Rugby: Melbourne-based Kiwi-Aussie venture 'would draw crowds'

ARU chief executive John O'Neill. Photo / Getty Images

BRISBANE- A Melbourne-based joint venture involving New Zealand and Australian players in an expanded Super rugby competition is being mooted by Australian Rugby Union chief executive John O'Neill.

As the three Sanzar partners prepare to meet in Dublin on May 14 to try to thrash out an agreement for a post-2010 competition, O'Neill said Melbourne was a leading contender for an expansion team.

"Just thinking outside the square, if you're getting to market saturation point in New Zealand then that's something we should look at," O'Neill told the Australian newspaper.

"When a New Zealand team plays an Australian team in Super 14, the ratings are fabulous but when two NZ teams play each other the ratings here also are very strong and that's because there are about a million New Zealanders living in Australia.

"When the All Blacks were based in Melbourne during the 2003 World Cup, they received tremendous support, as have Crusaders' pre-season matches against the Western Force."

Plans for the Super 14 in 2011 remain in limbo after fraught negotiations between the Sanzar partners, leaving Australia and New Zealand making contingency plans for a breakaway 10-team transtasman competition. If a Super 15 is approved, South Africa want a sixth franchise, the Southern Kings, as the extra team.

O'Neill said while Melbourne was the favourite if an Australian team were added, there was a formal expression of interest from the Gold Coast Rugby Union.

Prominent Gold Coast businessman Terry Jackman said preliminary steps had been taken to set up a consortium to challenge Melbourne for the licence. He said a new team would be a composite side made up of players from Japan, the Pacific Islands and Australia.

Queensland Rugby Union chairman Peter Lewis, meanwhile, questioned whether it was wise for Australia to pursue a fifth franchise.

"If you look at where the Australian teams are on the Super 14 ladder, you'll realise Australia will be lucky to get even one team into the play-offs," Lewis told the Australian. "So it's a question that needs to be asked: do we have the playing resources to man a fifth Australian team."

The Sanzar board meeting on May 14 needs to come up with a competition proposal for a new broadcasting deal to News Ltd and SuperSport by June 30. South Africa hasn't budged on its wish to start the competition in February. New Zealand and Australia want it to start in March and make it an extended conference-based competition, with the June inbound tests fitted in the middle.

South African Rugby Union acting managing director Andy Marinos has suggested arbitration or mediation might be needed to reach a solution.

- NZPA