KEY POINTS:
A tour that would have helped answer the question of whether the Heineken Cup or Super 14 is the superior competition has been cancelled - and Sanzar is to blame.
The defending Super 14 champion Crusaders had scheduled a two-match tour to Europe this summer to take on Northampton Saints and Ospreys, from Wales.
With the two UK clubs picking up all expenses, the tour would have covered two bases: a competitive pre-season hit-out under the new stewardship of Todd Blackadder that would have the squad finely tuned for their opening Super 14; and the mouthwatering prospect of pitting teams from two contrasting competitions and hemispheres against each other.
Plans went awry when Sanzar decided to add two teams and an extra week to the playoffs. That meant the season would start a week earlier, making touring in the new year infeasible.
"We had to shelve those plans when it appeared the Super 14 draw was going to be brought forward a week," Crusaders chief executive Hamish Riach said.
The Crusaders cancelled the tour, instead pencilling in less commercially attractive against John Mitchell's Western Force in Perth and the Highlanders in Timaru.
The Crusaders were understandably mortified to learn Sanzar's inability to reach consensus meant the 2009 Super 14 season reverted to normal.
"These were major issues with major implications in the different markets and we could not reach a consensus on either issue," said Andy Marinos, Sanzar's managing director, at the time.
Riach admitted he felt let down by the process.
"Yes, it is frustrating," he said. "We understand the reasons in respect that the national unions need to work through the issues around the Sanzar table... but we have certainly been affected by the slowness to confirm the final draw and in this instance it has certainly cost us."
Eleventh-hour attempts to revive the tour failed. "It proved impossible so we'll persist with our Plan B," Riach said. "In terms of looking forward we're still excited by the opportunities that are potentially around [in the Northern Hemisphere] and will look at those in the future."
The Crusaders will post a loss for the financial year. The hefty wodge of sterling they would have received for the tour would have helped redress that, so the Sanzar flip-flop has damaged their build-up and their balance sheet.
"It has cost us money," Riach said, refusing to put a dollar-figure on it. "Suffice to say there was potential to make some money as well as having the team prepared in a different and potentially exciting way."
Aside from the dollars and good sense, perhaps the most disappointing aspect is the chance lost to see two rugby worlds collide in a competitive environment, a precursor to a world club challenge.
