Far be it from me to be writing this from Sydney where the
third and fourth teams in the competition are about to square off, but the Rugby Championship as a competition is a little lost... both in its current form and its future, now rather unclear form.
New Zealand and South African rugby bosses are right by deciding to effectively abandon the Rugby Championship in certain years and play their own tours as a replacement. The competition has become increasingly just a shell to play tests between the four sides rather than a meaningful competition in itself.
An explanation...
While there may be some New Zealand-tinted glasses to this, at no point during that two-match tour to South Africa was there a big-picture look at what it means for the Rugby Championship points table (other than the Springboks being poised to win it after their two victories), it was all about beating the Boks or not and vice-versa.
The Freedom Cup was a bigger talking point than the overarching Rugby Championship story. And therein lies the problem: the individual rivalries are the story, not the tournament itself. Sure, it makes more sense to have them under the umbrella of a tournament than individual two-test series between the nations but the Rugby Championship itself is hamstrung by several issues.
A suggestion...
The issue has become more prevalent post-Covid – the switch to two-match mini tours has made the tests feel like more of a series and the Rugby Championship as a brand to encompass it all that just happens to have a points table.
It doesn’t have the jeopardy of a Six Nations – because there aren’t enough teams in the competition with Japan and Fiji on the outside looking in – and not enough games per weekend. These are all fixable issues, but the fact New Zealand and South Africa are poised to officially confirm their tour concept in the next month or so suggests they realise there’s an issue too.
A question...
Why hasn’t such bold thinking extended to Super Rugby Pacific? That competition seems to make an artform out of picking the hardest way to do things.
A six-team playoff format next year makes sense. But not in the form they’re doing it, by giving a lucky loser a second life in the second week. A second life for a team qualifying near the top makes sense in a four-week playoff format, but not a three-week one.
The simplest solution of course would be to give the top two seeds the opening week off – but as new CEO Jack Mesley explained, it’s about content. Seemingly that means quantity, not quality. Three games with some jeopardy, versus two sudden-death games.
A prediction...
This won’t be the last tweak to Super Rugby in the coming years. Fan-centric is the buzz word from sports organisations but this seems TV-centric.
There have been any number of issues with Super Rugby in recent years and while the Melbourne Rebels departing can’t be helped and is probably a net positive for the competition, it has again decided to try to be everything to everyone by wheeling out the top two seeds for a playoff game in week one and giving those sides another home game to try to get some money through the door, rather than be an elite sporting product.
– Wallabies v All Blacks 5.45pm Saturday. Listen live on Newstalk ZB, Gold Sport and iHeartRadio. Follow the action live at nzherald.co.nz
