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'They'd do fine': All Blacks star Sam Whitelock backs Top League involvement in Super Rugby

By Online Editors
Whitelock

All Blacks star Sam Whitelock believes that Japan’s best Top League sides would more than hold their own if they were allowed into a re-structured Super Rugby competition.

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Despite the four SANZAAR unions having Super Rugby and Rugby Championship agreements in place until 2025, speculation has been rife about the prospect of South Africa departing the southern hemisphere to join forces with European nations.

Favourable time zones and much more financial prosperity in Europe would presumably act as the main selling points for a cross-hemisphere switch, with the presence of the Cheetahs and Southern Kings in the Pro14 evidence that such a move could be viable.

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South Africa’s speculated departure from SANZAAR coincides with the highly-discussed future of Super Rugby, which has come into the spotlight as the economic downfall that has come with the coronavirus pandemic has forced a re-think about the competition’s structure.

A steep decline in fan interest and over-saturation of playing talent has deeply diminished the quality of the cross-border league, leading pundits in New Zealand and Australia to call for a revamped trans-Tasman competition with an Asia-Pacific element.

The imminent axing of the Sunwolves, however, is indicative of SANZAAR’s desire to stray away from the Asian market after the Japanese franchise struggled for competitiveness since their induction into Super Rugby in 2016.

Back in New Zealand from a brief stint with the Panasonic Wild Knights in the Top League, Whitelock said there could still be a place in a new-look Super Rugby format for some Japanese teams.

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The 31-year-old was impressed by the physicality and style of play in Japan’s premier domestic competition, which had attracted a plethora of international stars from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa following last year’s World Cup.

“The actual style over there, there’s some really physical, athletic guys, and they play hard,” Whitelock said via Zoom.

“If they would step into a comp, I think they’d do fine. Especially if it’s the top two or three teams.

“But you never actually know until they get in there and have a go how they’re going to compete.

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“The top couple of teams would compete, it would be cool to have that Japanese style thrown in to a competition – whatever that competition looks like.”

Former World Cup-winning Wallabies midfielder Tim Horan last month suggested that the Australasian nations should look to tap into Asia and the Pacific rather than persist with South Africa and Argentina, whose unfavourable time zones have become unattractive for fans and broadcasters.

“Super Rugby will look very different in the next five years,” he said on Fox Sports.

“I think it’s probably got to be an Asian-Pacific type model – Australia, New Zealand and allow Japan to stay in the model.

“Then you look at Fiji, Samoa, Tonga.”

Those sentiments were echoed by former All Blacks first-five Andrew Mehrtens, who appeared on the offtheball.com podcast alongside ex-Wallabies coach Michael Cheika earlier this week.

“New Zealand is going to benefit ultimately from a revamped Super Rugby, and Australia will too,” Mehrtens said.

“I’ve said for quite a while now that while the competition has expanded, it hasn’t expanded in a consistent or logical way.

“It’s just added a couple of teams here and there. It went to 14, 15, then it went to 18 and dropped back down.

“The hindrance in Super Rugby is that there are games in Argentina now, and the time zone is not great for New Zealand and Australia, the same with South Africa.

“Not many people are watching even their own teams at 3am in the morning coming out of South Africa.”

A revised New Zealand-only domestic competition, dubbed Super Rugby Aotearoa, is scheduled to kick-off on June 13, while discussions for a similar concept in Australia are well underway.

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Bull Shark 45 minutes ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

Of the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.

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