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A pathetic competition that has ruined itself with deadlocked opposition to any progression.
Rugby: Super Rugby stalemate is a shocker
11 Jul, 2018 5:41pm 4 minutes to read
The Sunwolves appeared to have been given Super Rugby entry in 2017 based exclusively on their potential economic offering. Photo / GettyThe Sunwolves appeared to have been given Super Rugby entry in 2017 based exclusively on their potential economic offering. Photo / Getty
Gregor Paul
By: Gregor Paul
Sports writer
gregor.paul@nzherald.co.nz
As New Zealand's Super Rugby players dig deep into themselves to find the energy and resolve to get through the next few weeks, they won't be pleased to hear that their executive brethren failed to make any progress last week about creating a new future for the competition.
It probably won't come as any surprise that the Sanzaar executive met in Singapore and didn't agree on any preferred way to revamp Super Rugby.
No surprise because endless discussions that go nowhere has been par for the course in Super Rugby history.
No surprise, because confidence in the people charged with running the competition is not high after years of bickering, squabbling, procrastinating and poor decision-making.
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But there is disappointment on several levels, the most pressing being that Super Rugby can't afford another prolonged period of uncertainty.
There has to be a realisation among the administrative fraternity that players and fans need certainty about where this competition is heading longer term.
Players especially, as the exodus from South Africa shows no signs of abating. They have seen in excess of 400 players leave for Europe and Japan in the last few years and there are daily reports of more being targeted by clubs in France and England.
If there was a particularly telling indictment of where things stand, it came in the last few weeks when Springboks star Duane Vermeulen opted to sign with Japanese club Kubota Spears rather than take on offer from the Stormers.
The point which is apparently being missed in the executive world is that players are reluctant to make a commitment to Super Rugby without knowing how it will be structured in 2020.
The longer there is a delay, the more likely it is that other players will opt to move elsewhere, which in turn will make it an even harder battle to win back fans and restore credibility.
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The last thing Super Rugby needs is to be stuck in this holding pattern.
The lessons of failing to act fast and decisively should have been learned from the events of last year.
A decision was reached in early March to cut the competition from 18 teams to 15 for 2018 and while the South Africans handled that process quickly and effectively, the Australians ripped themselves apart for nearly eight months trying to determine which team to axe.
The impact on rugby was huge. Australian teams didn't win a single game against New Zealand opposition and an already challenged fan base, shrunk further with stadium attendances and broadcast viewing audiences reaching alarmingly low levels.
That the need to cut teams came about in the first place was another result of executive hubris. There was widespread criticism of the decision to expand the competition to 18 teams split into four conferences in 2016.
The format was clunky and lacking in integrity and the new teams, particularly the Sunwolves from Japan, appeared to have been given entry based exclusively on their potential economic offering rather than their playing ability.
By early 2017 it was apparent Super Rugby was failing everyone – players, fans and accountants and hence the decision was made to revert to the old format of 15 teams in three conferences this year.
But this 15-team format is only supposed to be a temporary solution while a better, longer-term future is mapped out.
The main reason it is a short-term fix is that it is taking too much out of the players.
The home and away local derbies have an intensity that is not sustainable – particularly in New Zealand where games often come close to replicating tests such is their ferocity.
No one loves the current competition set-up and no one loves the lack of vision and clarity about the future.
Players from all countries are putting their bodies on the line this week and for some, the next three.
They have every right to expect their respective employers will be making the same level of commitment to come up with solutions to how Super Rugby can be reconfigured to suit the stakeholders that matter.
Anyone with an ounce of sense knows that the reason for allowing the Sunwolves in was financial. The SANZAAR partners had $ signs in their eyes and nothing else. For SANZAAR, the priorities seem to be money first, daylight second, and rugby third.
Proudly Western Australian; Proudly supporting Western Australian rugby
Yep and they see themselves as a partnership instead of a governing body that is there to improve the commercial structures to enable the respective unions to keep their players doesn't help. Three of the unions are basketcases SARU and the RA are both under investigation for alleged breaches of fiduciary duties and fraud.
The current structure is more of a joke as you have inflated log positions due to duplicated derbies with teams profiting from those games against teams that were out of contention half way through the comp. Eight teams out of 15 in the finals still rewards mediocrity.
"the Australians ripped themselves apart for nearly eight months trying to determine which team to axe."
Bullshit, it took 8 minutes for that decision
Chuck Norris has the greatest Poker-Face of all time. He won the 1983 World Series of Poker, despite holding only a Joker, a Get out of Jail Free Monopoly card, a 2 of clubs, 7 of spades and a green #4 card from the game Uno.
