Australian franchises mull over Super Rugby expansion

Plans for an expanded Super Rugby competition have been rolled out while

Australian officials were still locked in a meeting discussing its merits.

In a rude shock to Australia’s five provincial chief executives, governing

body Sanzar is ploughing ahead with an 18-team, four conference model for 2016.

The model for the restructured competition will be taken to potential

broadcasters for key rights negotiations.

Added to the current 15 teams, a sixth South African franchise – the

Southern Kings – an Argentinian side and an undetermined 18th side will be

added to Super Rugby. Sanzar is putting the 18th team up for tender, with the

Australian Rugby Union hoping it is awarded to a big Asian market to increase

the broadcast deal.

The Australian franchises and Rugby Union Players Association have been

opponents of the four-conference model which will see an additional division in

South Africa. They were meeting with Australian Rugby Union chief executive

Bill Pulver when news broke in New Zealand on Thursday afternoon.

Some officials have claimed Australia would be best served walking away from

the current partnership in their own best interests. But it has earned the

strong support of New Zealand who wanted to guard against the extra travel that

a simple round-robin Super 16 or 17 competition would deliver. The five-team

Australian and New Zealand conferences play just one of the South African pools

in a 15-game competition.

“This is the best option to evolve what is already a fantastic

competition and one that continues to deliver for fans, teams, players and

sponsors,” said the NZRU chief executive Steve Tew. “From a player

point of view it was important that we managed the travel of the teams. We needed

a platform that ensured our best players could continue to perform at their

peak.

“Equally keeping South Africa in the regular competition was an

important part of what makes Super Rugby. With a later start and one less match

for each team in the competition, we believe we have got the balance

right.”

The new model will see an increase of 120 regular season matches to 135,

while the finals series will be expanded from six teams to eight.

The play-offs – held in a sudden-death format over three weeks – will

feature five teams from the Australia and New Zealand conferences and three

from the South African-based groups.

All four conference winners will automatically advance to the finals series

plus the next three highest-ranked teams in the Australasian group and the next

best team from the South African group.

Article source: http://www1.skysports.com/rugby-union/news/12507/9200646/six-nations-luke-charteris-ruled-out-of-twickenham-clash

Australian franchises mull over Super Rugby expansion