Heed our super moans or we're off, say Saru

South Africa have effectively delivered an ultimatum to their Sanzar partners - address our Super 14 and Tri-Nations grievances or, as a last resort, they will consider new competitions involving the Northern Hemisphere.

South African Rugby Union president Regan Hoskins says South Africa's position on the Super 14, in particular, is becoming increasingly untenable. At the same time, he says he is genuinely optimistic his country's complaints will be sympathetically received by New Zealand and Australia.

"Our loyalties are with Sanzar, I must make that very clear," he says. "We have a very close historical affinity and allegiance to our Southern Hemisphere allies, but we must also be cogniscant of the fact that the Super 14 is impacting negatively on South African rugby and it would be remiss of Saru if we allowed the status quo to persist.

"For 11 years, we have had an uneven playing field in Super rugby and if we [Saru] do not act now, long before possible renewal comes up in 2010, we would be failing our game."

South Africa are fed up with more than a decade of four or five weeks of overseas Super tours, which is double the time spent by Australasian teams in South Africa. This old chestnut has been around since the inception of the tournament.

Also a hangover from that time is Hoskins' other major complaint, the alleged short shrift South African teams get from referees. This was infamously encapsulated some years ago in the "Get the Jaapies" email that was accidentally copied to Saru when Kiwi and Australian referees were making their feelings on South African teams clear to each other.

"The odds are stacked against South Africa in Super rugby and I am certain that if the situation were reversed, New Zealand and Australian administrators would not have tolerated the situation for one season, never mind a decade," says Hoskins, who is mild-mannered. His meekness is not weakness and there is no mistaking his resolve to redress the Sanzar issues.

Saru have formally tabled their complaints and Hoskins will this week meet Sanzar chairman Peter McGrath, who will stop off on his way to the UK for the Wallaby tour.

So far as the Tri-Nations is concerned, Hoskins will campaign vigorously for an expansion into a five-nations competition including Argentina and the Pacific Islands.

"My personal view is that greed has triumphed over the game of rugby. Sanzar must look in a mirror and ask whether they have done rugby a service by their policy of being exclusive rather than inclusive. The hoarding of pennies while other rugby countries starve is unacceptable," says Hoskins.

He is passionate about the plight of the Pumas and says that their ostracism from international competitions is disgusting. Argentina and South Africa have very close historical ties in rugby.

While Hoskins says he has a very soft spot for the Island teams, there is the silent inference that this particular shame belongs to New Zealand.

Argentina is the only tier-one country that does not play in an annual competition. This is not right, says Hoskins, who is in his second year of the Saru presidency following the democratic ousting of controversial Brian van Rooyen.

Hoskins says his stance on Argentina should not be viewed as altruistic because the Pumas have consistently proved their competitiveness against the world's best.

And they will get even better if they play in a top-flight competition.

South Africa fostered the game in Argentina in the 1960s and Hoskins, a man revered at home for his refreshing honesty and integrity, says South Africa have a parental obligation to look after Argentina.

He believes Sanzar have to begin looking immediately at ways of adding an Argentinian and Pacific Island flavour to the competitions. This would remove staleness while performing a duty to the game and not just to bank balances; and to remove bias from the format of the Super 14. Or else?

"Let me reiterate," says Hoskins, "we have a very special relationship with Australia and New Zealand and we will not break it on a whim. Our commitment is to our Southern Hemisphere partners and we have no plans to forge new alliances with the Northern Hemisphere.

"However, we have our grievances, which have been laid before our partners. "The ball is in their court."

* Mike Greenaway is chief rugby writer for Natal Mercury