How Rassie’s rugby answer to T20 cricket fell flat

Rassie Erasmus is renowned as one of rugby’s great innovators, and in his newly released autobiography –  Rassie: Stories of Life and Rugby – he reflects of once trying to launch a new concept for franchise rugby inspired by T20 cricket.

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The idea was to see franchises clash over a two-week tournament in January, with shortened games set to only last 20 minutes per half.

“In just over two hours, fans could watch some of the world’s top players in action,” Erasmus wrote in Rassie. “We saw it as part of pre-season training and commissioned sports scientists to check if it would be too taxing for the players.

“We planned a televised event in London to auction the players and coaches and obtained commitments from big-name sponsors and broadcasters.”

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Rassie’s concept was met with resistance

The organising group had apparently even contacted up to 100 “top international players” to participate in eight privately-owned franchises, but Erasmus suggests plans started to unravel when they tried to head hunt All Blacks stars McCaw and Carter in early 2010.

“While we were talking to players from the Crusaders, including Richie McCaw and Dan Carter, after a Super Rugby match against the Stormers in Cape Town, we were spotted by the Crusaders coaching staff, who thought we were trying to sign their players to join the Stormers,” Erasmus wrote.

“They immediately reported the incident to New Zealand Rugby CEO Steve Tew, and he sent a formal complaint to the then-president of SA Rugby Regan Hoskins.

“Unfortunately, they weren’t in favour of the competition and made it clear they wouldn’t allow their players to take part,” Erasmus added. “But because of the money they would receive, the players remained committed, so we said we would continue with our plans.

“Tew then complained to the International Rugby Board and we subsequently received a letter from the IRB notifying us that any player or coach who took part in the competition would be permanently banned from playing rugby.

“That brought an abrupt end to our idea.”

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