New Super finals a win for Australia: ARU

AAP
By Jim Morton
May 1, 2014, 4:53 pm



The realistic chance of boasting three finals sides each season has been hailed as the big win for Australia in a restructured 18-team Super Rugby competition.

Governing body SANZAR took Australia's five franchises by surprise on Thursday when they rolled out the controversial new-look model set to kick off in 2016.

While ARU boss Bill Pulver revealed most of the competition's details to AAP on Wednesday, he'd said an announcement was likely within the next fortnight.

Leading provincial officials went into Thursday's chief executives meeting looking to thrash out concerns with plans to add a second South African-based conference with the inclusion of three new teams.

But their meeting was only half completed when news broke in New Zealand that SANZAR was ploughing ahead with the expansion model to go forward to crucial broadcast rights negotiations.

Pulver stressed chief executives from NSW, Queensland, the Brumbies, Rebels and Western Force shared a consensus view the four-conference competition was the best way forward for Australia in reaping the biggest and best broadcast deal possible.

"There's a real feeling of comfort that this model will give a real positive outcome for us," he said.

While South Africa got their way from the outset with the reinstatement of the Southern Kings, Pulver said Australia's victory was the increase in the finals series from six teams to eight.

The sudden-death play-offs are set down over three weeks where each conference winner will host a quarter-final and three of the four wildcards will come from Australia and New Zealand.

Australia - who have only boasted eight finals teams in the past nine seasons, and only twice (2011 and 2013) had two - can now be virtually guaranteed of at least two each year.

"The issue we pushed really hard on was the finals series because sadly the least represented conference in the finals has been Australia," Pulver said.

"That was something they (South Africa and New Zealand) were willing to compromise on."

An Argentine side and an 18th franchise, to be put up to tender, will be placed in the two four-team South African divisions.

The ARU is gunning for a big Asian market - either Singapore or Japan - to gain the final licence while Pulver said they were staunchly opposed to a seventh South African team.

He revealed broadcasters were opposed to initial plans to split up the Australasian and South African groups and only bring them together for finals.

That was the model Australia's teams preferred and incumbent Wallabies skipper Ben Mowen also hoped for before Thursday's announcement.

"Just to reduce the travel," Mowen said. "It takes a huge toll on guys as athletes and on families."

Pulver has been in talks with commercial Australian networks for 12 months and is expecting "serious competitive tension" to drive the broadcast deal.

Channel 10 has reportedly shown most free-to-air interest and the ARU is hopeful of a Big Bash cricket-like boost to the domestic market.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sp...australia-aru/

Pulver you idiot. If the season finished last weekend Australia would have three sides in finals anyway with the Brumbies winning the Australian conference and the Force and Waratahs filling two of the wildcard spots.

I'd be interested to see what the ARU can get out of a FTA deal. I don't think it will work out as well as the Big Bash solely because the Big Bash is virtually unopposed in the summer months as far as televised sport is concerned apart from an A-League game on Friday nights.

Also if travel is a pain the proverbial go find another job. The east coast Aussies sides have the easiest travel schedule in the comp.