J
Jethro
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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>
Frack me are Saffas actually considering this bollock :huh:
The CC is one of the great domestic competitions, to undermine it because the ARU can't get off their arses and get a domestic comp underway is share insanity. I'm not in a good place over the pressure being place on the ANZC, if I was a Saffa I would be writing to the SARU and threatening to toss in my pay TV licence ... get em in the sponsorship pocket
Anyways what the South Africa lads think?
Sanzar will cause CC teams to be cancelled
Sanzar's expanded Super 15 format, due to come into being in 2011, will lead to the cancellation of at least two, maybe three teams' participation in the Absa Currie Cup Premier Division.
And if the Eastern Cape are harbouring any thoughts of winning the right to host one of the new Super 15 franchises, they should cease right now.
The expanded Super 15 will inevitably lead to the compression of the Currie Cup and, the president of the South African Rugby Union, Oregan Hoskins, conceded to SuperRugby that this would mean the streamlining of the world's proudest domestic rugby tournament.
Hoskins is in Auckland at the moment, not only following the Springboks as they look to clinch the Tri-Nations ***le, but also for a series of Sanzar meetings, with the southern hemisphere alliance set to decide at the end of October whether Melbourne or Port Elizabeth will be the home of the new franchise.
And Hoskins believes New Zealand and Australia have already made the call that the new team will be based in Melbourne, the Aussies for obvious reasons and the Kiwis because it would mean far less travelling for their teams.
"We're outvoted anyway, we always are. But I haven't given up. I thought we might actually be able to have a combined franchise or thought it was possible they could spend time in both countries ... maybe even more time in Australia, seeing they are playing in the Australian conference," Hoskins said. "But I'm not sure if this whole idea will get past first base anyway, because Australia is keen on having its own team in the competition."
With the Super 15 stretching from the last weekend in February to the first weekend of August it is inevitable that the Currie Cup will be affected, despite the assurances of Andy Marinos, the acting managing director of SA Rugby, that this would not happen.
The revamped Super 15 will also feature an expanded finals series and the new 24-week competition guarantees each team a minimum of eight home matches and a 16-match regular season. A new six-team finals series includes an extra round with two sudden-death qualifiers before the semifinals.
All teams will have a three-week bye while the tournament is suspended during the June international test window, while the Tri-Nations series has also been given a new time slot in the calendar to run at the conclusion of the Super 15.
Hoskins revealed that the SA Rugby plan is to cut the number of teams in the Currie Cup, which means the participation of the likes of the Platinum Leopards, Boland and Griquas is obviously under severe threat.
There is the possibility that the Currie Cup premier division could be played as a franchise competition itself, with teams based in the five major test unions of Durban, Pretoria, Bloemfontein, Cape Town and Johannesburg.
While that may end up being a blessing in disguise, one of the silliest features of the new improved Super 15 is that not everyone will play each other as is currently the case and as occurs in most other reputable competitions. Because of the conference system, a team could be crowned as champions without, for instance, having played the Bulls or the Crusaders.
"That is true, but then they will play them the following year, it's all done in cycles," Hoskins offered helpfully.
Far more alarming is that top-class rugby may die in Kimberley, Paarl and Potchefstroom, a natural consequence of the big money the five franchises will have to plunder their resources.
Source : SuperRugby[/b]
Frack me are Saffas actually considering this bollock :huh:
The CC is one of the great domestic competitions, to undermine it because the ARU can't get off their arses and get a domestic comp underway is share insanity. I'm not in a good place over the pressure being place on the ANZC, if I was a Saffa I would be writing to the SARU and threatening to toss in my pay TV licence ... get em in the sponsorship pocket
Anyways what the South Africa lads think?