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AUSTRALIA’S cherished hold on a guaranteed home game in the Super Rugby finals is under siege from Kiwi heavyweights urging a shake-up.
A meeting of Super Rugby chief executives in Sydney this week will debate a fairer finals system and how to make the unwieldy 18-team format easier to understand.
Whether Australia and South Africa should each consider chopping a team to move towards a 16-team competition in 2018 will also be discussed informally.
A formal review has been commissioned by governing body SANZAAR but a recommended structure, with the input of broadcasters, is still months away.
This year’s new four-conference system threw up multiple anomalies.
The Highlanders (52), Chiefs (51) and Crusaders (50) all finished with more points yet it was the ACT Brumbies (43) who hosted a quarter-final in Canberra as the Australian Conference winners.
More here:http://www.news.com.au/sport/rugby/s...f3b0d1635306ca
The kiwi teams are whining that they didn't get a home final.
But in all seriousness if they want to change the format so it's only the top teams that make the finals, then the Aus and SA audiences will mostly tune out of watching an all kiwi finals thus giving Fox a lot less viewers.
I don't see Fox etc. agreeing with this.
Changing the number of teams will also require a hell of a shakeup in the conference system.
I seriously think that the kiwi's believe as they have the 'stronger' teams they should get what they want.
My answer is to blow up superrugby completely.
Now that Aus has the NRC we'll just stick with that, the kiwi's can run their mitre 10 cup or whatever the hell it is now and the Saffas can spend their time doing whatever the hell it is they do in saffa land, I don't know, chasing lions or whatever, tackling hyenas, or if they get bored playing in the currie cup.
For mine, it's pretty easy. Don't like the structure, no problems...round robin, and quit bitching about the travel. That would cause a clash with ITMC/CC/NRC - that's unfortunate, all three countries better drop a team then...
Well it could work. They play 15 games currently. If everybody played each other once then it would be 17 games so only 2 extra. So whoever you play at home one year you play them away the next year. You cannot make it any fairer than that. The finals format can still be top 8 with the top 4 getting home finals against the teams below (1v8, 2v7 etc), then semi's, then final. If the top 4 are all kiwi teams then they all get a home final as they deserve it.
That is the fairest possible. There will still be 7 or 8 home games a year so no difference there but the travel will be more because there will be less "local" derbies but like you said this is part of life so they need to get over it and the fixturing needs to be better to schedule these in blocks. The Force can go to NZ for 3 weeks and play 3 games, then be at home for 4 weeks and then go to S.A for 3 weeks and play 3 games then home again.
Why can't they just do this.
So will Bill Pulver call their bluff now that it has been proven that the Saffer conferences were the anomaly.
Australian teams suffered from not gaining points because of the number of Kiwi teams we played. It is fair to say that the Kiwis were the better teams on the park, but the country is broke, I don't think their tv networks will be able to cover for the fact that Fox won't pay for no aussie teams to play finals.
Until the unnecessary addition of a fourth conference, virtually guaranteeing a South African semi finalist with a Home Semi, the conference system was reasonably fair. I say go back to three conferences, each can have 6, with Japan playing in the Aussie conference and Argentina playing in the New Zealand conference, top team from each conference gets a home final, the best 5 teams of the rest get in with the top one of those also getting a home final.
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The 4 conferences are a joke.
They have to call the saffers bluff. If they bail we look to Asia and the Pacific islands - yeah they're a ways away but it's a starting point
If they don't want a full round-robin, then the other consideration could be a split competition with two conferences with teams from each country. In order to combat the lack of matches, the finals could be replaced by a multi-week cross-over super-series, leading into the semi and grand final; or eliminate the semi altogether.
If Australia have to go it alone, I would like the ARU to consider a way to merge the two major premierships (Sydney and Brisbane) with the NRC. I'm not really advocating promotion and relegation, but something of a mixed half and half season like the Super League currently has, would be an interesting option. Plus host a few more touring teams to come here and play Australia A or the Aussie Barbars to fill out the rep season.
Last edited by chibi; 13-09-16 at 15:26.
Japan and the Pacific Islands for Aussie Super 9's!
Let's have one of these in WA! Click this link: Saitama Super Arena - New Perth Stadium?
Theres also this (which will probably duplicate or overlap): http://www.rugby15.co.za/2016/09/san...or-the-future/
"SANZAAR: Planning for the Future
An EXCO meeting and a 2016 Super Rugby season review took place in Sydney over the last two days with SANZAAR hosting over 80 stakeholder representatives. The series of meetings were designed to fully review all tournament deliverables on and off the field, and involved national union CEOs, team CEOs and coaches, rights holder broadcasters and SANZAAR operational staff.
The review is consistent with those undertaken in previous years and an essential part of tournament management that is designed to ensure Super Ruby continues to be one of the top rugby tournaments in the world."
"12 Years aSupporter" starring the #SeaOfBlue
The stupid part of things is that the comp actually goes for 17 weeks because there are 2 byes. scrub the byes and play everybody once without changing the time frame of the comp.
I don't like the "play everyone once." because you lose the rivalries with the other aussie teams. I don't know what the answer is but I'm for a system that allows us to play our east coast brethern home and away each year. That's 8 games, and then figure out how to divide up the other 8 amongst the other divisions. There will never be a fair system because the strength of teams change over the years.
The NFL in America handles this. There are 32 teams, yet you only play 16 games a season. The 32 teams are split into 2 conferences of 16, and each conference split into 4 divisions of 4 on largely geographic lines (albeit with some anomalies - Dallas play in the 'East' and Carolina in the 'South', but separating them would remove one of the fierce historical rivalries).
They work out who you play each year based on a simple formula. You play everyone in your division home and away (6 games). Your division gets paired with another division in your conference and with another division in the other conference and you play them all once (4 home, 4 away). The divisions you get paired with rotate each year. These 14 games are the same for everyone in your division. The other 2 games are against teams from the other two divisions in your conference, based on your finishing position the previous season. If you won your division, you play the teams which won the other divisions.
So if you won the National Conference East the previous year, the teams you play would be something like:
Other National East teams twice (6 games), all National North (4 games), all American West (4 games), National South winners & National West winners (2 games).
This formula means that each division has a largely similar schedule (14 of the 16 games are common), with a slight weighting against success, as the Americans are remarkably egalitarian in that respect.
It also means that the New York Jets (who play in the American East) might only play their home-town rivals New York Giants (National East) once every 4 years, but they seem to survive without the local derbies.
Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon