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'I will not support any SA team again' - Fans divided over expanded Pro14 move that would make the Cheetahs homeless

By Online Editors
(Photo by Johan Pretorius/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

The South African Rugby Union’s member vote on Tuesday confirmed that all four Super Rugby sides, the Bulls, Stormers, Sharks and Lions, are in favour of pursuing a move to Europe to join an expanded PRO14 competition.

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The blockbuster move would forever change the landscape of professional rugby, with a clear power drain on the Southern Hemisphere creating a crowded European landscape.

The South African sides would bolster the ‘PRO’ competition comprised of Irish, Welsh, Scottish and Italian clubs, which has seen Dublin-based Leinster dominate over the last three seasons with three straight titles.

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The announcement of the desired move garnered a divided reaction with equal parts of excitement and disappointment in both Europe and South Africa by fans.

The clear benefit of having the South African sides involved excited those who have desired a tougher regular season in the Pro14, with more competitive fixtures to add further intrigue to the season’s storylines. It was labelled a ‘class level-up’ for a tournament that will become ‘a hell of a lot harder to win’.

On the opposite side, some South African Rugby supporters were concerned whether their own rugby will improve in a league where the stars are often not required to play from some of the stronger sides in the league. There is a perception that the Champions Cup is the greater priority of which it isn’t clear whether the South African teams would be a part of.

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European fans were worried that the expanded Pro14 pushes the travel burden for players too far and the ‘locality’ of the competition would be lost, with away games out of reach for fans. One fan said that what people really want is a ‘British & Irish League’, merging the PRO14 with the Premiership.

Another fan feared that the PRO14 will inherit Super Rugby’s problems, importing a ‘failed system’ with conferences and too much travel. Another claimed it ‘feels like a mess’ that flying to South Africa will be normal but a Welsh side like the Dragons can’t go to Bristol to play the Bears.

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Arguably the biggest loser from the suggested move is the Cheetahs franchise, who will be cut from the Pro14 along with the already insolvent Southern Kings, to make way for the four remaining South African Super Rugby franchises.

After being dropped from Super Rugby, the Cheetahs are now looking at a second expulsion from a professional competition in only a few short years.

One proud Cheetahs fan vowed to ‘not support any SA team again’ after hearing of the announcement, and will now back Connacht and Ireland in the club & international rugby. It was labelled ‘really really tough’ and ‘wrong’ for the franchise to be dumped after they committed their future to Europe.

The implications of the move for both the Super Rugby and new PRO16 competitions won’t be known until after the fact, with both leagues taking on enormous risk divorcing and marrying the four South African sides at the same time.

From a Springboks and South African player welfare point of view, the move is a positive moving all the competition into a friendly time zone for the South African audience, while the players will do less travel than what they currently do in Super Rugby.

Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus, who formerly coached Munster in the Pro14 league, highlighted some of the benefits as he sees it.

“The first benefit is that as a fan, you’ll be watching the game in the same time zone. You’ll watch it in the afternoon, have a braai (barbecue) and a few beers with mates. It makes a difference,” he said.

“For us as coaches and players, you can get on a plane, sleep on it and actually play the next day.”

Erasmus has expressed his feeling in the past that European rugby is much closer to test match rugby than Super Rugby, advocating it as an ideal place to pick his Springbok squad from, with good form in Europe translating well to international level.

Many high-profile Springboks are already contracted across Europe, from Top 14 teams in France, Premiership clubs in England, with a few in the PRO14 that may get the chance to play against their old teams.

 

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J
Jon 6 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 9 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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