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The prospect of South Africa’s big four franchises playing in an expanded Guinness PRO16 now seems inevitable after SARU (South Africa Rugby Union) voted to “explore the entry of four teams into an expanded PRO rugby competition” today.
In a statement, SARU confirmed that The Bulls of Pretoria, The Lions of Johannesburg, The Sharks of Durban and The Stormers of Cape Town would be proposed as future members of the tournament that would see them compete against the best of the Irish, Welsh, Scots and Italians. sides.
If approved, they would take the place of The Cheetahs and The Southern Kings who have been playing in PRO14 for three seasons with little success.
However, the arrival of the heavyweights of the Rainbow Nations will change the rules of the game for the competitiveness of a tournament that receives much criticism.
However, the Springboks World Cup winning coach Rassie Erasmus, who is the director of performance for SARU, sees many advantages.
“I will not go into the many problems that I could tell you about” and that an official confirmation has not yet been given, “he said before SARU issued its statement.
“The first benefit is that, as a fan, you will watch the game in the same time zone. You will watch it in the afternoon, have a braai (barbecue) and a few beers with friends. It makes a difference,” said former supreme Munster.
“For us, as coaches and players, you can get on a plane, sleep in it and play the next day.
“That’s good, for broadcasting and for your own planning. There are regular flights that you can get everywhere.
“You will play against the best players from countries that normally rank high in the world rankings. I don’t want this to be a rule because we were ranked 7th recently.
“But currently, when you think about where Argentina and Australia are currently, they are in 10th and 7th respectively. Ireland is invariably in the top four. Wales is always in the top five. Even Scotland is still very competitive.
“Those are the benefits. I can also tell you about a lot of problems, but in my opinion, the moment people start getting to know the players that play there, they will find that there are a lot of South Africans in those leagues.”
“You will see that these players are very good and play at a level close to Test Rugby.”
Online editors
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