What really killed Super Rugby

The world’s most demanding football competition is dead. The weapon that killed it may be the last one fans suspect.

The Wallabies and Qantas have long had a close relationship. Picture: Brett Costello

Super Rugby as it is now structured is already dead and the weapon that killed it might be the last one that followers of the code might suspect — the cost of international air travel.

While the three SANZAAR joint venturers, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, are still hoping that it will be possible to at least stage domestic competitions in each of the three countries, thoughts are turning to how Super Rugby will look next year when it is due to return to a 14-team series following the culling of the Japanese side, the Sunwolves.

Although Super Rugby 2021 is still more than nine months away, SANZAAR is working hard on figuring out how next year’s competition will look and the realisation has long set in that the round robin format planned for 2021-25 is simply unaffordable. No one is able to say with any clarity what form Super Rugby will take.

They only know that the costs of running arguably the most demanding football competition in the world — spread over four countries and 13 time zones — must come down dramatically.

Increasingly, SANZAAR appears to be veering towards a model that will see domestic competitions held in the three original countries, with crossover finals to be played at the end of the season.

Michael Hooper, left, of the Waratahs during Round 7 Super Rugby match between the ACT Brumbies and the Waratahs at GIO Stadium in Canberra on March 15.

Conceivably, a joint Australia-New Zealand series could be staged in place of two national domestic competitions, though this might cloud the participation of the Western Force.

The Force are still training despite the cancellation on Tuesday of this year’s Global Rapid Rugby season, preparing to play against the four Australian Super Rugby sides if and when the federal government gives permission for football to resume this year.

It would make sense for the Force, which has been missing for three years, to again feature in any Super Rugby series in 2021, making for a neat 10 teams in Australasia, five in Australia, five in NZ.

In that event, however, Andrew Forrest’s Perth side would probably need to create a second team if it intends to also press ahead with the GRR concept.

SANZAAR might be able to fund a cross-borders international finals series but all indications are that the days of Austr­alian teams flying to South Africa and Argentina, with teams from those countries travelling here, are over.

Even at the old corporate rates, the cost of international travel on such a scale had become a crippling burden for SANZAAR. The growing fear in rugby circles is that even when governments finally ease international border restrictions, the cost of travel might have become too expensive.

Each season, SANZAAR regularly makes use of the major airlines of its three foundation countries, Qantas, Air New Zealand and South African Airways, all of which acted honourably when many overseas team flights had to be cancelled last month.

Chiefs have a moments silence during the round seven Super Rugby match between the Chiefs and the Hurricanes at Waikato Stadium on March 13.

The federal government last month unveiled a $715m package for Qantas, Virgin and other regional airlines, made up of relief and waivers of fuel excise, airservices charges and regional security fares but observers believe it has been of minimal help because the airlines are now barely flying.

With Alan Joyce, the boss of Qantas — Rugby Australia’s naming rights sponsor — describing the COVID-19 crisis as “the biggest shock that global aviation has ever experienced”, it may not be in a position in future to do rugby any significant favours.

Most Aussie rugby fans would love if cutting South Africa and Argentina out of the equation in 2021 was the long-term model. The overwhelming preference is to do away with the Super Rugby model and replace it with some version of a trans-Tasman competition. Yet it is more complex.

While RA still is searching for a broadcast partner, New Zealand and South Africa already have done their deals for the next five years. Given that the three countries pool their broadcast money and split it, it raises the prospect of Australia coming empty-handed to the SANZAAR table.

And that raises the prospect of SANZAAR deciding that the best way of giving its broadcasters some quality content will be a continuation of the status quo.