Jake: England v SA 'the future'; ditch Super Rugby

[kiap]

Interesting from the Saffer press.

Durban - Jake White has suggested South African teams could ditch Super Rugby in favour of a tournament with English teams.​

​

Following the Sharks director of rugby's team's 23-15 loss against Aviva Premiership log-leaders Saracens at Allianz Park, White told the BBC's website that the two countries' similar time-zones, lack of factors such as jet-lag and the financial benefits made logistical sense.​

​

"Maybe this is the sign of things to come," White said.​

​

"It's an overnight flight, and we'll be back at work on Monday afternoon after playing a team in England."​

​

Read more: http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/Jake-England-v-SA-the-future-20140126?

 

[I like to watch]

If the English sides,have a wages bill double the size of the African teams,and they are playing in the same comp.
Either the African teams wages bill will double,or they will lose all their better players to their English competitors.
I would be backing the latter.

 

[Slim 293]

Durban - Jake White has suggested South African teams could ditch Super Rugby in favour of a tournament with English teams.

It's a nice beat up from the SA press, as White doesn't actually say that in the BBC article:

"Logistically, to fit in an extra tournament against South African sides [at the moment] will be a bit tough, but maybe that can happen in the future," he said.

"And for now there's nothing wrong with now and then having southern hemisphere club sides against northern hemisphere club sides. Maybe here [England] can be a home from home. I'm sure there are exciting times ahead."

 

[Inside Shoulder]

and some wonder why we don't trust foreign coaches

 

[Slim 293]

You certainly can't trust people to read the source material.........

 

[kiap]

It's a nice beat up from the SA press, as White doesn't actually say that in the BBC article:

True, that. They were naughty, writing between the lines.

 

[emuarse]

Interesting from the Saffer press.

Durban - Jake White has suggested South African teams could ditch Super Rugby in favour of a tournament with English teams.​

​

Following the Sharks director of rugby's team's 23-15 loss against Aviva Premiership log-leaders Saracens at Allianz Park, White told the BBC's website that the two countries' similar time-zones, lack of factors such as jet-lag and the financial benefits made logistical sense.​

​

"Maybe this is the sign of things to come," White said.​

​

"It's an overnight flight, and we'll be back at work on Monday afternoon after playing a team in England."​

​

Read more: http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/Jake-England-v-SA-the-future-20140126?

It might be overnight, but its also over season. Two seasons in fact.

 

[Braveheart81]

It might be overnight, but its also over season. Two seasons in fact.

This seems to get constantly ignored in this debate by anyone saying what a great idea it would be for South Africa to join Europe.

Whilst leaving your Summer to play a winter game in Europe might not be that bad, I can't imagine many European teams wanting to play half their rugby in the heat of Summer in South Africa.

 

[PaarlBok]

Yeah lets do it.

 

[Blake]

This seems to get constantly ignored in this debate by anyone saying what a great idea it would be for South Africa to join Europe.

Whilst leaving your Summer to play a winter game in Europe might not be that bad, I can't imagine many European teams wanting to play half their rugby in the heat of Summer in South Africa.

I know i'm just repeating what you guys said here, but it's absolutely crazy that this fact seems to be completely ignored in most discussions.

 

[PaarlBok]

I know i'm just repeating what you guys said here, but it's absolutely crazy that this fact seems to be completely ignored in most discussions.

Its a no deal for us. The real summer heat only starts now and the Varsity Cup started last night. Its actually the most popular time for night sport in SA. Field hockey thats suppose to be a wintersport and we had the Dutch/Aus/Belgium ladies playing a summer series at Hartleyvale Cape Town drawing crowds of 30,000+ after India dropped us with cricket.

There are lots of money to be made for rugby, Saru should ditch Sanzar and chase money. half their players are already up north and a few Stormers chicken runners sure as hell show they can play for the Bokke.

http://www.safieldhockey.co.za/investec-challenge-day-3-sa-womens-hockey-vs-netherlands-hartleyvale/

 

[ChargerWA]

Not sure what the big deal is about two seasons. If you line it up with spring/autumn it could work. Just so long as it's not winter/summer the extremes won't be as pronounced.

