If New Zealand offers Australia two or three places in a Trans-Tasman Super Rugby competition, Australian administrators should take the opportunity with both hands.
It has been speculated that due to future concerns that Australia will not be able to support more than three teams, New Zealand wishes Australia to have limited participation in future competitions between the two countries.
Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan described New Zealand’s stance as a “master-servant” mentality, but it’s time for Australian rugby to face some harsh realities about playing in that country. After two rounds of Super Rugby AU, it is clear that Australia lacks the talent to support five or maybe even four teams.
This problem will only get worse if RA doesn’t sign a lucrative new broadcast contract and more high-quality Australian players travel overseas by the end of the year.
One of the main reasons Australian rugby got into trouble on and off the field was its ambitious expansion into AFL-dominated Western Australia and Victoria at a time when Australian game resources were exhausted by rich clubs in Europe and Europe Japan .
The two core states of NSW and Queensland assemble the vast majority of professional Australian rugby players who are heavily populated by the Brumbies, Western Force and Melbourne Rebels in Super Rugby. With the overseas exodus, NSW and Queensland also produce players for the English Premiership Rugby, the French Top 14 and the Japanese Top League.
No wonder the Reds and Waratahs look like shadows from the teams that won the Super Rugby title in 2011 and 2014, respectively.
In an ideal world, it would be wonderful to have Super Rugby franchises in five Australian cities across the continent, but this country simply doesn’t have the players to support so many teams and stay competitive.
Australia doesn’t need five teams to be successful. Only two provincial teams – NSW and Queensland – provided players to the Wallabies team that won the World Cup in 1991, and only three super rugby franchise companies – Waratahs, Reds and Brumbies – formed the Wallabies squad that won the 1999 World Cup won.
Fewer Australian teams would help Australia retain talented players and offer fans stronger, more attractive super rugby teams, albeit in fewer markets. But until the so-called small states begin to mass produce standard professional players, their participation in future super rugby competitions should be questioned. There are simply not enough players in Sydney and Brisbane to get around.
There must be a place for Victoria and Western Australia in the Australian rugby landscape, but does it have to be in Super Rugby? Maintaining five super-rugby teams would require a radical rethink of how franchisees can be populated in traditional non-rugby countries.
For Australian rugby, it would be disastrous if the armed forces raided the east coast as it did when it was founded in 2005, or if the rebels again spent a small fortune on domestic and foreign players as in 2011.
If the armed forces and rebels want to stay in Super Rugby, they may have to accept to become development projects supported by long-term growth strategies, rather than trying to achieve immediate success.
However, this may not meet New Zealand’s goals. Former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen’s claim that New Zealand owes nothing to Australia is largely irrelevant. New Zealand will do what is best for New Zealand, what effectively means, what is best for the All Blacks.
New Zealand will seek the best provincial competition possible to prepare kiwi players for test rugby. That’s what it’s over there.
Australia has to do the same. Rugby Australia may think that more teams will lead to a more valuable broadcast business, but that would be a wrong economy. If Australian rugby continues to offer mediocre products, rugby fans will continue to tune out, which would devalue the sport.
There is talk of Australia going alone unless New Zealand accepts four or five Australian teams in a Trans-Tasman competition, but that would be foolhardy.
An Australian super rugby competition with five teams would not be economically sustainable. RA could always work with Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest’s Global Rapid Rugby to provide more content, but this would not meet the high performance requirements.
Australia needs to maintain a close connection to kiwi rugby to develop test players. Before Super Rugby, the close ties between NSW and Queensland to the New Zealand provinces helped raise the standard of Australian rugby to such an extent that the Wallabies won Bledisloe Cups, Grand Slams and World Cups.
If the provincial-level kiwi bond were broken, Australian standards would fall even further than now, and that would be catastrophic. Australian rugby should accept any invitation to play from New Zealand and be grateful.
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