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Former All Blacks captain Kieran Read isn't the biggest fan of the new Super Rugby Pacific playoffs structure and believes the Australian teams must improve to for the tournament not to suffer in quality.
The newly announced Super Rugby Pacific will kick off next February with Pacific sides Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika joining the Kiwis and Aussies to make a 12-team tournament.
The competition will feature 14 regular season games for each team, with an eight-team playoff to decide the champion.
Read, who has 13 seasons of Super Rugby under his belt and 156 games for the Crusaders, said he thinks the new format will be well received by the players, but says they'll likely miss travelling to South Africa.
"I think this will be motivating for the guys, having something different," Read told Sky Sport's Breakdown. "Going up against each other the last couple of years hasn't been the same. It's the sameness isn't it doing it every week and it can get a little bit challenging. I think the guys will enjoy this format.
"For me growing up and a lot of the young guys coming in, it's the whole chance to travel. You make your Super Rugby team and there was a trip to South Africa throughout the season that you're always willing to go on.
"Having those little moments of being away as a travelling group and getting tighter as a team is always fun to have. I know guys miss that now that it's probably drifted away from that a little bit."
Kieran Read says Australian teams need to step up in next year's Super Rugby Pacific. Photo / Photosport
However, he has some doubts about the eight-team playoffs structure.
"Personally I look at it and maybe they have a certain amount of weeks to fill and that they're just filling at the moment, which I think isn't the right way to do it. It's [about] making those games meaningful, which is the most important thing.
"I knew travelling to South Africa, it didn't matter who you were playing even though it was against a team near the bottom of the ladder, playing in South Africa was a challenge. You always had to be on your game and it was something that was great for a young player to go through. Little things like that, whether that will happen again I'm not sure.
"But I think we've certainly got to explore those opportunities to play meaningful games and not just playing games for the sake of it. And then hopefully having that opportunity to put those best teams together. I think if the Japanese can keep moving forward like they've shown over the last couple years, the Pacific Island nations I think are going to grow, so that's exciting."
Read also expressed concern over the competitiveness of the tournament next year, saying the Australian teams will have to step up or risk more meaningless games.
"I think if you look across the board in the competition next year, you're probably going to look at a 90 per cent, 80 per cent win record for New Zealand teams. And that's not great for the competition, it's not going to be great for the guys playing the games. So we do need Australia to step up and hopefully improve their performances."
Another thing that could further weaken Australian franchises is the new Wallabies policy allowing more freedom to pick players based outside of the country.
Read believes New Zealand should stick with its tried and tested eligilibility policy and hoped the Australian teams won't go the same way as the South Africans, who scrapped their ban on overseas-based players in 2018.
"Yeah I think we should," he said about keeping the current policy of only picking All Blacks who play in New Zealand. "I think that's definitely still [the way] right now and the way we're living. All Blacks should be playing in New Zealand and trying to make our teams as strong as they can be, as shown in the South African Super Rugby sides just not what they were a few years ago.
"Hopefully the Australians aren't going to go the same way. You'll need them to be strong. I feel it's important to be playing in New Zealand if you wanted to be an All Black. There's enough monetary value here for those guys to be rewarded. And then if you need to want to make your hay while the sun shines at the back end of your career then go for it."
As for the All Blacks, Read says he believes the team has improved significantly since last year.
"I think this All Black team this year is chalk and cheese to last year. You can kind of see how motivated they are this year in wanting to do well and that's shown in their performances.
"I can't wait for them to get into the South Africans. I think that's going to be an exciting couple of games. Obviously would've like them to be here in front of our home crowd but I'm sure they're going to be well-anticipated as they should be."
Read said he back the All Blacks to beat the Springboks in Australia: "I do actually. In a bit of the heat in Aussie and dry ball, I think we should go pretty good."