 

[Dan54]

As I said before ,be a shame, not sure how other home unions will go with Boks in 6N, but if it to be ,it will be. Before anyone jumps up and down the Rugby championship is run by SANZAR, which wouldn't exist without super rugby.

 

[Braveheart81]

Not sure what the big deal is about two seasons. If you line it up with spring/autumn it could work. Just so long as it's not winter/summer the extremes won't be as pronounced.

The French season for example runs from mid August to the end of May/start of June.

Aside from a couple of weeks off over Christmas, it is hard to avoid playing during the Southern Hemisphere Summer.

They also can't really move the season much if at all due to international commitments.

 

[Bardon]

Not sure how much appetite there is for this up here. Apart from Sarries there are no other clubs clamouring to play SA teams on a regular basis. The English teams have previously tried to use the SA teams as a bargaining chip in the row over the future of the HEC. But then there isn't much they haven't tried to get something that won't leave their BT deal worth less than the current Sky TV deal.

There just isn't really that much interest in SH club/franchise rugby up north and from being on here for the last few years I can safely say the reverse is also true. It's almost like players from the opposite hemisphere don't exist between outside of test windows.

As a rugby nut I'd love to see some of the heavy weights of club rugby North and South of the equator going head to head. But not at the expense of the current competitions as I really enjoy both S15 and the HEC.

As for SA joining the 6Ns I wouldn't like to see that. The rugby championship wouldn't be as exciting without them. On top of that the fact that every 6Ns country would play SA every year would cheapen tours. Additionally it would almost certainly mean that SA would be dropped for Lions Tours and possibly replace with Argentina.

However Jake was talking about it being a sign of the future and any of that is probably a good few years off yet.

 

[SevensPhD]

I vote to ditch the Staffers from Super Rugby and add Americas. Buenos Aires, LA, San Fran, Seattle and Vancouver. East coast N America would be tough for travel. It is actually better travel to America from NZ and Eastern Aus than to South Africa, plus the time zones line up better. Its only a 3hour difference from NZ to Pacific time in the USA, albeit a different day. Play Friday nights in America for a Sat afternoon telecast in Aus.

Sure the standard is low (now), but heavily relax the foreign player roster limits for USA and Canada. I am certain some quality international stars would love to live in those cities and play Super Rugby. Huge media markets, but it would take an MLS-type approach to really get pro rugby working there.

 

[Train Without a Station]

I vote to not even consider ridiculous ideas like that.

Currently SARU brings the biggest portion of the SANZAR revenue to the table. That revenue is then evenly spread amongst the SARU, ARU and NZRU.

Considering that the NZRU had to for the first time in history, sell the front of it's jerseys to pay for the ITM Cup I imagine their not in any position to reduce revenue. Considering they are much better off than the ARU, I'd say until a guaranteed pay day comes knocking on the door, we don't go fucking with what's keeping us afloat.

Long term planning is a luxury for organizations whose short term future isn't entirely dependent on the status quo. That does not apply to the ARU.

 

[Dan54]

Geez where you get your info from saying the AIG was to pay for ITM cup?? It was just a sponsorship deal that was too good to turn down. Think it pretty close to what countries are getting from the Sanzar deal anyway.
Although I agree with you about I would prefer the Saffers to stay, not for the coin really, just I think that NZ teams would weaken if they only played Aussie teams, as there is not enough variance in play. I actually believe SA rugby may possibly find the same thing if they got into bed and just played English clubs.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

It's in nobodies interests for the SANZAR collective to break up. The Saffers will threaten to pull out, but that's just a bargaining chip. They can huff and puff all they like, but there really isn't much more in it for them to go to Europe. Australia and New Zealand need to stand united and stay the course.