|
Opinionated Rugby Commentary - by Fans for Fans
Spill what you really think about events in the rugby world.
Super Rugby Expansion Set For 2016 - Thoughts? 4 views
01 May 2014 by The Swede Eaters
|
| |
|
Super Rugby is set to expand to 18 teams in 2016, although the 18th team hasn't been decided on yet and there will also be four conferences.
Super Rugby is set to become Super 18 in 2016 featuring four conferences according to SANZAR. What do you think of this?
This latest proposal sounds really complicated, but in a nutshell South Africa would get a sixth team with the Southern Kings returning to Super Rugby, while Argentina and one other new team will also play only against the South African sides. This works as far as travel and timezones go as the New Zealand and Australian conferences would continue to only have five teams.
The Australian and New Zealand teams would only play six local derbies and would play against one of the South African based conferences and the Australian conference teams each year. This all sounds too complicated!
South Africa would be split into two conferences of four teams to include an Argentinian team in one conference and another overseas team in the other.
Who will this other overseas team be? There isn't enough money for it to be a Pacific Island team and so it is likely to come from either North America or Asia, although given that South Africa is in a great timezone for European teams, there is also an outside chance that it could be one of the European teams which misses out on the Six Nations like Spain or Georgia. There is also some support for having a second team from Argentina.
Who do you think should play in Super Rugby 2016? What do you think of the proposed new format? What format would you like to see for Super Rugby?
http://www.superrugbytips.com/2014/04/super-rugby-2016-set-for-four.html
I think it sounds too complicated. While Super Rugby needs to expand, I think it also needs to be simple and easy to follow for fans. I like the conferences idea with some local derbies, but I also like it when teams get to play every other team in the competition, otherwise the draw can be unfair.
It is all about the money these days unfortunately as I thought Super 12 was great where every team played each other. That is a true competition.
Although of course it is important to keep the product fresh and to grow the game, so it is difficult coming up with a good compromise.
|
|
|
➜ Previous Story
Next Story ➜
|
|
Tags:
Super Rugby, Rugby Championship,
|
|
|
|
|
|