DURBAN – There has been much debate about over the last week about seismic rugby matters such as the agreement to a global season and the future of the Super Rugby competition, and the South African Rugby Union should welcome these matters and act decisively.
On the first count, a global season is a no-brainer. The sooner we can get to a situation where the Northern Hemisphere sends full-strength teams to South Africa and we do the same towards the end of our season, the better.
It is the only way to gauge just where the rugby nations are placed against each other.
The conjecture about Super Rugby and South Africa’s place in the 21-year-old competition is more delicate and requires brave decisions.
There has been talk about culling the Cheetahs and Kings from Super Rugby, as well as an Australian team, and possibly the Sunwolves.
Regarding the Cheetahs, this simply cannot happen. Rugby in the Free State really is the heartbeat of the game in this country, as a number of former Cheetahs coaches have said.
SANZAAR’s South African CEO Andy Marinos will know this, himself having played in Sharks and Western Province teams that had had a number of players produced by schools such as Grey College.
The Kings, in turn, showed against the Sharks last week that they can compete, and this is from a standing start. They have no momentum going into each Super Rugby season because their feeder teams are so poor. We know that the Eastern Cape region is a bastion of black rugby. They cannot be discarded from premier rugby and need to be fostered.
The refrain from New Zealand is that if the Super Rugby system is convoluted and needs to be refined, and South Africa needs to drop at least one team.
To heck with them. Former Saru president Oregan Hoskins had it right when he continually said that South Africa needs to look north to the UK and France and Ireland.
If you look at a map of the world, the UK is a straight line between Johannesburg and London, an 11 hour flight and no significant flight zones to negotiate.
South African stadiums are better filled than those of New Zealand, Argentina and Australia, and Saru get a better share of the TV rights from Sanzaar as a result.
Saru will get an even better fiscal return from participation in a competition with Northern Hemisphere teams. The Pound and the Euro are stronger than the New Zealand and Australian Dollars.
New Zealand and Australia need South African participation in Super Rugby more than we need them, despite the criticism of some former All Blacks such as Andrew Mehrtens regarding the need for our inclusion. Let Super Rugby recline into a competition between New Zealand and Australian teams plus the addition of Pacific Island teams from Samoa and Fiji.
I do not know of too many South African players that would prefer more than 24 hours of travel to Auckland than 11 hours to London.
South Africa moving north would also mean that when the Springboks play Australia and New Zealand in Test matches, the old allure would return rather than the fixtures being routine affairs.
Oregan Hoskins was right. South African should look to the Northern Hempishere rather than have to cull vital teams such as the Kings and Cheetahs.