Sydney - Southern hemisphere rugby's ruling body SANZAAR is standing by a new playoffs system that has been criticised for not reflecting the strength of New Zealand sides and says it is unfair to judge it after one season of the expanded Super Rugby competition.
Under the new system, each of the four conference winners - one each in New Zealand and Australia and two from South Africa - are given home advantage throughout the playoffs.
Fans and media in New Zealand, however, have said the system is unfair as all four of the country's sides who qualified for the playoffs have more points than all the other teams apart from the table-topping Lions.
SANZAAR Chief Executive Andy Marinos defended the system on Thursday, saying the format had been agreed upon by all the relevant national bodies.
“SANZAAR stands by the existing qualification process. A tournaments qualification criteria cannot be determined on one year's results in isolation,” Marinos said in a statement.
“Unfortunately there has been conjecture that the hosting criteria for the quarter-finals is unfair, largely based on the exceptional form of the New Zealand teams.”
Ahead of the final weekend of the regular season, the top five spots in terms of total points are held by the Lions (52), Waikato Chiefs (51), Canterbury Crusaders (50), Otago Highlanders and Wellington Hurricanes (both 48).
Under the new system, however, the Crusaders are ranked fifth, Highlanders sixth and Hurricanes seventh, while South Africa's Stormers are third (46) and Australia's ACT Brumbies fourth (39) based on being the top teams in the conference.
There has also been some complaints about playing schedules.
The Lions have not travelled outside South Africa for their last 11 matches, while five of their 15 games are against the three expansion sides, with their last match on Saturday in Buenos Aires against the Jaguares.
The Stormers, meanwhile, have not played any of the New Zealand sides this season.
The competition was expanded to 18 teams this year with the return of the Kings in South Africa and new entries from Japan (Sunwolves) and Argentina (Jaguares).
New Zealand Rugby Chief Executive Steve Tew said at the weekend the playoff system was “just not fair” but the SANZAAR partners had agreed on it because it provided a substantial jump in television revenue.
“On balance talking to the Australian, South African and Argentine partners and the broadcasters... there was a price on the value on having the first round of the playoffs in all of the television markets,” Tew told Newstalk ZB.
“Does it feel right from a rugby point of view? No, not particularly.” – Reuters