Dylan Cleaver: Sub-par franchises making 'Super' 15 anything but

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"The beauty of the NRL," mused a colleague with a fondness for the No 13 recently, "is that you don't get games like this where you know only one team can win."

The game in question was the Waratahs v Cheetahs in Sydney, a match that had ritual humiliation written all over it.

Eighty long minutes later and we have humiliation, but it is the home team being booed from the field by their own crowd after becoming the first team to lose a home game to the Cheetahs.

With the gummy Lions recently breaking a 17-match losing streak and the Stormers and Highlanders both knocking down the walls of Fortress Loftus Versfeld, it is fair to ask whether Super rugby is maturing into the sort of tournament everyone hoped for, where prohibitive favouritism is rare and underdogs bite.

The reality is that home-and-away derbies might give the Super 15 a keener edge than its predecessors, Supers 12 and 14, but it is still a long way from the parity that the NRL provides.

The cream might take a little longer to rise to the top this year, but you can almost guarantee that it will. Sixteen Super rugby campaigns have thrown up just four winning franchises - from years 1999 to 2005 the NRL threw up seven different champions.

But it's not the lack of suspense at the top of the table that hurts the Super 15. The Crusaders and Bulls, and back in the day the Blues and Brumbies, have each brought a level of brilliance and professionalism to the competition that is easy to admire.

The Sharks, Waratahs, Hurricanes, Chiefs and Stormers too have all had chances to add their name to the trophy, but have fallen short at the final hurdle.

No, it's the teams consistently at the wrong end of the table that are the worry.

Parity is not defined by the odd boilover here and there.

The Cheetahs have won just 18 games in the five and a bit seasons since the tournament expanded to 14 teams. The Lions have won 14 in that same period, the Highlanders 24.

The Reds have won 23 times and the Force 24. That's a win ratio of around one every three games, worse for the Lions and Cheetahs.

Throw in the Rebels and you have a competition with a genuine "underclass".

So let's hope that the Reds' bounce-back year in 2010 and their nice start this year are not a mirage. Let's hope the green shoots of Highlanders recovery under Jamie Joseph take root.

Hope too, that the Rebels yell under the astute helmsmanship of Rod Macqueen and the odd couple of John Mitchell and Carlos Spencer work wonders at the Lions. Look forward to the Cheetahs turning in more displays like that in Sydney.

Because for the Super 15 to be recognised as a genuinely excellent tournament, it doesn't so much need more great teams, but it definitely needs fewer rubbish ones.