Opinion: Super Rugby should take on a ‘Champions League’ format

New Zealand, Australia and South Africa’s rugby boards have all recognised the need for some sort of change to renew Super Rugby and after years of expansion, its seems most agree the future of the tournament will see the number of teams competing reduced.

Was the Super Ten a better format?

The future of the tournament may very well be informed by the past, with the old Super Ten model being touted as a superior format.

That tournament existed in the space between the return of South Africa on the international scene and the full and official professionalisation of the game.

 A look back at the standard of rugby on show may not give anybody goosebumps. Still, there is an element of this tournament that Super Rugby organisers should consider bringing back. Entrance into the Super Ten and the early days of the Super 12 was earned through performance in domestic tournaments, except in Australia where club rugby held a higher profile than the state game. The competition also included national teams from the Pacific.

This idea could hold the key to a future tournament that generates more interest than the current system.

Super Rugby has lost its prestige despite the Southern Hemisphere’s domination of the international game and much of that can be put down to a lack of prestige.

As things stand, pandemic shutdowns aside, there are simply too many also-rans in Super Rugby.

Franchises can go through years-long slumps without there being any sort of consequences for persistent failure barring dwindling crowds.

Champions League rugby

Super Rugby might consider transforming into a tournament that follows the football’s Champions League concept, which sees teams earn their place in the following season’s competition.

This would immediately provide an incentive for teams to perform well in domestic rugby and also provide peril for those who don’t. That two-way pressure should help to improve interest in domestic competitions.

South Africa has the oldest provincial rugby competition in the world, complete with an iconic trophy and a storied history that is currently a total throwaway product that has little to no bearing on the Springboks. 

Switching to a ‘Champions League’ system would mean that SA Rugby and their counterparts in New Zealand would need to scrap their franchise system or transplant those teams into larger domestic competitions.

Super Rugby under threat

This move would give Super Rugby a revolving cast of players and teams and for South Africa could bring elite regional rugby to places like Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape. 

This tournament might even be expanded to include the cream of European and Japanese Rugby.

Such a system would give pride of place to each participating country’s domestic rugby competition which would determine participation in the lucrative regional or global tournament. 

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