Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'Those conversations never really sit still': What future holds for Super Rugby

Richie Mo'unga. (Photo by Andrew Cornaga/Photosport)

New Zealand Rugby and Rugby Australia have agreed to a long-term joint venture between the unions which ties the two trans-Tasman neighbours together for the next eight years.

ADVERTISEMENT

On Friday, the two unions announced a new governance model for Super Rugby Pacific, with the establishment of a nine-person board featuring representatives from both sides of the Tasman. The Board will oversee the competition with the purpose of a clear, unbiased focus on governance, and the creation of a consistent look and feel across the competition.

While the CEOs of both RA and NZR affirmed that there would be no changes to the competition structure just yet, Mark Robinson indicated to media that changes could still come in the future.

Video Spacer
Video Spacer

“The position is that it’s a round-robin with the same play-off format that we have now until otherwise mutually agreed by both parties,” he said. We think that it’s a really strong format; however, if in the future there is real appetite from commercial broadcast partners and fans to want to look at that format, then that’ll be something that we can look at.

“But to give stability to the competition, it is the format that’s been agreed until otherwise agreed otherwise. That is locked in because it would be a reasonably significant piece of work and then a lot of strong alignment and agreement to otherwise change that.”

Robinson also addressed the possibility of bringing in further sides from outside Australasia to complement the current 12 teams.

“Expansion teams would have to be something that both JV partners agree to and work obviously for the clubs and the national unions and the players,” he said. “So that’s a wider sort of medium-to-long-term conversation.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Those conversations never really sit still or die. There’s constant conversations with Japan, especially, out of Asia and the Americas as it relates to Super Rugby in the future or professional rugby opportunities to work together so that’s something that although we can’t commit to what it might mean for expansion, they are always conversations that are sitting there.”

While it wasn’t always smooth sailing in the conversations between RA and NZR – with the former, in particular, going public with many of their expectations, Robinson said the desire from both parties ultimately got the core deal over the line and that other issues would be settled upon by the board.

“In a process like this with a lot of negotiation for a long term, which is complex, has lots of different stakeholders and partners involved with it, there’s often a very wide and long list at the start and then it narrows down, as you can imagine, near the end of that,” Robinson said. “And I think towards the end really there was obviously conversations – and they’re are no different to what was in public – around commercial value and creating a fair and equitable split around value.

Related

“And then there are issues where possibly both unions were at different stages around things like format, player transfers, player eligibility, drafts, salary caps, where, in a lot of instances, it’s too soon to get too involved in detail around a lot of those competition mechanisms to slow us down unnecessarily at this time. So some of those things have been parked and they’ll be picked up by the JV board and national union where appropriate in due course.”

ADVERTISEMENT

While NZ and Australia both have strict selection policies for their national sides, it’s been mooted that those laws could be relaxed to allow, for example, any New Zealand playing in Super Rugby to be eligible for the All Blacks, even if they represent an Australian club. As noted by Robinson, however, such changes can be addressed as a later date, now that an agreement has been reached.

Super Rugby Pacific will kick off on February 24 next year.

ADVERTISEMENT

Boks Office | Episode 37 | Six Nations Round 4 Review

Cape Town | Leg 2 | Day 2 | HSBC Challenger Series 2025 | Full Day Replay

Gloucester-Hartpury vs Bristol Bears | PWR 2024/25 | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 36 | Six Nations Round 3 Review

Why did Scotland's Finn Russell take the crucial kick from the wrong place? | Whistle Watch

England A vs Ireland A | Full Match Replay

Kubota Spears vs Shizuoka BlueRevs | JRLO 2024/2025 | Full Match Replay

Watch now: Lomu - The Lost Tapes

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 1 hour ago
'France may leave top players at home but will still be serious contenders in New Zealand'

You can translate here https://translate.google.com/?sl=auto&tl=en&op=websites


Thanks for the link, but I can read it clearly and it says the… Top 14 features almost twice as many matches as Super Rugby Pacific, but is two and a half times longer.


This article appears to be the basis of; https://www.rugbypass.com/plus/the-stats-show-the-club-v-country-wounds-may-never-heal/ which is the one that I referred to which refutes your perception.


Were they both say..

If we take the dominant clubs in each major championship, we see that Stade Toulousain, author of the Top 14 – Champions Cup double, only has seven players above 1000 minutes, far from the average previously cited.


Furthermore, none of these players are full-time starters for the French national team: Toulouse are ahead of the competition at this level, and are far more effective than their domestic rivals in protecting their premium players.

The premium players being treated best is clearly apparent. Is you’re player management as good as New Zealands, of course not. NZ players will obviously be more fresh, but if we take the total of each at the end of their seasons, theres not going to be much difference as I’ve said, LNR are already treating their players much better.


I’m sorry, but as I alluded to, you are a fan rather than a researcher, your picture that you think has been painted is wrong. Your linked article says everything I did above.


So while that article paints the French in a well rested light, however it’s not actually including EPCR, which in respect to Toulouse, is where they’ve put their stars minutes into. So I think it’s time to do your own research! Pick and player and lets see, one of each camp? An important player you think has played a lot, and an example of a fresh young lad. Then were can look to their minutes as see how close or far they are to examples of players who are going to play in July.


Trust me, I have already done this research (but wouldn’t mind look at examples from this year to see if it’s still the case/same as previous years).

40 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Peato Mauvaka cops ban for headbutt on Scotland star Peato Mauvaka cops ban for headbutt on Scotland star
Search