Just this week Argentina had to release one of its best young stars
The second season of Super 18 began on Thursday with a game nobody watched, the Rebels against the Blues in Melbourne. It was the first of nine fixtures in the opening week and, far from being an anomaly, it set the tone for a string of lacklustre matches. Only two, the Highlanders against the Hurricanes in Dunedin and the Stormers against the Bulls in Cape Town, could be truly described as “Super”.
It’s almost as if they want it to fail. Sanzaar (South Africa New Zealand Australia Argentina Rugby), that is. The governing body decided to start the season with a whimper instead of a bang, and the men in suits are so concerned about the future of the competition that they have scheduled a meeting for March 9, just ahead of the third round.
Sanzaar’s problem is that it has made promises it cannot keep based on a broadcasting contract that runs until 2020. The March meeting will consider the findings of the consultants, Accenture, but such has been the dithering in Sanzaar over the past few years that it is quite possible it will vote to ignore them.
That dithering is reciprocated in the South African Rugby Union (Saru). With Super Rugby underway and the season a month old already thanks to the Varsity Cup, there is still no decision about the Springbok coaching team.
Speculation is rife that Mzwandile Stick will be moved to the South African under-20 setup, and that head coach Allister Coetzee may have weathered the storm and is likely to continue. But no one knows for certain, hence the ironic alignment between Saru and Sanzaar. The fact is that both are suffering from the same thing: the spending power of the northern hemisphere.
There was a time, not so long ago, when southern hemisphere players going abroad were pitied. Shame — not good enough to play Super Rugby and keen to earn a few easy euros in less competitive conditions. No longer. Northern hemisphere rugby has pulled itself up by the bootstraps — due in no small part to those southern mercenaries — and record crowds are watching rugby that in no way suffers by comparison with its cousins on the other side of the equator. Under Eddie Jones, the England team is unbeaten in 16 Tests. Recently, 12 000 people turned up just to watch them train.
The idea that players went north for a few seasons of pension money is ancient news. This week, the Argentine Rugby Union (UAR) released Facundo Isa from his contract with the Jaguares.
Isa is just 23 and the best player in Argentina, but he has signed a two-year deal to play for Toulon. The UAR’s rules mean that Isa’s French sojourn makes him ineligible to play Test rugby for the Pumas, and therefore he is persona non grata.
Interestingly enough, Isa will be competing for a place in Toulon’s starting lineup with Duane Vermeulen. At the age of 30, time is not on the side of the Springbok eighth man. Perhaps he will be seen again in a Springbok jersey after all.
What this all points to is a dramatic realignment of the global game. World Rugby have been working on a global season ever since Bill Beaumont took office late last year. Beaumont, a former England and British Lions captain, is an old-fashioned gentleman who took time out from his busy schedule to attend the memorial service for Joost van der Westhuizen in Pretoria.
By 2020, when Sanzaar’s latest broadcast contract expires, Beaumont and his team at WR should have everything in place for the complete restructuring of the game. It is quite possible that Super Rugby will have no part in it. That is not to say that the southern hemisphere will be competing for crumbs from the top table, but it will require the kind of thought and putting aside of egos that has been conspicuous by its absence for many years.
Many models could be considered, all of which are currently beyond the pale because Super Rugby is in the way. In Australasia there is a narrative that claims that everything wrong in the competition began when Saru caved in to political pressure to admit the Kings.
The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) is under pressure to rationalise its structures. The union’s need to prop up the Rebels and the Force financially is taking money away from club rugby.
The ARU doesn’t want to close either franchise because it wants to have the game represented across the whole of Australia. The solution suggested is to set up a trans-Tasman competition, perhaps involving the Pacific Islands, and cut South Africa loose.
Such a radical move would need a change in mindset from Australia’s neighbours. Until now, the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) has sided with South Africa because of the level of competition. But a dreadful year in 2016 for the Springboks, together with a decline in standards among most of the Super Rugby franchises, may prompt a rethink.
If the NZRU truly believes that South African rugby is on the road to nowhere, it will not hesitate to jump ship. That would leave two choices for Saru: to close the laager and uplift the domestic game or to look to the northern hemisphere for help.
Right now, it is not in a strong debating position for the latter option, which means a few Super Rugby franchises need to play above themselves this year. Traditionally, South African teams play well with their backs to the wall. The next few months should be enlightening.