Super XV, is it all worth it?

Currently South African rugby is devaluing its domestic competition the Currie Cup to such an extent that it is merely an afterthought in the greater scheme of things.

I have never in the past and never will be in favour of reducing the Currie Cup to a second rate competition, but due to the importance the Super XV has on the Southern Hemisphere calendar and now with the inclusion of Argentina in the Rugby Championship, there is less space in the Calendar for the Currie Cup.

In fact the Calendar is so packed with tournaments these days that even the Super XV has to be put on hold to accommodate the June test window. Considering the fact that on average 14 tests per year is packed into as many weeks due to the lack of available time to prepare and the super XV taking an almighty 24 weeks, then pre-season takes up another 8 weeks, it is no surprise that the domestic competition has to stand at the back of the queue when it comes to time allocated.

The simple fact is that the super XV has become a bit of an embarrassment truth be told. The conference system even though in its infancy is inferior to any other previous format of the Super Rugby competition. The ever expanding nature of the Super rugby competition into more teams has a number of negatives that when looking a little deeper become quite glaringly obvious.

None of the countries can truthfully say that they can sustain five Super squads; the nature of the beast is when you expand the number of teams you dilute the quality. The fact that teams no longer play every other team in the competition is an absolute farce. Last year the Crusaders did not get to play two of the weakest teams in the competition, whilst the Reds did not only play the two weakest teams, but also played in the weakest conference, which resulted in them getting the home final.

Now this is not to pick on the Reds, they played great rugby throughout the tournament and deserved their win. But yet every other year another team will be favoured in that manner. What should coaches do, prepare and build their squad to compete every other year when they have more favourable draws?

The unfortunate fact is that professional rugby needs money and due to the ever increasing threat from the Northern Hemisphere clubs with their bags full of money, the challenge becomes even greater.

From a South African perspective, they bring in the largest television audiences in the competition and hence the biggest share of the revenue and yet they share this income equally amongst all three participating nations.

Reports have shown that the biggest source of revenue is in fact with the tests played during the year, so if that is the case are they not being penny wise and pound foolish by continuing to expand the “lower income” part of their endeavours?

Speaking from a South African perspective it is vital that SARU realise there are now more negatives than positives being involved in the Super Rugby competition the way it is structured. One of two things must happen at the end of the current agreement.

Either South Africa needs to withdraw completely from the Super Rugby tournament and make do with the income they would already gain from their big television audience and focus on their domestic Currie Cup competition.

Or they must insist that the current Conference system isn’t working. As we all know SARU already dropped the ball by promising the Southern Kings inclusion in the 2013 Super Rugby competition which we also know is impossible as fixtures, contracts and television rights are fixed with the current model until 2015. So it seems unlikely that SARU would even consider a reduction of the Super Rugby tournament.

We do not re-warm an already cooked egg; it loses all its nutritional value and appeal. Why would we be satisfied with a stop start Super Rugby Tournament?

We do not dilute fruit juice; it becomes watery and flavourless, so why dilute the quality of the Super XV?

We do not build buildings without the proper foundations, so why should we lose the importance of our foundation, the Currie Cup?

Bigger is not always better and when you fall into the trap of greed it is as difficult to get out of as for an addict to stay clean.

Just a bug bear of mine, don't know if you guys want to put it on the v2journal site.

It is current and relevant.

If so, please can my editors step forward and critique.

thanks

biltongbek wrote:Just a bug bear of mine, don't know if you guys want to put it on the v2journal site.

It is current and relevant.

If so, please can my editors step forward and critique.

thanks

Looks good Biltong. I've made a handful of punctuation tweaks, and fixed a typo ("an already cooked" not "and already").