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Thursday, August 8, 2013

Super 18 in 2016?

Chiefs are reigning Super Rugby champions
Super Rugby is definitely set for expansion after the 2015 Rugby World Cup. The current TV deal ends in 2015 meaning that 2016 was always likely to witness a change.

SANZAR has quickly taken the opportunity and confirmed that the Southern Kings will definitely feature as a permanent fixture in the next expansion; the Kings will miss out on Super Rugby next year after losing their relegation/promotion playoff series this year with the Lions.

Argentina's players will have a chance to take on Aaron Smith more than twice come 2018
SANZAR has also suggested that two teams from Argentina will join Super Rugby - a natural progression from the inclusion of Argentina into the competition once known as the Tri Nations, and likely to ensure that Argentina can field its strongest team in all its tests - currently, top players based in England and France are rested for the June internationals so they can get a proper off season before taking part in the Rugby Championship in August.

It means that as mentioned previously on this blog, Super Rugby will split into two conferences with teams from each conference only meeting in the finals, i.e. Australia/New Zealand and South Africa/Argentina.

So Super Rugby from 2016 could look like this -
ANZAC Conference (10 teams) -
Blues, Chiefs, Hurricanes, Crusaders, Highlanders, Reds, Waratahs, Brumbies, Rebels, Force

SOUTH AFRICA/ARGENTINA Conference (8 teams) -
Kings, Lions, Stormers, Sharks, Bulls, Cheetahs, Argentine team 1 & 2

Watch this space.

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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousAugust 14, 2013 at 5:38 PM

    Maybe a combined Pacific Island team (made up of players not based in Europe/Japan/other Super Rugby teams) and a Northern American team/Japanese team (possibly the champion of the previous years Japanese Top League) to join the South Africa conference to make up for the other two teams in the ANZAC Conference. And re-name that conference to the Eastern Conference, just so it's not so much of a mouth-full.

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  2. UnknownSeptember 4, 2013 at 10:04 AM

    There is also talk of a Japanese team in the ANZAC conference. That is where the money is but the team may not be very competitive.

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  3. AnonymousSeptember 4, 2013 at 10:38 AM

    it would be nice even with couple teams from japan and south pacific island!

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