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Joined October 2021
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A Crusaders late-season resurgence would be good for them - but not for Super Rugby as a whole, as it would
Super Rugby could benefit on both sides of the Tasman if the competition would expand back to 14 teams.
Lot’s of fans do like the idea of conferences, makes ideal sense for both NZ/AU to have conference ladders. NZ/AU not same country, however we are in the same continent (Pacific). It’s how Super Rugby Pacific came about and should stay that way but have seperate conferences whist adding two more teams to make 14 team Super Rugby Pacific competition, so it fixes the playoff problem it faces.
We also both like playing our own clubs domestically rather than internationally since it’s not meaningful compared with domestic. To get ‘Best of Both Worlds’, you’d need less nz clubs vs au clubs and more nz vs nz or au vs au cause that interest viewers more. Every club plays ‘two domestic clubs’ twice a year, then every other teams every one year. Makes more sense to play every domestic team twice a year, in this case if expanded to 14 team Super Rugby Pacific, be 6 teams twice a year. Meaning would need to reduce nz clubs vs au clubs matches.
There’s no need for Japan to enter Super Rugby when they’ve got a fully professional competition which is filled with heaps of stars already while Argentina doesn’t have fully professional competition and stars. By doing choosing a nation who already got resources (Japan) you’re abandoning another nation who’s undeveloped resources (Argentina). Also as for Japan, new continental club cup between Super Rugby sides & Japan League One will start in 2026 so there’s no need for Japan to be included in Super Rugby.
The need to make Super Rugby stronger and viable in the long term means it is time to expand back to 14 teams
5,000 to 6,000 Argentine live in Sydney(highest population by city) but highly situated in Greater Sydney and 20,000 Argentine/Australian overall live in Australia.
Not only that, Italian community would be more engaged in Rugby Union if there was an Argentine/Australian team. 30,000,000 60% of Argentine people have Italian ancestry, 1 million people call themselves Australian/Italian. There’s possible chance that Italian would meet their extended Argentine family members and be supportive of each other.
The need to make Super Rugby stronger and viable in the long term means it is time to expand back to 14 teams
If RA holds majority stake (51%-over) on new super side, it’s their decision to part ways. It would good for RA long-term growth strategy overall to keep overall majority in stake.
There’s obviously going to be time where UAR will need to start a Fully-Professional competition with another nation, currently there’s no other nation at same pace in their continent which makes it problematic. It’s better for UAR to have Australian/Argentine team so doesn’t create confusion for conference.
The need to make Super Rugby stronger and viable in the long term means it is time to expand back to 14 teams
Issue isn’t ‘enough players’, more to do with uplifting RA contracted players knowledge and skills. Bringing former NZ internationally capped is key to uplifting AU super sides since NZR is known for its high quality development of players.
The reason why we need 7 th Australian super side is to keep up with development of NZ sides and keep number of teams even between NZ/AU. If we had uneven conference ladder between NZ/AU, the structure of the game would be a mess.
Draft isn’t necessary, when we still have players deciding to leave, if they weren’t it be a problem.
The need to make Super Rugby stronger and viable in the long term means it is time to expand back to 14 teams
Having an Argentine/Australian team would be fantastic idea for the competition instead of full owned Argentina team. Greater Sydney would be ideal choice, 5,000 to 6,000 Argentine live in Sydney(highest population by city) but highly situated in Greater Sydney and 20,000 Argentine/Australian overall live in Australia.
Not only that, Italian community would be more engaged in Rugby Union if there was an Argentine/Australian team. 30,000,000 60% of Argentine people have Italian ancestry, 1 million people call themselves Australian/Italian. There’s possible chance that Italian would meet their extended Argentine family members and be supportive of each other. Not only that Argentina/Italy have very good bilateral relations.
The need to make Super Rugby stronger and viable in the long term means it is time to expand back to 14 teams
To your point about the Argentine players playing in Super Rugby currently, there’s only two players, Santiago Medrano (Western Force) and Martin Bogado (Highlanders). Also Jaguares have invitation to comeback not ‘officially announced a comeback’.
Even if they were to bring back Jaguares based in Buenos Aires, it be logistical nightmare for the players for home & away teams due to flight time and there’s no direct flight anymore for any team includes stopover time. Air New Zealand once flew to Buenos Aires but saying they have no intention of flying back since they were struggling before the pandemic.
Also the conference structure would be muddled up if it’s fully owned Argentinian team cause it’s not actually an ‘majority owned Australian team’. Be confusing for the fans to understand where Jaguares sit on the conference ladder. Having the Fiji Drua and Moana Pasifika is enough.
It’s better if NZR & RA built their relationship with a nation who don’t have professional system (Argentina) first before getting our hand onto a nation who already does (Japan). Not start to lose another nation to Northern Hemisphere rugby.
