'How are we going to fund it?': Ex-All Black weighs in on Super Rugby after Moana collapse

Tough as it may be to acknowledge, NZ may not be able to afford the 5 remaining teams since they are all effectively subsidized by the ABs. Seems cutting teams is the way most countries respond to fin challenges. Aus did with with Rebels, Eng sort of did it with a couple of clubs, Wales currently doing it, RSA partly did it with the Cheetahs.

Super Rugby is nothing more than a little run out in the view of the All Blacks, as they want the players fresh for the international season. Until that changes, not much will be different.

Hilariously stupid comment from Salizzo, which is par for the course. Apparently NZ rugby as a whole cannot afford six SRP teams, yet can somehow afford fourteen NPC teams. Good to see the standard of understanding of rugby in NZ amongst the media blowhards remains as good as ever.

NZ rugby as a whole needs to open its blinkered eyes, wipe out the arrogance, look at what happens overseas and structure its domestic competitions accordingly. The three European comps all have fully professional clubs that play in season long competitions, between 22 and 30 scheduled games a year. The SRP teams need to do exactly that. NZ rugby needs to stop living in the 90’s by pretending it can avoid it. Refusing to allow the SR teams to go full season, which is what they want, which is what NZs peer competitors have, is doing a massive amount of damage to them.

The real advantage for SA since it went to the URC is that its four domestic professional teams are now part of a full season second tier competition playing 22 games a year, not 14.

SA rugby no longer has to endure the Mickey Mouse part time structure we still have in NZ. After finishing in the middle of winter our professional players are pushed back to NPC teams, where two thirds of the players are part timers, and are looked after by part time organisations. They are reduced to playing what is essentially amateur rugby. A lot of them like it. Unsurprising given that it’s a third tier comp where the games and competition for starting positions are comparatively easy.

NZ rugby as a whole needs to have a proper, adult discussion about how many full season, professional domestic teams it can afford, then go from there. Or it can continue to stick its head in the sand, dream of the nineties, and pretend it doesn’t have to make fundamental change.

It made no sense having an unbalanced 11 team competition. With a Lucky Loser finals! It was a complete joke of a competition, and it was cruel to string along a team that was losing money since its day one. Now 60 experimental players and support staff have to return to the real world and work Monday to Friday, and some weekends too just like everyone else who is not a professional rugby player. This will hurt Samoa and Tonga in the long run.

Back to SRP. NZ and Aus do well to keep their top tier players by throwing money at them at the expense of the middle tier players, but it is the middle tier players who are the bread and butter of any competition. They have decisions to make because they are in an arms race against cashed up NH competitors.