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Japan to get 18th Super Rugby team in 2016 - Reuters
Japan has beaten out Singapore as the preferred host for the 18th team in the expanded Super Rugby competition, governing body Sanzar said on Friday.
The southern hemisphere provincial competition will increase from 15 to 18 teams in 2016, with one team from South Africa and another from Argentina already awarded places.
Japan and Singapore were vying against each other for the last available spot with Japan getting the vote after a meeting of the South African, New Zealand and Australian Rugby (Sanzar) executive board.
"Compelling proposals were put forth by Japan and Singapore in what was a very competitive tender process and we thank both parties for their passion in sharing our vision to expand the competition to new fans, territories and commercial markets," Sanzar chief executive Greg Peters said in a statement.
"While ultimately edged out in this instance, Singapore presented a highly attractive bid and we will maintain a positive relationship with an eye to potentially working with them in the future.
"Following the Executive Committee's decision however, Sanzar will now work exclusively with the JRFU to finalise arrangements for their entry in to Super Rugby, subject to execution of the formal participation agreement."
The new format of the competition will feature two South African conferences, one of which will include the Asian team, and coincides with the renegotiation of the broadcasting agreements that financially underpin it.
The confirmation from Sanzar came just 24 hours after Singapore's bid team publicly conceded defeat to Japan, which has already been selected to host the 2019 World Cup.
The writing was on the wall for Singapore in July when Sanzar said geographic location was among the key criteria when shortlisting the two Asian bids.
Earlier this month, South African Rugby Union President Oregan Hoskins told reporters that Japan's bid proposal had been changed to include Singapore as a host for some of the matches.
It is understood Singapore would host up to four matches at their 55 000 seat, retractable roof National Stadium at the city-state's new $1 billion Sports Hub, although the format and number of games in the 2016 season is yet to be determined.
Media reports have also suggested Singapore could replace Tokyo as one of the host for the expanded IRB Sevens series in 2016.
The International Rugby Board is expected to announce the venues for the sevens series within the next few weeks.
Greg Series, the financial backer of the Singapore bid, said in a statement: "The news that the Japan team will play matches in Singapore is also welcomed, as knowing that they will need to invest in rugby in Singapore and South-East Asia in order to achieve that, is a consequence we warmly endorse, as this was a key and major component of our proposal."
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ah, sense has prevailed for once!
Logistics aside, i am really excited to get japan involved - will really put them up a couple of rungs on the international ladder.
What i want to know, is how are they going to select a team? will it be the equivalent of the cherry blossoms?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by
palitu
What i want to know, is how are they going to select a team? will it be the equivalent of the cherry blossoms?
I hope so, although without any players plying their trade in Europe. Or is Japanese rugby rich enough that they don't need to go to France?
Given that the rules on foreign players in Super Rugby seem to be set by the National authorities, rather than by SuperRugby itself, they could elect to accept any number of foreigners; hope they don't, though.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sheikh
Given that the rules on foreign players in Super Rugby seem to be set by the National authorities, rather than by SuperRugby itself, they could elect to accept any number of foreigners; hope they don't, though.
There is some big-name foreign talent in the Japanese domestic league so they could legitimately utilise that. There are restrictions on the number of foreigners that teams can can use over there so hopefully they'd do something similar in Super Rugby.
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This expansion idea is bad and SANZAR should feel bad.
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/didnt read the article/
but with the RWC in Japan in 2019, this can only be a good thing for the sport.
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Japan is probably the only expansion I would like to see in Super Rugby. The Argentinian team is too much for me. Instead, seeing as they take part in the SANZAR Rugby Championship, I would have no restrictions on Argentina players in Super Rugby franchises, especially as most of their best players play in Europe, so they wouldn't flood the competition.
Hopefully Japanese/Asian money can flow into competition and we stem the flow of players to Europe. Maybe even have a few more Pacific Island players in Super Rugby as a result.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by
jargan83
This expansion idea is bad and SANZAR should feel bad.
Expansion is a good idea....it's the way this one is structured which is bloody stupid. Rather than using the geography to build three conferences of equal size with relatively limited travel schedules, they have chosen instead to create four conferences of vastly disproportionate size, with the expansion teams bth forced to play their away games in the location that is the most geographically distant from their own.
to call it a Clusterf&*k is an insult to any self-respecting Clusterf&*k
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Quote:
Originally Posted by
GIGS20
Expansion is a good idea....it's the way this one is structured which is bloody stupid. Rather than using the geography to build three conferences of equal size with relatively limited travel schedules, they have chosen instead to create four conferences of vastly disproportionate size, with the expansion teams bth forced to play their away games in the location that is the most geographically distant from their own.
to call it a Clusterf&*k is an insult to any self-respecting Clusterf&*k
Pretty much. Worse when you consider that a 3 conference model was actually discussed.
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I wonder, if they stir up the international private sector enough with this expansion into South America and Asia, maybe they'll be able to raise enough sponsorship so that the conferences could be done away with and everyone gets to play each other again? It'll be less games and less Murdoch money, but it would be a helluva competition, especially if they have a slightly bigger finals series.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by
GIGS20
Expansion is a good idea....it's the way this one is structured which is bloody stupid. Rather than using the geography to build three conferences of equal size with relatively limited travel schedules, they have chosen instead to create four conferences of vastly disproportionate size, with the expansion teams bth forced to play their away games in the location that is the most geographically distant from their own.
to call it a Clusterf&*k is an insult to any self-respecting Clusterf&*k
Expansion is a great idea when there is an actual demand for it.
This is just SANZAR putting dots on the map for the sake of it. Like you said to call it a clusterf*ck would be an insult to the term clusterf*ck.