This whole mess has been created by the world's greatest sporting administrator who brought in a side we could not afford to field financially most importantly and player wise.
'I may be a Senator but I am not stupid'
https://omny.fm/shows/the-alan-jones-breakfast-show/cameron-clyne
Link to Senate Report http://www.aph.gov.au/senate_ca
https://www.change.org/p/rugby-australia-petition-for-cameron-clyne-to-resign-as-chairman-of-the-rugby-australia-board
Another article, this time from South Africa..
Current Super Rugby format rewards mediocrity
09:07 12/07/2018 Lloyd Burnard
Cape Town - The Sharks, with just six wins from 15 matches in 2018, head into the final round of Super Rugby fixtures this weekend with a real shot at making the playoffs.
Currently ninth on the overall log, the Durbanites need a watered-down Highlanders side to do them a favour by beating the Rebels first thing on Saturday morning (07:15 SA time).
The Rebels, with their fate in their own hands, are on 35 points to the Sharks' 32 and currently occupy the final wildcard playoff spot. Victory for them in Dunedin would eliminate the Sharks, regardless of what the KwaZulu-Natal side do against the Jaguares.
By the time Robert du Preez's charges run out onto the Kings Park turf at 17:15 on Saturday, they will know the equation and it will be a case of having either everything - or nothing - to play for.
A closer look, though, suggests that the Sharks can have no complaints if they miss out.
While the Stormers have been labelled South Africa's worst Super Rugby team in 2018, the log standings reveal that they have won just as many matches as the Sharks and Bulls – six.
If the Bulls, who travel to Johannesburg to take on the Lions, and the Sharks both lose this weekend, then it would be incredibly unfair to single out the Stormers.
Not even the Lions are guaranteed top spot in the SA Conference. If they lose to the Bulls on Saturday and the Jaguares win in Durban, then it will be the Argentineans who claim first place and a home quarter-final.
Whatever happens this weekend, all of the Sharks, Bulls and Stormers will finish the groups stages with a win percentage of less than 50%, and that points towards a very disappointing season from a South African perspective.
No side with a 40% win return in regular season (the Sharks' current return) should be deserving of a place in the knockouts.
That would never have happened in the days of Super 12, where only one side in the history of that 10-year-long format qualified for the playoffs with a win percentage of less than 50%.
The tournament format today, as the Sharks would prove if they make the playoffs, rewards mediocrity.
Before the expansion to 18 teams in 2016, the 15-team format between 2011 and 2015 offered six playoff spots.
This year, with the competition back to 15 teams, there are eight.
The Sharks have been seriously impressive at times and have found a balance between being direct and expansive that many have suggested should be the South African blueprint moving forward.
Their efforts against the New Zealand sides have been particularly noticeable, where they have won three out of four, including a one-point loss to the Hurricanes in Wellington.
Inconsistency, though, has plagued their season.
The Sharks lost heavily at home to the Bulls, didn't turn up for a date with the Jaguares in Buenos Aires and then, this past weekend, they missed an opportunity to take a giant leap towards the playoffs when they came unstuck against the lowly Stormers in Cape Town when it mattered most.
The positives probably outweigh the negatives this season, but that doesn't change the fact that the Sharks have been nowhere near consistent enough to warrant a quarter-final place.
That they are still in the running says more about the state of the competition than anything else.
It is not fair that the Lions, with 41 points, are placed above the Hurricanes with 50 points and the Chiefs with 45 points on the overall log.
That is a sentiment shared by most, but it is the way that this tournament is run to ensure that it is not completely dominated by the Kiwi teams.
There is more change on the horizon for Super Rugby, and while there is no clarity yet in terms of what that change will look like, the next format must ensure that the sides that progress to the playoffs deserve to be there.
We do not want a situation where teams are rewarded for losing more than they win.
I can't wait for Jags to top Saffers conference, Moondogs to top Aus conference, and all 5 NZ teams finish in top 8.
The long sobs of autumn's violins wound my heart with a monotonous languor
Won’t be happy till Clyne is out of rugby. No mediation can really begin with not just Force fans, but Australian fans until this unethical monster is gone.
Getting rid of him is a start because he holds all the other suckholes together on their trip through the ruination of Rugby Australia.
If the Jags make the final, they should hold it in Argentina at the Monumental, regardless of their position on the table. What a spectacle!
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?