about money. Player welfare plays a huge part and there are significant concerns that the current proposal for Super Rugby put forward by SANZAR puts the players last. Wayne Smith has been most vocal in this regard. As a future All Black coach, his opinion deserves attention.

Advertisement

Then there are responsibilities to grow the game. Argentina has been waiting patiently and deserves an opportunity. The United States, Japan and Canada are untapped markets.

Arguments that any of those countries can’t be competitive within a generation are lacking vision and wrong.

A second string Pumas side pushed a full strength Irish team all the way, twice. The US and Canada came close to beating Scotland. Japan just beat Italy. Sure they aren’t world beaters yet, but an injection of resources and increased competition over the next 10 years could well turn that around.

Just look at the Americans at the FIFA World Cup!

It seems we can all put our heads in the sand and pretend South Africa’s exit isn’t coming or accept it and move on.

The New Zealand Rugby Union and ARU need to do the latter.

close