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SANZAR boss Greg Peters has spoken of Super Rugby considering possibly including new teams from Canada, the USA, Argentina and also Asia in 2016.
Both the Canucks and Eagles were this week named as new competitors in 2013's Pacific Nations Cup, which Peters believes is positive.
And with a call pending on whether to expand Super Rugby when the next broadcast contract begins, the next step may see wider participation.
"We are considering whether or not we will include new territories in Super Rugby and one of the factors we'll be weighing up is their competitiveness," Peters told The Australian.
"Super Rugby in its present form is a pretty successful model and we are not going to water it down. But we'd be derelict in our duty if we didn't consider expanding into areas. The United States is a very big market and so is Japan and Asia generally. Ultimately it all comes down to what is in the best interests of the three SANZAR parties."
Peters added though that travel considerations could become a stumbling block in the decision.
"Player welfare is a big consideration. That said, the conference system does provide us with a degree of flexibility, either in terms of adding new conferences or adding new teams to existing conferences," he said.
Comments
lawynd says...
...but not for the Pacific Islands? Any chance that's because Australia and New Zealand want first-dibs on these players?
Posted 09:33 24th January 2013
carpelone says...
Firstly, SANZAR should sort out the schedule issues and the silly derby and conference system.
Then we see, but unless they bring in the national team, how can they match SR superpowers? We do not want to see games with 70-3 type of results.
Posted 09:32 24th January 2013
fozza says...
Would love to see this. I know it's more travelling for our Southern Hemisphere brethren (something people never seem to take into account when bemoaning how short the SANZAR season is), but the possibilities of developing these countries is huge. Any american or canadian posters who can tell us the best region for support?
Posted 08:48 24th January 2013