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The pull apart and restitching solution for SANZAAR

Roar Guru
29th April, 2020
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Roar Guru
29th April, 2020
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There are two environments that present favourable conditions for the implementation of significant change.

The first is to leverage momentum and a strong position to continue a rapid transformation. The late ’90s and early 2000s is often spoken of as a purple patch for rugby union in this country and this represented a golden opportunity to springboard the game to new heights. As the history books and current analysis of the game’s position both suggest, this opportunity was missed.

Then there’s the nothing-to-lose position, which speaks for itself, and is the unfortunate spot that Rugby Australia now finds itself in.

The game wasn’t far from rock bottom in 2019, but there’s nothing like a global pandemic to enforce an economic shutdown and to discover a new low. The silver lining is that an opportunity exists with a common consensus and understanding that the game desperately requires a new direction. This simply isn’t up for debate anymore and having the support and buy-in of all and sundry to give birth to substantial change is an exciting prospect and a position of power.

The good news for rugby in the southern hemisphere is that all the pieces of the puzzle are there to build an engaging and sustainable model to set the game on a positive trajectory once more. These puzzle pieces just need to be broken up and repositioned to create something better. At this stage there is no requirement for significant investment in new infrastructure to rebuild, which is a fortunate position for a cash-strapped game.

SANZAAR needs to bring together 17 existing rugby entities and redevelop a rugby calendar that’s a better fit for each of the partners of the game in this part of the world.

For us, it means bringing back the Force and forging ahead with a Trans-Tasman League with New Zealand’s five Super clubs. This would be a ten-team competition where everyone plays each other once and then the teams in their own country a second time for a 13-game season before the top four progress to a two-week post-season.

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Previously, the New Zealand Rugby Union has been one of the more reluctant partners to run the brush of change through Super Rugby. The perilous position the game now finds itself in has resulted in the announcement of a full review of their systems, which includes how they engage in professional rugby. It’s a promising development for Rugby Australia and right now a case needs to be built to promote the benefits of strengthening our Anzac ties while putting a healthy distance between ourselves and the remaining partners, who are further removed from us culturally and geographically.

Mark Nawaqanitawase on the run

(AAP Image/Chris Symes)

One of the kinks to be ironed out between ourselves and New Zealand is the contrasting levels of player resourcing. It’s no secret that the production line across the Tasman would tip the balance well and truly in favour of their five teams if the current systems were to remain in place. To work around this, there would need to be free player movement between the two countries with players being allowed to play at the next level so long as they remain on one of the squads of the ten teams involved in the Trans-Tasman competition.

The next layer to incorporate here is around eligibility as there would be some concerns raised from the New Zealand side of the partnership about young Kiwi players moving here to go on to become eligible to stare down the haka. To allay these legitimate fears, RA would need to enforce a selection policy that any player that came to us from New Zealand after the age of 18 wouldn’t be eligible to play for the Wallabies on residency grounds. This is a fair position to enforce, in order to establish an even competition while protecting New Zealand’s pool of players to select from.

The NZRU has previously stressed a desire for their professional players to continue to make the challenging trip across the Indian Ocean to be exposed to rugby in the rainbow republic. By no means do I believe we should completely disconnect from our South African partners at this level, but I hope that the NZRU’s review finds that this particular partnership should be maintained at a reduced capacity.

With Australia and New Zealand amputating themselves from Super Rugby to be transplanted into a new Trans-Tasman league, our friends in the republic should call back the Cheetahs and Kings from the Pro 14 to create a seven-team South Atlantic league with Argentina’s Jaguares. Everyone plays each other twice for a 12-game, 14-round season with byes strategically placed next to trips to South America.

Emiliano Boffelli runs the ball for the Jaguares

(Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

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These leagues will be the bread and butter of the domestic season, but the opportunity exists to bring them all together again for a Champions League-style tournament later in the season. Along with these 17 teams, utilise existing rugby infrastructure in Japan to bring in up to seven of their Top League clubs for a 24-team championship that involves the teams being split over four groups of six.

The possibility of reducing Top League teams down to four or five and involving Major League Rugby clubs from the US and Canada could also be explored. Continuing to engage or open ourselves up to these promising markets will be a valuable exercise to ensure SANZAAR is able to top up the pot with the juicy yen that saw the inclusion of the Sunwolves in Super Rugby. Introducing such a concept to the calendar also goes some way towards satisfying New Zealand’s preference remain connected to South Africa at the second tier.

The final challenge SANZAAR has on its hands is to make Test rugby great again. There’s little doubt that the shine has come off the pinnacle of the game and some changes to the formula are required to bring it back into the hearts and minds of punters once more. It beggars belief that Bledisloe tickets are no longer the hottest in town and the last two games held on Australian soil against the Boks were at a half-full Suncorp Stadium and Perth’s boutique NIB stadium, which also had empty seats.

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In this space, a less is more approach is required. SANZAAR has to get the balance right and give the exhausted udders a break on the Test cash cow to see it go back to producing a steady stream.

The first thing I would do to achieve this is to cap mid-season and end-of-year tours to no more than three Tests. In a four-year cycle, England should be playing once on Australian soil and the Wallabies playing once at Twickenham. We should be hosting each of the Six Nations teams while rotating between the Islands and emerging powers of the US and Japan in the three non-World Cup years in the cycle.

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On our regional scene, the Rugby Championship should only be played on even years. Clear the decks in World Cup years so a competition that should have the same level of prestige as the Six Nations isn’t tainted with a trial flavour. Then to mix things up and engage the Islands, who are crying out to be brought in from the shadows more often than every four years, run a Southern Hemisphere Championship in odd years between World Cups.

This would include the big four from the Rugby Championship, the three Island nations and possibly the playoff winner from the champions of Africa and South America. The eight teams are split into two pools of four with the top two from each advancing to the semi-finals.

Tevita Cavubati celebrates

(Photo by David Ramos – World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images)

So this is what a regular year would like with these puzzle pieces in place.

• Our Trans-Tasman league kicks off its 15-week competition in late February with the South Atlantic league to begin a week earlier to accommodate their extra regular-season round.

• A grand final weekend for these leagues occurs in early June before the three inbound Tests from the northern hemisphere and Islander tourists.

• The Rugby Championship kicks off in mid July and runs until the end of August. This is the window for the Southern Hemisphere Championship in those odd years between World Cups.

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• The Champions League-style Indian Pacific Championship (okay, a bit of an ocean theme developing here but these sorts of creatives aren’t my forte) runs for eight weeks from mid September with all teams playing their group rivals once over five weeks before the knockout stages, which then culminates in the final at the end of October.

• The season wraps up in the northern hemisphere as it currently does, with teams playing three Tests through to the end of November.

So there it is, everything required to dig SANZAAR out of this hole that suddenly whole lot deeper is there staring the partners in the face. No risks need to be taken to create new entities and there’s no need to reshape them into something beyond their current operational limits.

It represents the drastic structural change that’s required, but it’s also not throwing the baby out with the bathwater and starting again. All that’s required is dismantling the mess that’s formed over time and restitching the pieces into some more engaging and practical formats.

There has never been a greater need and better time for big change. If there’s any past captains reading that are great at putting their fingers on problems but find themselves scratching their heads for solutions, let’s talk!

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