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Wellington – New Zealand Rugby (NZR) continued to insist on Wednesday that the Sanzaar alliance that governs southern hemisphere rugby was still healthy even after SA dropped out of the Super Rugby tournament after 25 years and fired a farewell shot blaming its colleagues in Wellington.
The SA Rugby Union (Saru) said on Tuesday it had voted to remove its four teams from cross-border franchise competition and would seek to align with Europe’s PRO14.
That decision came just hours after Rugby Australia president Hamish McLennan said his relationship with New Zealand Rugby was at a “low point” as the two bodies traded criticism about the future of the game.
“I think we are working in extraordinary times with extraordinary pressure. We believe that Sanzaar has a great future, ”New Zealand Rugby CEO Mark Robinson told reporters on a conference call on Wednesday.
“We know there are challenges. We know there are tensions. But ultimately we all believe in a common goal around the Rugby Championship. “
The world champions Springboks are still expected to play in the Rugby Championship, which also includes the national teams of New Zealand, Australia and Argentina.
Saru’s decision to walk away from Super Rugby had been long awaited with reports surfacing periodically over the past decade, even as officials continued to deny they were interested in aligning with Europe.
However, the change of the Cheetahs and Southern Kings to the PRO14 before the 2018 season after they were eliminated from Super Rugby after a poorly received expansion to 18 teams in the southern hemisphere competition, put the wheels in motion.
“We know that SA has been very open about going to the Northern Hemisphere,” Robinson added. “Obviously they feel that now is the time to explore that opportunity.”
Super Rugby was already undergoing a readjustment for 2021, with the Japan-based Sunwolves down before the coronavirus pandemic brought the tournament to a halt in March.
Countries rushed to host national-only competitions in 2020 and NZR introduced a trans-Tasman model involving only teams from New Zealand and Australia by 2021.
That “one-sided” decision led Saru to decide to realign himself with Europe, CEO Jurie Roux said in his farewell to the competition that had been in place since 1996.
Robinson, however, said that all NZR was doing was what Sanzaar had agreed to.
“All Sanzaar partners had agreed to consider more related competitions at the national level in 2020 and 2021,” he said. “We talked about ours a while ago. We haven’t decided anything yet. ”
Reuters
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