suntzu says...

@powerplay As much as I do agree with reducing the number of teams (even bringing it down further than 12 and having home and away legs to make it more even); I'd like to point out that apart from the Lions all the SA teams were ranked within the 10 first teams, the last five are mainly Australian sides... (3: Rebels, WForce, Waratahs)...

The whole problem with a promotion/relegation system is that it is not suited to the franchise system, unless you simply promote the highest ranked provinces of the local championship to the international competition it's unreasonable to think that a newly promoted team could compete at the super rugby level... But I guess they should have thought about it before, and let's look at the positives, at least Lions/Souther Kings fans won't be disappointed every year... only every second year.

Posted 13:33 20th August 2012

powerplay says...

The whole kings debacle is just plain embarrassing! In all honesty, why do SA and have 5 teams anyway?? Year after year, they are either last or in the bottom 3!!! Better to cut their teams down (Aus too!) and have better quality of rugby, rather than diluting the standard of play! Yeah, yeah yeah...its all about money...and politics etc, etc.. But in the end, the product (super rugby) should speak for itself, but, it is these type of teams (always at the bottom) that have consistently been a blemish on the competition! Go back to super 12!!!

Posted 12:17 20th August 2012