and the potential (ie non existent) Japanese market.
Also give up on Japan. What ever market you are chasing it is never going to happen. It's a pipe dream. They don't belong in Super Rugby.
No market? Pfft! And you think there is a market for rugby in Melbourne or Perth. I have a sister-in-law who lives in Melbourne. She tells me that the Rebels are all but invisible there. If you're lucky, you will find half a column-inch buried at the bottom of page 53 of The Age (the main Melbourne Newspaper).... IF they win.
FYI, here is The Age Sport menu choices
Do you see Rugby Union on that list? Not on your Nellie!
Have a look at the crowds attending Sunwolves games in Japan.... bigger crowds than any Aussie home matches so far this season. 22,000 for the match v the Bulls this weekend, and regularly crowds of 18,000 to 20,000 this season. This is more than we get to most matches in New Zealand!
Meanwhile, in Australia, the man and his dog sometimes has the company of a boy who accidentally walked into the stadium on his paper round.
It isn't the number of teams that is killing super rugby it is the conference system. Each team should play each other once and have a table based on that. Super rugby was awesome until the conference system was introduced.
No, its the number of weak teams that is damaging the credibility of the competition. Both Australia and South Africa have their talent spread too thin.
On current form, with a merit basde system using the top six teams, the playeon would involve
Stormers
Crusaders
Hurricanes
Chiefs
Lions
Sharks
NO Aussle teams
SARU and the ARU will never buy into a system that doesn't guarantee them home payoff games.
Don't need to reduce the number of teams as this will only encourage more players to go to Europe.
Utter rubbish. Did expending the competition discourage them from going... of course it didn't.
When the Melbourne Rebels first joined SR, there weren't enough players of a suitable standard in Australia, so the ARU had to give them dispensation to use more than the maximum allowable three foreign players in their squad. They imported players from Europe to make up the numbers... Danny Cipriani, Max Lahif, Michael Lipman (England), Jamie Hagan, Tom Sexton (Ireland), Gareth Delve )Wales) as well as Tom Chamberlain, Tamati Ellison, Scott Fuglistaller, Dan Hawkins, Hoani MacDonald, Kevin O'Neill, Jono Owen, Ged Robinson, Greg Somerville, Adam Thomson, and Jason Woodward (New Zealand).
There are enough good players in Europe for 6 7 8 or even 9 South African teams and probably 5 or 6 Australian teams and god only knows how many New Zealand teams.
And why would they want to come back when they are being paid 3 to 4 times what we can pay them?
As for South African players, you clearly have not heard of "transformation" and "race quotas". I suggest you talk to a few of the South African posters on this site.