Super Rugby braced for potential collision course with R360

Super Rugby chief executive Jack Mesley believes breakaway competition Rugby360 could produce “significant implications” for rugby if it gets off the ground next year.

R360’s 16-round competition is chasing former All Black and Warriors star Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, among others, and could potentially be held across two windows from April to June and August to September, putting it on a direct collision course with Super Rugby, which is traditionally run from February to June.

“I guess all we can say is we’re absolutely focused on growing this competition and continue to be focused on what we can control,” Mesley said.

“Clearly, R360 is a topic of conversation that is happening amongst the unions and professional leagues across the world, but I’d rather not speculate on it ... I think if what’s being proposed by them (comes true), there’s significant implications for international rugby, for club rugby, but again, it’s all ifs, isn’t it?”

Mesley said Super Rugby would continue to focus on its existing 11-team competition and says future expansion to the United States, Japan, and South America is not a priority, and any chance for South African sides to return to the competition is over.

“Expansion, there is a desire to investigate what it could be, but that’s out into the future, and we’re not investing a hell of a lot of resources in that right now,” Mesley said.

“I mean, my view is South Africa is gone, they are now in URC, locked in ... so I think that’s highly unlikely.

“Primarily, we’re making sure we are solid as we can be within the Pacific and then, you know, are there opportunities within the Pacific?

“And then the secondary conversation is, if in the distant future we expand into another geography, well, what are those possibilities?

“It’s been documented ... the US, or Japan or South America, but again, we’re not investing a lot of time in it. We think we’ve got a lot of work to do and a lot of upside here in the Pacific with the competition.”

On the Super Rugby front, Super Round will return next season after a one-year absence, with Christchurch to be a first-time host. Mesley revealed that a potential “Bula round” in Fiji is still in discussion with the country’s government, given that infrastructure needs to be built at the Drua’s home ground.

“We really are interested in Fiji in the long term, but that requires some infrastructure,” Mesley said.

“So we’re really keen to work with the Fijian government to look at what would it take for us to run a Super Round up in Fiji.

After RA’s director of high performance, Peter Horne, said the Giteau Law is “kind of redundant” at the start of August, Mesley does not believe that this stance will affect the quality of retaining Wallabies in Super Rugby.

One major change to Super Rugby this season will be a change to the ‘lucky loser’ format used in the finals. The highest-ranked losing team from the qualifying finals will now progress as the fourth seed, ensuring they play away from home in the semi-finals and also the grand final should they qualify.

Last season, the Brumbies lost a chance at winning the competition after the top-seeded Chiefs were upset by the Blues in the qualifying final. Due to the Chiefs only dropping one seeding point, the Brumbies still had to travel to Hamilton for their semi-final, where they lost 37-17.

The Waratahs will host their first game of the season against the Reds at Allianz Stadium on 13 February.

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