DURBAN - If I read between the lines of SA Rugby boss Jurie Roux’s media briefing yesterday, the focus for South African rugby is to mop up the mess of the 2020 season as best as possible. Instead, a format must be put into place next year which ensures the Springboks have the best possible chance of beating the touring British & Irish Lions.
The rugby planet has spun off its axis this year and as the component countries scramble to make sense of what is becoming a brave new world, the focus has to first be inward.
New Zealand has led the way. They are unashamedly putting self-interest first by blueprinting a competition that comprises their five Super Rugby teams plus three “guests” that have to be good enough to mix it with them.
Australia is following suit by responding to the snub from the Kiwis by announcing that they will go it alone along with an invited Fiji team, and Roux all but said that the first six months of 2021 can only be about preparing for a Lions tour that is the biggest thing in world rugby outside of the World Cup.
It was telling that Roux said that any domestic competition in this country would have to start late enough to ensure the players are rested from completing the 2020 season, and comfortably fit in with the arrival of the Lions in the first week of July, and thus crossover matches with Sanzaar partners (if they still exist) would be highly unlikely.
On the topic of Sanzaar, Roux was at pains to point out that South Africa has not been kicked out of Super Rugby by New Zealand and Australia - rather, it is a case of the latter two excommunicating themselves at least for the time while there is no “normal” travel between countries, but that could be years.
It was also revealing that Roux admitted that the Super Rugby competition could be officially dissolved if the four member countries sat round the Sanzaar table and agreed on termination.
We know what New Zealand and Australia want to do; Argentina have already dismantled the Jaguares and most of their players have signed with European clubs, so they are out; and that leaves South Africa, who are happy to be aligned with the travel-friendly and financially flush Europe.
Roux said he would “not be doing my job” if he had not been looking at plans for post-Super Rugby for “over a year”.
He can’t confirm that South Africa is to join the Pro14, but it is going to happen - South African can no longer move laterally to Australasia after being deemed persona non grata - so the reality is that the only way is north.
In the meantime, we can look forward to an intriguing Currie Cup that for the first time in decades will be packed with all of the country’s top players; and on the international front there will be the Rugby Championship in the New Zealand ‘bio bubble’ in November.
While this gives the All Blacks a big advantage, the bottom line is this is the only option open to the Boks to play Test rugby this year, and for starved fans, this is the equivalent of half a loaf being better than none.
The reason the Championship is going ahead at all is mostly financial because broadcasters need their pound of flesh after having already paid up front. And this is okay - professional rugby cannot run on goodwill alone. The money to play the players has to come from somewhere.
@MikeGreenaway67