Exit from Super Rugby?

[Dan54]

Who knows, most on here might die of old age before Sanzar ever suggest any sensible idea.

Tell you what though Melbourne,I almost guarantee most will die before we get all the posters to agree how any change to comp/rules etc is good

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

Nz herald reporting unlikely that other franchise wil
Be Asian due to
One off travel there and that more likely to be an African franchise.
Fairly ridiculous. Can't see developing counties pulling the big bucks

 

[Pfitzy]

Not an easy job for SANZAR to keep everyone happy though - unlike Europe, it's not like we can just take the train to an away game if we wanted. Flight costs here are higher than over there too so besides Sydney-Canberra and Auckland-Hamilton (Pretoria-Johannesburg?) it's not even an option to bus it.

 

[redveincheese]

Just saw the proposed finals playoffs. 3 teams from the 2 x SA conferences and 5 from the Australasian conf. 1 to 8 seeded with sudden death at all stages.
Seems a little harsh on the conference winners, getting the same chance as a team finishing 8th overall.

 

[SevensPhD]

Is the final spot a truly open tender? From anywhere?

I have read the team will be physically based in SA (just like the ARG team).

Why not a combined North American team then? Canada/USA combo team, with a few Saffas and maybe Euro players mixed in, but branded NA for the media market? There are enough NA players in top level Euro competitions that with 3-5 Saffers/Euros the team could be somewhat competitive, and surely increase competitiveness by 2018.

They could play half home games in their SA home, and the other half in NA (either different cities each time, or have a NA home).

Travel is already ridiculous, but the added value to the TV deal could be worth it.

 

[rugbysmartarse]

Just saw the proposed finals playoffs. 3 teams from the 2 x SA conferences and 5 from the Australasian conf. 1 to 8 seeded with sudden death at all stages.
Seems a little harsh on the conference winners, getting the same chance as a team finishing 8th overall.

so it's the stormers bulls and sharks, plus 5 kiwi/aussie teams, right?

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

Just saw the proposed finals playoffs. 3 teams from the 2 x SA conferences and 5 from the Australasian conf. 1 to 8 seeded with sudden death at all stages.
Seems a little harsh on the conference winners, getting the same chance as a team finishing 8th overall.

i am guessing that's top two from SA and NZ and then either the 5th ranked team (surely can't do that given they will play totally different teams) or a playoff between 3 and 3 in each conference to get into the finals (would be a great idea to have a wild card game)

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

Is the final spot a truly open tender? From anywhere?

I have read the team will be physically based in SA (just like the ARG team).

Why not a combined North American team then? Canada/USA combo team, with a few Saffas and maybe Euro players mixed in, but branded NA for the media market? There are enough NA players in top level Euro competitions that with 3-5 Saffers/Euros the team could be somewhat competitive, and surely increase competitiveness by 2018.

They could play half home games in their SA home, and the other half in NA (either different cities each time, or have a NA home).

Travel is already ridiculous, but the added value to the TV deal could be worth it.

isn't the arg team based out of argentina??

north america is better off tying itself to japan and the islands via a west coast com (B.C, Alberta, Wa, Oregon, Cali, Colorado, Utah with 8 japan teams)

 

[SevensPhD]

isn't the arg team based out of argentina??

I read on a news site (not a blog) that they were training/playing out of Stellenbosch to reduce travel. But now I cannot find that link. They would play the South African conference games at Stellenbosch then have the rare home games in ARG against NZ/AUS sides.

 

[Blue]

All of them right now. Bulls, Lions/Cats, and Kings historically. This is the worst year I can remember though. The Bulls were powerful when they were the Springboks but that was a very high peak considering their role as whipping boys in the comp.





Fuck I did qualify what I was saying above you ornery ranga! Our teams have been getting progressively more stable, but yours are up and down (mostly down) like a fucking yo-yo.

And in a nation like yours which is apparently a rugby haven for big beefeaters with horrid accents, you should be competing with the Kiwis at every turn. Instead, by being where you are its a far bigger tragedy.

Look I get that you hate all things South African but let's not start on accents.

By your logic the Reds should be thrown out of the comp for a very poor run for a number of years before Link came on board.

The Bulls won the comp three times. They lost 11 Springboks in the last two years and have lost two entire back rows to injury. They are not going to compete. Nobody will in those circumstances.

Either your post is a shoddy attempt at a wind up or you actually believe the shit you type.

 

[Moono75]

I imagine if the final teams entry is via a tender process it will be money talks bullshit walks. Interested to see if that team will have any exemptions from the salary cap and able to buy in players from wherever to be competitive. The format still sounds like a cluster fuck.

 

[Pfitzy]

Either your post is a shoddy attempt at a wind up or you actually believe the shit you type.

I've never seen someone so offended that I came down to their level.

 

[Blue]

I've never seen someone so offended that I came down to their level.

Fuck off. There's no space in my gutter.

 

[Blue]

So this thing seems like its not some last dutch April fools attempt:

Tew is almost as excited as Pulver and Conrad likes it:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-rugby/9997792/Conrad-Smith-supports-Super-Rugby-expansion

 

[Quick Hands]

I think that people need to understand that NZ and Sth Africa don't face the same issues as Australia do. They don't have Aussie Rules at all and league where it exists is miles behind, they also have ITM Cup and Currie Cup for their tribal domestic competition.

Australia carry a very small stick and be basically have to use it sparingly and cut the best deal that we can at these sort of negotiations.

 

[Pfitzy]

If Pulver gets a decent FTA deal going for the NRC then we get to keep all that money though

 

[Highlander35]

Saracens. Saracens will be the 18th side.

Sent from my LG-P713 using Tapatalk

 

[Omar Comin']

It seems that the best way to have an 18 team competition is just to make it a single round robin.

Not going to happen because it would increase the amount of travel for all teams. It would be brutal in a competition potentially played over 4 continents.

 

[redveincheese]

i am guessing that's top two from SA and NZ and then either the 5th ranked team (surely can't do that given they will play totally different teams) or a playoff between 3 and 3 in each conference to get into the finals (would be a great idea to have a wild card game)

Looks like it will be 1 v 8, 2 v 7,3 v 6, 4 v 5 in the quarter finals. As per this story, http://www.theroar.com.au/2014/05/01/sanzar-confirms-four-conference-super-rugby-format/

 

[Benaud]

That's a better finals system than the initial reports. The 4 conference winners (2 from South Africa, 1 from Aus, 1 from NZ) appear to get home finals against the 3rd placed South African side and the next 3 from Aus/NZ.

You've still got the situation where the 4 weakest teams in the competition (the 3 new teams and the Lions) make up half of the 2 smallest pools, so the other teams in those pools (Sharks, Bulls, Stormers, Cheetahs) are at a significant advantage in the regular season with 3/4 progressing to the finals and 2 awarded home finals.

But that design flaw isn't quite as advantageous for them under the new finals system, where they'll still have to win 3 consecutive finals matches to take out the competition, rather than just 2.