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Johannesburg - The pushing tactics and bluff of Australian Rugby Union boss John O'Neill is being called - and SANZAR and the Super series could soon be without South Africa, the financial backbone of the present SANZAR alliance. This follows the admission by SA Rugby's managing director Andy Marinos that South Africa were on the point of "canvassing up north", according to The Times in New Zealand.
This admission comes in the wake of the threats by O'Neill that, if South Africa are not prepared to fall in with the other two SANZAR partners in their proposed plans to expand the competition, they would look at the trans-Tasman and Asia-Pacific options.
SA Rugby, however, are not prepared to agree to what O'Neill calls "the perfect outcome" - a round and a half of Super 15 rugby where the three countries' five participants each will have a domestic "conference" competition with the best two from each then going through to a six-team playoff.
That proposal will have the effect that the competition will run well into the Currie Cup season which will prevent the country's top Springboks from taking part in what is the backbone of South African rugby - something SA Rugby found untenable.
SA Rugby's reaction led to O'Neill's threat to go without South Africa and instead pull in Japan and the Pacific Islands whose top players are already contracted to franchises of the Australasian partners of the SANZAR alliance. Added to that, South Africa provide the financial and crowd numbers that make the alliance viable.
According to The Times, Marinos said South Africa had made it clear to their partners that the proposed structure of the new Super 15 was unacceptable and that South Africa would be looking to the Northern Hemisphere if their SANZAR partners continued to pursue their present ideal. Marinos said that SA Rugby would do what is best for South African rugby and despite the threats of O'Neill that the other two partners would go it alone, it is clear that such a move would impair the quality of the rugby and competitiveness of the Super competition.
Marinos denied that SA Rugby was threatening its partners.
"We're doing everything in our power to ensure SANZAR stays alive, but we have to be realistic and work within the constraints we have," he told the newspaper. "We are approaching a critical point now. I've put forward a position and South Africa will hold that position. We have compromised and are in a serious stage of negotiation and all parties need to come to the party. They've been talking about a trans-Tasman/Asian structure so we must perhaps also look at what our options are. We will exhaust every avenue within SANZAR but if we can't reach a compromise we'll have no hesitation in looking to the north," Marinos said according to the Times.
"For a lot of reasons it makes sense; the same time zones, it's more attractive for broadcasters, less travel and there has been a resurgence of the strength of club rugby there because of the Heineken Cup," Marinos is quoted as saying.
