Rugby: Test window adds to Super 15 chaos

The Sanzar debate about Super Rugby expansion is now focusing on how to negotiate the June test window and keep momentum in the competition.

With the June window locked in, it won't be possible to finish the conferenced Super 15 concept before the tests - regardless of whether the competition kicks off in early February or early March.

The South Africans want to start in early February, have the round-robin and inter-conference games out of the way before the tests and move straight into the finals series after the internationals.

New Zealand and Australia would rather start in early March and don't want to come out of the tests straight into a finals series. They want at least two more round-robin games after the tests to help teams rebuild their momentum and rhythm.

They are also working on a model that will see limited games take place during the test window to reduce the number of rounds that will need to be played after the tests.

Plans are in place that will see one Super Rugby game played in each country of each weekend of the test window. No one wants to see a full programme in the test window as the best players will not be available.

The plan is to not play local derbies in this window but to try to schedule cross-border games.

But, with the playoffs expanding to six teams, the New Zealand and Australian model, even playing through the June window, would not see the competition finish until early August.

That's a major problem for the South Africans who have sold broadcast rights to the Currie Cup and want to keep in its current window - it kicks off early to mid-July and finishes at the end of October.

Essentially, then, the debate about the start date is not necessarily the sticking point - the key to a deal being struck is finding a unanimously agreed end date. The rigidity of the test window means that it doesn't follow that if you start earlier you will end earlier.

South Africa have to question how much overlap they can tolerate between Super 15 and Currie Cup and/or whether they can push back the start date of their domestic competition.

The South Africans are not wed to an early start - they could potentially agree to an expanded format starting in early March as long as it doesn't significantly interfere with the Currie Cup.

New Zealand and Australia have to determine whether they are willing to accept a Super 15 structure that moves straight to the playoffs after the June tests. That format would remove the need to play games during the test window and it would see the finals end by mid-July to cause minimum disruption to the Currie Cup.

But it would have to come with an early February start - which has commercial and player welfare ramifications - and it runs the risk of seeing teams coming into the crucial phase of the campaign on the back of a three-week lay-off.

Everyone is hoping a compromise can be reached as details of the proposed competition have to be submitted to broadcast partners by June 30.