Statistics reveal Australian rugby more successful with three Super Rugby franchises
THE RUPA has launched a ‘Stronger as Five’ campaign to keep Australia’s quintet in Super Rugby. But was expansion really the best thing for Australian rugby?
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THE Rugby Union Players Association have stepped up their fight to keep five Australian teams in Super Rugby by launching an online petition, hoping a groundswell of public opinion can convince the ARU to not cut a team.
But while RUPA argue axing an Aussie team won’t help Australian rugby, figures show adding teams hasn’t helped Australian rugby either, with collective win percentages in Super Rugby and at Test level having fallen since expansion began in 2006.
NewsCorp revealed on Monday that the ARU has earmarked the Western Force to be the team to get the chop if SANZAAR’s preferred 15-team model gets up for next year.
The news has stirred up some passionate defenders of the Force.
Force sponsor Fortescue Metals announced it was extending a jersey sponsorship for Matt Hodgson for two more years, despite Hodgson is not even on contract next year.
A RUPA website titled “Stronger as Five” went live on Thursday afternoon and called on people to sign an electronic petition.
“It’s time to stand up for Australian Rugby, to keep five Super Rugby teams, to keep our national footprint and to tell our competitors we are not shrivelling,” the website reads.
“It’s time for Rugby to make a come back ... not a cut back.
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“Narrowing the elite talent pathway isn’t going to help us beat the All Blacks, England or give aspiring players and coaches the opportunities they need to develop.”
Former Wallabies and current England coach Eddie Jones said this week that expansion — and broadening Australia’s professional pathways — had come at cost. Jones said Australian rugby had been weakened by the additions of the Force and the Melbourne Rebels.
“For me, Australian rugby was at its strongest when there were three Super Rugby teams — the Brumbies, the NSW Waratahs and the Reds,” Jones told the Canberra Times.
“There was enough opportunity for players and those three places have always been rugby cities.
Unfortunately both of those teams (Melbourne and the Force) take all of their players from Sydney, Brisbane or Canberra because they’re not rugby strongholds.”
Is Jones right? Statistics show a steady decline in collective Australian success in Super Rugby after two rounds of expansion.
With three franchises between 1996-05, Australian teams won 54.6 per cent of Super Rugby matches.
After the Force were added in 2006, Australia’s winning percentage with four teams dropped to 46.56% and since the Rebels were added in 2011, the win percentage with five teams has fallen to 41.35%.
The Wallabies won 66.4% of Test matches with three teams, but that figure fell to 55.6% between 2006 and 2010 with four teams. After the Rebels were added in 2011, the Wallabies have stayed at a level 56% win rate in Test matches.
How much Australia’s golden run between 1998 and 2003 was due to a rare crop of talented players and how much was the three-team hothouse effect is a debate never likely to be settled.
Bare facts show Australia won one World Cup, five Bledisloe Cups, two Super Rugby titles and made six finals with three teams.
With four teams Australia made just one final, but five teams has seen two Super Rugby titles, three finals and a World Cup runners-up finish.
The Force have had 14 Wallaby debutants and the Rebels nine, but only Haylett-Petty and Naivalu are considered homegrown.
The Force and Rebels have never made the finals but RUPA said the lack of success from new franchises could not yet be seen as failure.
“In a far more even playing field, expansion AFL clubs Fremantle and the Brisbane Lions both took almost a decade to make their first finals series, and even longer to win a flag (Freo is still waiting),” their website said.
“For all the strength of New Zealand Rugby, the Highlanders and Hurricanes won their first titles in the last two years.”
Originally published as Statistics reveal Australian rugby more successful with three Super Rugby franchises
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