URC Anayi

United Rugby Championship CEO Martin Anayi. Photo: Shaun Roy/BackpagePix

URC boss touches on major travel changes to benefit SA teams

URC CEO Martin Anayi has confirmed they are looking to address the travel struggles that have faced SA teams.

URC Anayi

United Rugby Championship CEO Martin Anayi. Photo: Shaun Roy/BackpagePix

When it comes to the travel concerns that have dogged South African teams this URC season and have made long journeys a norm, there is good news in the works for SA sides, with plans underway to address this.

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According to CEO Martin Anayi, these plans actually include making the tours longer to ensure less frequent flights. He did concede that since the plans for South Africa’s inclusion were drawn up, the price of an average ticket had gone up 35 percent.

“That inflation has been quite difficult,” he explained about the behind-the-scenes logistics.

The cost of the European teams travelling to SA is covered ‘centrally’ by the URC, while the South African Rugby Union covers the cost of the SA teams’ travel.

“There is a hell-of-a-lot more we need to do,” he admitted, adding that there was a move to find better “routes and scheduling” to cut down on travel time.

Anayi expected SA Rugby to sign off on slightly longer tours to combat this.

“It will result in only two tours, rather than three or four tours,” he said. “To reduce flights, would be to add another match to the tour. When it’s a four-match tour, teams can settle into a location and get integrated into their hotel.”

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Charter flights were also an option, but Anayi said the URC are “trying to make it more direct and at convenient times, while expanding the number of business class seats available.

“There is a very low number of business class seats available on those routes and there is an over-subscription.”

The URC boss also said the likely start date of the next season would be on the weekend of 20-22 October, the same weekend of the Rugby World Cup semi-finals.

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The Stormers will be hosting a second successive URC final

Anayi also added that the current format of the highest-ranked side hosting the URC final would continue, and the traditional “destination final” – which has been used in European competitions – would no longer apply.

As a result of this arrangement, the Stormers will host the 2023 Grand Final against Munster, who knocked the top-ranked Leinster out in a dramatic semi-final last Saturday.

“We moved away from the ‘Destination Final’ when the South African teams came in, largely because obviously you could have two South African teams in a European ‘Destination Final’ and that might be tricky,” explained Anayi.

“In year one, we obviously had with Stormers versus Bulls. So we’ve moved away to a highest ranked team route. This year there is an extra gap of a week between the Champions Cup final in Dublin.”

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URC Stormers fans celebrate their team's win in URC Photo Supplied

Stormers fans inside the Cape Town Stadium. Photo: Supplied/Twitter.