It’s extraordinary to think that a new-ish competition entering its third season could still be getting around with the training wheels still attached, but that’s again where Super Rugby Pacific finds itself going into 2024.
As a point of comparison, the United Rugby Championship kicked off only half a season earlier with the inclusion of the South African former Super Rugby teams, and just seems to get better every season.
But with the long-awaited Super Rugby Pacific commission finally in place, even if long overdue, an important milestone point for the competition has been reached, with highly regarded New Zealand marketing expert Kevin Malloy installed as Chair in December.
The ubiquitous global search for a CEO has been delayed, however, after it was revealed at last week’s season launch that the recruitment firm involved had received upwards of 300 applications for the role.
Better to have too much interest in a CEO role than the other way around, I suppose.
Speaking of the launch, I can’t recall the prefix ‘glitzy’ being attached to descriptions of a Super Rugby unveiling in the past, but the event on the Auckland Viaduct last week lived up to that descriptor as much as the reporting used it.
The hype video, entitled “The Power of the Pacific” and featuring representatives from all twelve teams diving, scrummaging, and lineout lifting in open water, as well as passing balls and diving for tries perfectly represents what the competition has always wanted to be: a unification of south Pacific countries through rugby.
With games to be played in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and Tonga in 2024, the video really did emphasise the strength of the game in this part of the world.
But the elephant in the room on the Auckland waterfront was impossible to escape.
In the weeks leading into Round 1 this weekend, rugby headlines in Australia at least have been dominated by the increasingly grim situation around the Melbourne Rebels, who entered voluntary administration late last month. Since then, they’ve had ten staff including CEO Baden Stephenson made redundant by Rugby Australia, who now hold the licence and are running the organisation for the rest of this season.
Through reporting of the Rebels decline, it also emerged that the concept of a forced merger with Moana Pasifika and a relocation to southern Auckland had been at least discussed,
All the high performance staff, including Head Coach Kevin Foote and his assistants, have been placed on four-month contracts to get through the season.
Through reporting of the Rebels decline, it also emerged that the concept of a forced merger with Moana Pasifika and a relocation to southern Auckland had been at least discussed, if no wheels were put in actual motion. The twelfth place in the competition still required by broadcasters on both sides of the Tasman Sea would apparently be filled by a new outfit based in either Japan, Hawaii or on the west coast of United States. ‘Ambitious’ doesn’t begin to describe it.
It’s been said that RA could make a decision on the Rebels’ future by the end of March, infamously invoking memories of the “48-72 hours” timeframe RA placed on themselves to trim a team back in 2017, but taking many months more than that before ultimately cutting the Western Force loose.
“Our focus is to deliver the ‘24 season,” RA Chief Executive Phil Waugh said at last week’s launch.
“The players are preparing well, and management too. If you think about two different streams – there’s the stream of 2024 and how we deliver with as little disruption as possible; and the secondary stream is what does 2025 and beyond look like? We’re running both streams but the priority is delivering 2024 successfully for the Rebels.”
Malloy, for his part, was confident of the twelve-team format going forward but stopped short of acknowledging what veteran Kiwi scribe Marc Hinton called “a large, dark Melbourne-sized cloud” hanging over Super Rugby Pacific.
“I wouldn’t call it a cloud. It’s a reality we have to deal with. We’ve got a twelve-team competition for this season, and we’ll have to take time and work through how it plays out for 2025 and beyond.”
Tickets finally went on sale for the Rebels’ season-opener against the ACT Brumbies on Monday afternoon, and whatever crowd they will be able to rustle up in four full days of sale time will be frankly incredible. And how this all builds into the third edition of the still-spluttering Super Round, which will again be played in Melbourne the following weekend, is anyone’s guess.
Super Rugby Pacific’s desire to speed up the way the game is played will see another “Law Innovation”, this time with a tweak to the Offside Law designed to kill off any prospect of ‘kick tennis’, as it is being described in Six Nations games
One thing’s for sure; it’s a hell of a way to try and market the start of a season. One of these days Super Rugby will start a season with a bang, and not a whimper.
Yet it also kind of feels like the way Super Rugby does start a season. The headlines will be anything other than confidence-inspiring, but then the commencement of on-field action just allows everyone to get on with it.
On that front, Super Rugby Pacific’s desire to speed up the way the game is played will see another “Law Innovation”, this time with a tweak to the Offside Law designed to kill off any prospect of ‘kick tennis’, as it is being described in Six Nations games, infiltrating the competition down south.
No longer will an offside player in front of the kicker be put onside if an opposition player runs five metres with, or passes the ball. Instead, players in front of the kicker will remain offside until they have been put onside by a teammate who has come from behind the kicker, or the kicker themself. World Rugby has approved the trial, and is said to be keen to see the outcome.
And with the 2024 season now just days away, teams will be either trying to build momentum from, or completely forget about trial game form, depending on results.
In NZ, the Blues and Highlanders came through unscathed, with the Crusaders losing to their South Island rivals and Irish champions Munster in Ireland, and the Chiefs copping a touch-up from the Panasonic Wild Knights and another loss to the Blues, after both sides returned from a pre-season series in Japan.
In Australia, there’s already questions about NSW being asked after two heavy trial losses, while Queensland and the ACT Brumbies both went undefeated. The Melbourne Rebels went undefeated too, interestingly enough, and with a list of strong off-season acquisitions headed by Taniela Tupou and Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, expectations for their on-field performances in 2024 are a lot higher than the off-field, sadly.
While the 2024 season will get underway, there’s just no avoiding the fact that the dominant narrative for the season will be what 2025 looks like. How many teams will survive, and how many new teams might need to be found?
From a publicity perspective, kick-off cannot come fast enough. With no pre-season momentum to speak of, the first games being played will also be the point plenty of sports fans realise the competition has begun. “Didn’t even know it was on” will be a common reaction.
But while the 2024 season will get underway, there’s just no avoiding the fact that the dominant narrative for the season will be what 2025 looks like. How many teams will survive, and how many new teams might need to be found?
And crucially, at which point in the future will Super Rugby Pacific find its feet and start building for the future?
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