NZ Rugby President Brent Impey Confirms Five-Team Super Rugby Aotearoa for 2021, Expansion for 2022

Super Rugby Aotearoa in its current form is secured for 2021, a cross-competition with Australia is on the wish list and four possible expansion franchises are said to be 2022 as its first point of entry.

That was the result of an announcement by New Zealand Rugby President Brent Impey on Thursday night, in which he also emphatically denied reports this week that his organization had been aware of the controversial December 12 finale. of the impending Rugby Championship.

Impey confirmed that its board had sealed, subject to certain caveats involving the announcers, the players association and the Sanzaar collective, its professional franchise competition for the coming year, and it would look decidedly similar to this post-Covid fix. year, but with a couple of major improvements.

There will be finals in 2021 to follow a two-round competition involving New Zealand’s five existing franchises. And there is hope that a “cross” competition with Australia will follow that.

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“Super Rugby Aotearoa will be back,” Impey said in a Zoom call with reporters. “After the success of the 2020 competition, it became a no-brainer that we would do something similar again in 2021.

“Yesterday there was a board resolution to have a five-team Super Rugby competition, subject to ongoing dialogue with the Players Association, Sanzaar, Sky and others. We are not ready to make an official announcement, but we will do so in the next few days. “

Impey said that NZ Rugby had noted the enthusiasm from fans for the Aotearoa 2020 competition and would launch a two-round league with finals as a result. “We will continue into the early afternoon and continue if we can put our fans first as we look to add more innovations.

“We also want to continue with Australia in a crossover competition of some kind once Rugby Australia 2021 has been completed.”

However, the NZR president confirmed that the discussed expansion to make way for a Pasifika team in some form, and possibly others, would not take place next year.

“There has been a lot of speculation surrounding our interest in including a Pasifika team in Super Rugby, and we are still committed to making that cross the line at some point. But the board believes that we should do well, “he added.

“Yesterday, the NZR board shortlisted four [candidates] for 2022 and beyond, subject to the warnings mentioned above. We hope to announce them shortly, but some are subject to commercial confidentiality at this time.

“The board is committed to approving a minimum of three teams from the shortlist, and that decision will be made on November 30.”

In terms of the makeup of those potential expansion franchises, all Impey could say was: “They are a combination of teams from New Zealand and, more generally, from Pasifika in the Asia-Pacific region. It’s not just New Zealand [teams] and not just Pasifika “.

When told to the Hawaii-based Kanaloa team that they had indicated they were ready to move on next year, Impey reiterated NZR’s view: “The board was not satisfied at this point that any of the applicants could put up a team or provide the necessary financial support. The last thing we want is for any team to come in and get crushed. Yes, there were parties that wanted licenses for 2021, but we felt that … none were ready. “

Impey also emphatically denied a recent media report stating that NZ Rugby had been aware of and even signed an “agreed” finish date of December 12 for the upcoming Rugby Championship.

NZ Rugby has said all along that it had only agreed to a Dec. 5 conclusion with TRC that would bring its All Blacks home in time to spend Christmas with their families, following a period of border isolation.

“I am president of Sanzaar and there has not been a meeting of the Sanzaar board since August 4,” Impey said in reference to leaked minutes of a meeting of CEOs on September 17 that appeared to show that NZR had accepted the conclusion. December 12.

“The notes that have been published are not minutes of the meeting and have a fundamental error in them as far as we are concerned that it says that the six-week draw was agreed by all. I can tell you that it was not. We know it and Rugby Australia and Sanzaar know it because we kept telling them until the moment they announced the draw.

“The notes also clearly refer to a dead end and there are many emails to prove it. So our position has never changed. With that being said, our approach is to try and fix this CRT issue and we’re not going to bother getting tit for tat on so-called notes that weren’t minutes or board minutes.

“[But] We challenge those who have commented on the integrity of NZR. We defend our position and we are firm in it ”.

Impey confirmed that NZR CEO Mark Robinson continued to work diligently on a solution to the deadlock on the Rugby Championship schedule.

“Mark is dealing with that problem on a daily, hourly basis. There are several potential solutions. We don’t have one that we can put on the table now, but it’s the most important thing. “

In terms of the trans-Tasmania relationship and any hope of mutually agreeable cross-competition by 2021, Impey was positively defiant.

“The situation regarding Australia has been hit… they didn’t want to get involved in our expression of interest process. But as far as we are concerned, we have the door open for them in the dialogue around a cross competition once Super Rugby Aotearoa ends in 2021 and also in a trans-Tasmanian type competition. [further down the track]. “

“We have to remember that they have their own challenges. For example, as we speak, they don’t have a broadcast contract. We leave the ball in their court for them to open that dialogue ”.

Impey said he considered his Australian cohort Hamish McClennan’s comment on Sky this week that the trans-Tasman relationship was at a “low point” as a pure “joke.”

“The relationship is not bad at all. We have had a couple of Zoom meetings that have been positive. I saw [his comments] in The breakdown and I’m pretty relaxed about it. “

But he admitted that working together was in the best interest of both unions. “There are no obstacles in relationships as far as we are concerned. But it did make reasonable headlines in the Australian media … so be it. “