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A match to decide world's best club
- Wayne Smith, Rugby union editor
- From: The Australian
- April 06, 2010 12:00AM
A LUCRATIVE English proposal to stage the long-proposed "battle of the hemispheres", the Super 14 champions against the Heineken Cup winners, is likely to be considered by SANZAR.
Such a contest to determine the world's best club/provincial side has been mooted many times in the past and indeed a Bulls-Leinster showdown might well have been staged last year had not the British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa complicated matters.
In the past it has been the winners of the respective southern and northern hemisphere tournaments who have kicked around the idea, invariably discovering, as rugby league has with its World Club Challenge, that there is no ideal time convenient to both teams.
According to British reports, however, Premier Rugby Limited, the body that represents the leading English clubs, has become heavily involved in the planning for such a match, concerned that if the game's officials do not take the initiative, Indian Premier League-style outside promoters might hijack the concept.
Those fears appear a little alarmist because any IPL-style promotion seemingly would involve a Packer-like takeover of the entire sport and its players, although there is a growing belief that unless the International Rugby Board acts smartly to rationalise sevens rugby in the lead-up to the 2016 Olympics, the shorter version of the game could be vulnerable to raiders.
Still, any good idea too long discussed and not acted upon almost invites predators in and PRL chief executive Mark McCafferty told The Guardian there was a need for vigilance. "Our clubs, as well as those in Europe and the southern hemisphere, have had approaches from Monaco, Abu Dhabi and, most recently, from South Africa," McCafferty said. "If the stakeholders within rugby don't create this, somebody else will."
Waratahs chief executive Jim L'Estrange confirmed NSW had been approached "about six to eight months ago" about a South v North contest in London. "But rather than having just a one-off match between the two champions, we had in mind a mini-tournament involving five or six teams," said L'Estrange.
"That might take the form of a series involving the winners of the three SANZAR conferences (Australia, New Zealand and South Africa) against, say, the French Top 14 champions and the English Premiership winner," said L'Estrange. "From a NSW union perspective, we'd certainly be interested in something like that as long as our top players were available."
Next year would lend itself to such a proposal because, being a World Cup year, there are no inbound tours and no scheduled spring tours.
But there is no reason why a Heineken Cup-Super 14 showdown could not happen in December, with the match tagged on to the end of the Wallabies, All Blacks or Springboks' spring tour, depending on which country provides the Super 14 winner.
If, for example, the current Super 14 competition leaders, the Waratahs, were to go on and win the title for the first time this year, the bulk of their players would tour with the Wallabies in November. Any Waratahs players not involved with the Australian side would meet up with their state teammates after the Wallabies' tour.
"That would be the best way to do it," said L'Estrange. "From a purist's perspective, the rugby league World Club Challenge has never seemed to have real credibility. It's always an early-season game for the Australian team and the match doesn't get the noise it deserves."
Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom, a member of Leinster's Heineken Cup-winning team last year and now a key component of a Brumbies team well-placedto shoot for the Super 14 title, welcomed the prospect of a North v South decider. "It would be massive," Elsom said.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1225850102613
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