Super Rugby is back, with a twist 

Much like most sports, the COVID-19 crisis put a stop to rugby a couple of months back. All games were suspended indefinitely with no clear idea on how to proceed. However, that is all about to change. 

The Super Rugby tournament, which comprises teams from across the Southern Hemisphere, and is definitely a major highlight of the rugby season. Obviously the tournament was suspended in March when the outbreak took hold. 

Recently, New Zealand PM, Jacinda Ardern, announced that the country was COVID free, and that she would be lifting the lockdown currently in place.

The tournament will see New Zealand’s 5 Super Rugby clubs, the Blues, Hurricanes, Chiefs, Crusaders, and Highlanders, take part in a 10 week tournament, with each team playing home and away. 

What excites fans in New Zealand the most, is the fact that they will be allowed in the stadiums to watch the games. New Zealand has declared itself COVID free, and with no new infections in the past 18 days, there is no need for social distancing. 

There are apps available that fans are encouraged to use to track their location while out in public, in the event of another breakout, this information can be used in contact tracing and shut the outbreak down before it gets out of hand. 

Australia has also been able to put a plan in place for a restart. There is no word yet on whether or not fans will be allowed to attend, but they have set a restart date of July 3rd for their own domestic tournament to begin. 

Once again, it will comprise Australia’s Super Rugby teams, the Waratahs, the Brumbies, the Reds, the Melbourne Rebels, as well as the returning Western Force. The tournament will last 12 weeks, with home and away games for each team scheduled. 

The Western Force’s return may be a surprise to some, but they are making their comeback in the wake of the Japanese Sunwolves being cut from the tournament. The Force has a by in the first round of games, so you’ll have to wait until the second week of play to see them back in action.

The Sunwolves are, at the moment, the only team that won’t be coming back to Super Rugby, however, the Jaguares of Argentina also have a very uncertain future due to the nature of lockdowns, lack of travel etc. 

They are now the only team that doesn’t fall into one of the three major regions, and therefore it’s going to be very difficult to find a way for them to play this season, with the one of the options being that they just don’t play at all. 

This leads to even more problems since they rely heavily on the money made from TV, ticket sales, and everything associated with playing high level rugby. Without this exposure and income, there is a good chance they will need to leave the competition. 

Another big name that is obviously missing from this list, is South Africa. The South African teams have been stalwarts of the competition for many years now, and a tournament without them would just seem wrong.

Clearly, a domestic style competition like the ones in Australia and New Zealand would be the best option, but South Africa is still very much in lockdown and isn’t even close to starting live sport again. 

The biggest problem being that they still have not reached their peak, and live sport won’t be able to resume until that peak has passed. Some think that maybe the teams should play behind closed doors to at least get some rugby played.

Other options include doing what football leagues are doing, with constant testing and then adhering to certain rules and measures while playing to lower the risk of transmission and potential spread of the virus.

There is talk of a domestic competition taking place in August, with players being able to attend very limited training at some point. Many experts see this as a major disadvantage when international test rugby returns. 

The Springboks are at serious risk of being easy targets for other international teams considering how long it is going to take the players to get back into rugby, even at a domestic level. 

Players in Australia and New Zealand are going to be playing again very soon, and clubs in the northern hemisphere are also close to being able to restart play again. South Africa will be very behind, and unless they get their act together quickly, they will just not be able to keep up. 

Either way you look at it, rugby fans were highly disappointed when the Super Rugby season was cut short, but can now look forward to live rugby again, as well as being able to take a seat and watch your favourite team live. 

It’s only a matter of time before we see what will happen with the South African teams, but hopefully they can get underway sooner than expected, and we can have a full array of rugby to enjoy again.