The need to make Super Rugby stronger and viable in the long term means it is time to expand back to 14 teams
Forgot to mention, NZR should be expand to 7 NZ based teams and base expansion team either in Tauranga, Napier, New Plymouth or Palmerston North. Same goes for ARU with expand to 7 AU based teams. With NZ 7/AU 7 teams, gives you combined total of 14 men competition. ARU should base a expansion team in either NSW (Penrith or Parramatta) or QLD (Gold Coast or Townsville) with ownership with UAR, form an combined team owned by ARU (50-70% owned) & UAR (50-30% owned).
Shrinking Super Rugby isn't the solution to Australian rugby's problems, expanding the game below it is
Great Article! Expanding the competition is definite MUST! Not Reduction in teams! As a long-time ‘Super Fan’, it’s time Super Rugby reverted back to 14 team competition by expanding amount of teams, as it once was back from 2006 – 2010 where you can split two conferences (New Zealand conference & Australia conference), have nearer even amount of teams making the ‘playoffs’ and would make the structure more easier to understand as a whole!
Unfortunately both the competition and locally as whole has lost appetite from viewers or people who participate in the sport, which is really sad to see and needs to be fixed soon as possible! TBH you can thank NZR for this decline in the sport and not taking progressive action earlier, doing too much conservative action for far too long! Now’s the opportunity NZR takes action on pressing issues rugby faces!
Obviously ARU is doing far worse, whether that comes from Wallabies, players competing in Super Rugby level, operating financially as a national code of sport and engagement in both Super Rugby and Wallabies. How we fix this issue is by fixing Super Rugby level first, no need to re-introduce an NPC level tier of rugby! We Fix Super Rugby by expansion, bringing-in NZR contracted players and start getting NZR to get quality ‘Marquee’ players for their Super Rugby teams.
One of the way we fix Super Rugby is by expansion of another team based either in NSW (Penrith or Parramatta) or QLD (Gold Coast or Townsville) since have more Rugby Union presence locally and build better engagement levels. Introducing an expansion team is no easy task financially, ARU is struggling financially. UAR has received invitation back into Super Rugby by 2026, this would be good time for ARU to negotiate with UAR about forming an combined team owned by ARU (50-70% owned) & UAR (50-30% owned). From ARU, have nationally capped players, Super Rugby level player and club level players. For UAR, have nationally capped players, Emerging or potential nationally capped players and academy players.
For a long time now, it’s been no secret that NZR has been dominating over ARU by amount of internationally capped players and experience. For the likes of Blues, Chiefs and Crusaders, some of the players don’t get 15 or more matches under their name a year due too much internationally capped players or same age level, by having to compete against each other for spot in the 23 squad match day. Its time NZR too more action on this issue by talking & negotiating with their NZR contracted based from Blues, Chiefs and Crusaders to move to ARU based teams since too much player pool competition going on and see the benefits of making the move to Australia.
NZR needs to start attracting ‘Quality’ Marquee players into their teams likes of Pablo Matera (Crusaders), Joe Marchant (Blues), Kazuki Himeno (Highlanders), Fumiaki Tanaka (Highlanders), doesn’t need to mark them down as Marquee players, just needs to start including more into their teams! It would improve their fan engagement by bringing foreign communities closer and bring them to the matches. The more fans engaged, more rugby grows, better engagement and local communities play rugby including foreign communities based in NZ & AU!
Lastly NZR need to bring player pool 50/50 between experienced players vs developing players so integrity of the game isn’t compromised. With likes of Crusaders, as an good example, were seeing too many incoming developing players missing out on playing time cause too much player competition, also with too many young internationally capped players missing out on playing time on the field which is sad to see, should instead consider moving to Australia and replace with internationally capped experienced player who doesn’t need such excessive playing time and can teach incoming developing players to be better rugby players.
Shrinking Super Rugby isn't the solution to Australian rugby's problems, expanding the game below it is
Threre’s no point of a Japanese based side in SRP, since there’s already starting up an intercontinental competition between Japan League One vs Super Rugby Pacific by 2026. you would have same Japanese teams versing other teams 3 times a year which is not what fans would like to see. It be better to include an Argentine team instead since they have no professional team (SLAR semi-professional) and are tier one nation without a professional team.
Another NZ team would actually help the competition by opening up the player market, Same goes for the AU side, their player market would open up too. AU internationally capped players wouldn’t be diminished from their respected clubs cause their nationally representing the country and RA need those players for marketing strategy. For those ‘former internationally capped RA players’, RA normally has players over 10 internationally caps, they don’t pick up players who are likely not going to be in national team fro long period. So they won’t have trouble finding another club overseas.
The need to make Super Rugby stronger and viable in the long term means it is time to expand back to 14 teams