Super Rugby expansion won’t stop at 18 with more markets certain to follow, Jim Tucker says

THE wackiest spin-off to rugby’s quantum leap to Super 18 in 2016 is that further expansion is now more certain than ever, Jim Tucker writes.

Reds halfback Will Genia and Hurricanes winger Julian Savea fight for the ball.

THE wackiest spin-off to rugby’s quantum leap to Super 18 in 2016 is that further expansion is now more certain than ever with potential franchises possible on the west coast of the US, in Europe or Asia.

The new-look format of four conferences, with its enlarged eight-team finals series, looks more like “Super 20 minus 2” than Super 18.

It is a super-structure with pieces missing until they are filled for 2021 and beyond as Super 20.

The five-team Australian and New Zealand conferences have a symmetry.

The two unbalanced South African-centric conferences of four teams do not but you can bet, for 2021, there will be two extra teams with dreams and big bankrolls joining the party.

If it is all a bit dizzying to take in, it is. Super Rugby is going global.

Argentina’s entry to Super 18 has been rubber-stamped by Thursday’s big news while rugby powerbrokers in Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and even Europe could all be in the tender process to be the 18th and last team for 2016.News_Rich_Media: Waratahs and Wallabies great Phil Waugh says that while expansion of rugby is aways a positive, an element of caution needs to be applied when looking to include Argentinian and Asian teams in the Super Rugby competition.

There has been some serious horsetrading between countries and with broadcasters.

The Reds will play only six local derbys a year rather than the current eight but will be compensated by playing every Kiwi team each season rather than missing out on the crowd-pulling Crusaders (2013) and Chiefs (2014) because of the current draw’s quirks.

Australian Rugby Union boss Bill Pulver is claiming as a big win that the Australian and New Zealand conferences will feed five of the eight teams into the finals series because the South Africans clearly wanted it capped at four.

The South Africans will still host two quarter-finals so there will be an annual lamb to the slaughter ritual of a less-fancied Australasian team flying there to battle all the odds.News_Rich_Media: Super Rugby's governing body SANZAR has confirmed the competition will expand to 18 teams from 2016. The expansion will see South Africa granted a sixth team, with one team from Argentina and another from a yet to be determined location to make up the 18.

“Sadly, the least represented country in the finals since Super Rugby began has been Australia so to have three wildcards from the Australasian group into the finals is a real positive when you think of how lucrative hosting a finals game can be,” Pulver added.

The regular rugby fan doesn’t need to over-analyse what cross-over games mean.

There will still be 15 opponents to a robust regular season but losing a home game every second year is a $200,000-plus hole for a team like the Reds.

A big positive is that Pulver has involved Australia's three commercial TV networks in the format discussions and is bullish that some part of Super Rugby will be on free-to-air screens in 2016.

“I’m confident there will be more Super Rugby seen on free-to-air,” Pulver said.

That will be one of the code’s biggest wins to take the on-field fireworks to people who have just not been able to watch Super Rugby before.