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Opinion
The way forward for Super Rugby is simple and exciting.
First, Super Rugby AU and Super Rugby Aotearoa should be played with six teams each on a home-and-away basis with a semi-final and final.
Second, the two winners should play each other in a ‘Super Bowl’ game to determine the Super Rugby champion. This would be followed by a week off.
Third, the top four Japanese teams should then join all the Super Rugby teams for a 16-team knockout competition over four weeks. Every team plays for survival and another shot at glory.
That’s an 18-week season with plenty of peak events.
It’s a perfect fit for the available window before the July Tests each year.
(Photo by Jono Searle/Getty Images)
The final of Super Rugby AU and Super Rugby Aotearoa will be played to a packed house each year, as will the ‘Super Bowl’ game.
The four-week knockout competition will capture the attention of the casual spectator just as well as, if not better than, the NRL and AFL finals do in Australia.
Teams will attempt to win all three trophies in one year. Legends will be created.
The top Japanese teams will be involved in a meaningful way.
Ratings will be through the roof. The broadcasters will pay big money.
Australia will better retain their talent and even begin to win over the hearts and minds of young boys and girls.
It will also create further interest in the Bledisloe Cup each year.
The ‘Super Bowl’ game and knockout competition will be enough to satisfy the desire of the Australian teams to test themselves against the New Zealand teams each year. And New Zealand will realise that Super Rugby Aotearoa does them no harm and even start to love it. It may just become known as the finest domestic competition in the world.
Australia and New Zealand will become best friends.
All this talk of Super Rugby AU and Super Rugby Aotearoa becoming boring because teams are playing each other four times is just rubbish. No teams will play each other four times in Super Rugby AU or Super Rugby Aotearoa. In any home-and-away competition teams play each other twice.
The only teams that might meet a third time are the three teams that make the finals. But because these games are finals, they are much more exciting than regular-season games, so nobody worries that they’ve already met twice before.
The New Zealand teams wouldn’t even need to play trial games against each other, because they could play the Australian teams in trial games. In any case, the Super Rugby AU and Super Rugby Aotearoa seasons are only 13 weeks long. They’re way too short to be boring.
This way forward would create a simple and exciting fixture every year. It’s a foolproof way to engage the majority of fans. It’s the best way to capture the Australian market. It’s the most evenly contested way to structure the competitions where fans of every team will believe they have a fighting chance.
Australian teams will still get to test themselves against the New Zealand teams, and it involves the top Japanese teams in a competition with all the Super Rugby teams, not just some.
This is the way forward for Super Rugby.
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.