Iain Payten says Super Rugby rightly rewards the top team with a home final

OF 18 Super Rugby champions, the Chiefs were the fourteenth side to win a final on home turf on Saturday, and so the old debate re-surfaces.

Chiefs

OF 18 Super Rugby champions, the Chiefs were the fourteenth side to win a final on home turf on Saturday, and so the old debate re-surfaces.

Super Rugby's flawed playoffs format needs reviewing; it's too difficult to travel and win; a neutral venue for the final should surely be considered?

Forget that. How about this for a theory - Super Rugby's finals system is the best in world rugby.

With playing at home such an advantage, it not only recognises the winner of the final but rewards the best team for the entire year as well.

Super Rugby bears an east-west span of 11,300km and four timezones, so playing finals at home is obviously a huge advantage.

The Brumbies were the fifth team of five to lose a decider after travelling 14 hours across the Indian Ocean in the same week.

You don't need to be a rocket surgeon to figure out why: lack of training time, jetlag, shattered sleep patterns.

So the key to winning titles is sleeping in your own bed. How do you do that? Finish the season as minor premiers, or at worst, runners-up.

The top-ranked side has won the title 13 times out of 18, and second-ranked four times.

The Crusaders are the only side to win outside that cosy set-up, from fourth in 1999.

Some codes believe in crowning their champion based entirely on finishing places in the regular season.

Witness Premier League football. Huge debates even rage in some parts of the world that finals are unfair to the top finisher.

One bad game can deny the season's best team a deserved title, goes the argument. We don't believe that down here but Super Rugby has a good mix.

A Grand Final is played but the top team get a massive leg-up as hosts, and the remaining qualifiers have a chance, but are heavily handicapped.

To finish as minor premiers you simply can't afford any off weekends. One or two soft losses or draws can cost you a title.

The Brumbies did brilliantly to be up to their necks in the final for 60 minutes on Saturday but their title was arguably lost on April 5, April 19 and July 12, not the last 20 minutes.

Those are the dates for the Brumbies' draws with the Kings at home and Reds away (after leading both games in the 75th minute), and their last-round loss to the Force.

The Brumbies, who led the Super Rugby ladder as late as round 17, would have comfortably finished first if they'd pocketed 12 points from those games. Hypotheticals, of course, and it's fair to point out each conference winner, the Chiefs (1), Bulls (2) and the Brumbies (3), all lost four games each. But here's where the Super Rugby system continues to shine.

Bonus points actually matter. Big time.

As Clyde Rathbone - to his huge credit - points out, negative rugby tactics built around just getting results aren't enough in the southern hemipshere.

A season of ugly wins aren't enough. By separating themselves from the Bulls (5) and Brumbies (5) with eight 4-try bonus points, the Chiefs showed attacking rugby is required all year long.

It earned them top spot, and as we've seen, top spot gives you one hand on the trophy. It was encouraging to see the Brumbies look dirty post-match on Saturday.

Gallant defeats are still defeats. The Brumbies are premiership material, and make no mistake, their window will remain wide open in 2014. With only Peter Kimlin, George Smith and Dan Palmer departing, David Pocock returning and rookies like Scott Sio on the rise, the Brumbies will only get better.

They will learn lessons from 2013. Season-long consistency and no soft lapses will be one. The other, you hope, is to trust their talented backs more, and to attack from all points of the field.

Jake White's game style is built around kicking out of your own half nines times out of ten. There is safety and success in that plan but sometimes in life - and rugby - big rewards requires bigger risks.

The Chiefs' performance on Saturday - and their two titles - is a perfect illustration. The Brumbies have a stellar assembly of Test-quality backs: Mogg, Lealiifano, Toomua, Speight, Kuridrani, White, Rathbone, Tomane.

With the brainpower of Stephen Larkham guiding them, that's a platoon that can score tries. The more tries, the more wins, and the more bonus points. Do that consistently every round and by the final week, you'll be sleeping in your own bed.