Culling the Sunwolves is utter folly
JANUARY 25, 2019
30 minutes ago January 26, 2019
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OK, we’re going to try a little mind control here. Close your eyes and slowly repeat after me …. SANZAAR …. SANZAAR ... SANZAAR. You are now in the deepest, most relaxing sleep of your life. Now, when I count to three you will awaken. One, two, three. No, no … I said sleep … not coma.
Against ferocious opposition, SANZAAR still qualifies as the dullest sporting organisation in the world. Populated by faceless people and surfacing every five years to prevent southern hemisphere rugby from going bankrupt, though seemingly at the steady cost of reduced relevance, it is no more than a necessary evil. In its press releases, SANZAAR *describes itself as “a joint venture” yet, aside from playing rugby and wanting to make money out of it, the four partners — Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and, more recently, Argentina — have nothing in common and can scarcely agree beyond a setting for the air-conditioner. In fact, it’s actually a bit chilly in here. Would you mind turning it down …
The joint venturers unashamedly push their own agenda which, pretty much every time, are at odds with their partners. And on those rare occasions when their opinions do coincide, chances are it is for vastly different reasons.
So, having painted the bleakest picture possible of SANZAAR, here is why it’s important. Australia must show some leadership — something that it has not displayed an awful lot of in recent years — to fight off moves to ditch Japan and the Sunwolves from Super Rugby.
Of the five countries that compete in Super Rugby, Japan is the only one that is not a part-owner. That puts it on the outer right from the start.
The fact South Africa openly does not support the Sunwolves makes their position doubly precarious. So, while they can lobby and influence, ultimately the Sunwolves are at the mercy of the SANZAAR partners.
The Japanese, very much like the Chinese, play the long game and ultimately they see themselves becoming the linchpin of Asia-Pacific rugby. It is not an unrealistic aim. The Japanese economy is the third biggest in the world, at $6.88 trillion dollars — Australia comes in at 13th with just under $2 trillion — and, importantly, rugby is firmly established there.
The game was adopted by the Japanese imperial family early on, with the Prince Chichibu Stadium, the Sunwolves’ home base, named in honour of Emperor *Hirohito’s younger brother who did so much to develop rugby in Japan. So it has social *acceptability. Indeed, there are more registered rugby players in Japan than Australia.
There is no disguising it: their performance in Super Rugby has been abysmal. Undoubtedly Western Force fans will be questioning how on Earth a team that has placed last, second last and last in its three seasons in the competition could survive the axe in 2017 when their own team went to the guillotine.
Excellent question. Certainly SANZAAR, which only a year ago defended the decision to retain the Japanese team on the long-term value they would bring to the competition, would make a mockery of its decision to axe the Force if it now chooses in March to also place the Sunwolves on death row.
Curiously, the belief in the Sunwolves’ camp is that their position is actually quite strong. But first they must wait for Australia and New Zealand to come to that *realisation all on their own.
Indications are that Australia already has come around to that position. There is not a single Australian Super Rugby franchise — or indeed a New Zealand one — that does not have a Japanese sponsor. Japanese money accounts for basically half the money in the competition.
So, too, is Rugby Australia reliant on Japan, although its deal with Mitsubishi Estate to sponsor the Irish series last year almost blew up in its face. RA forgot, as a mere courtesy, to inform their other sponsors of the arrangement and suddenly there was hell to pay from Land Rover. No doubt Land Rover would have known that Mitsubishi Estate was a real estate developer but in the minds of Australians, “Mitsubishi” is associated with one thing only, cars. Land Rover had not been ambushed as the official motor *vehicle sponsors of RA but for a brief, painful moment, that was how it was perceived.
But the ruffled sensitivities would be entirely on the Japanese side if SANZAAR decided to throw the Sunwolves — who are safe for the remainder of the current broadcast deal, this year and 2020 — out of the competition in 2021.
Yet if Australia was smart, it could enlist the Sunwolves to its player retention drive while also strengthening the Tokyo-based side. Many Australian players are heading north anyway, so it would seem to make sense for RA to come to an arrangement to send the Sunwolves, one, maybe two players a year who would play for them in the Super Rugby competition but still be eligible for the Wallabies. This would only apply to players who haven’t yet reached the Giteau law 60-Test threshold, say for instance, a Samu Kerevi or a Dane Haylett-Petty, and would give them a taste of living abroad while still having access to them.
It’s curious that SANZAAR *nations do not throw open Test *selection to any player taking part in Super Rugby anywhere, be it for one of his own national franchises or a foreign team. Seemingly, however, that’s not going to happen.
As ever, the role of NZ Steve Tew will be crucial, though it is fascinating to see the myth of invincibility he has built around himself and his reputation is steadily being eroded in the NZ media. Even in the land of the All Blacks, the situation is becoming worrying — and not just because the lure of the yen and the euro are drawing more and more players off to Japan or France. But now the battle is coming to New Zealand, with player management group Dentsu moving in to corner the marketplace. The implications of this are still uncertain, but it is reasonable to assume that one eventuality — and it may happen be sooner, rather than later — will be Dentsu telling the top NZ players where they will be playing, not the NZR. And it won’t be in New Zealand.
Imagine the loss of bargaining power for the NZR boss. And let’s be under no illusions — Tew is no friend of Australia or Australian rugby. Just as long as everyone keeps that in mind, business can proceed normally.
The irony of the argument *behind keeping the Sunwolves in Super Rugby is that even they see the advantages of ditching a team to go back to a 14-team competition. That way every team would play each other once.
The downside is that there would be only six home matches every second season but as long as there was some compensation built into the broadcast deal, that should not be insurmountable. At least Super Rugby would be credible again.
So, if not the Sunwolves, who should be axed? The obvious answer is a South African team, given that two of their franchises have already drawn stumps and moved to the Pro14 league based in the Celtic countries and Italy. A third one, possibly the Sharks, would, frankly, not be missed. But if a South African side refuses to move, then Super Rugby should dig in at 15 teams, even if it means continuing with the infernal conference system.
One thing, however, is non-negotiable: there will be no more Australian sides culled.
If anyone on the board of RA suggests that — and there was talk at the time of the five-into-four debate that Australia should go all the way and retreat to its three original teams, the Tahs, Reds and Brumbies — then they should be removed immediately.
Enough of this defeatism.