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Pienaar against S15 expansion

Cape Town - Former Springbok captain Francois Pienaar is not in favour of an expanded Super Rugby competition.

SANZAR CEO Greg Peters recently all-but confirmed that the 15-team competition will be expanded to include six teams from South Africa and a new team from Argentina.

"Today's meeting was another important step in deciding the future of Super Rugby. Encouraging progress was made and we now have a preferred model that involves six teams from South Africa and a new team from Argentina.

"The model will now be taken to the national unions for approval before SANZAR presents its final position to broadcasters and fans in due course," Peters was quoted as saying.

This will happen from the 2016 season when a new broadcast deal kicks into effect.

It will see the Kings return to the competition with all South African franchises assured of a spot year in, year out.

In an interview with the Business Day website, Pienaar said he would like to see less Super Rugby, not more.

He said the Varsity Cup, South Africa's popular university rugby competition, provided an illustration of the principle of less is more.

"If I can use Varsity Cup as an example, it is so short and compact - therein lies the success. If you make it longer it will fizzle," said Pienaar.

The Varsity Cup features eight teams in a single round-robin format.

"It (Super Rugby) is just too much. The guys are playing too much rugby; there is too much rugby to watch."

Pienaar, 47, was the Springbok captain when they won the 1995 Rugby World Cup, beating New Zealand 15-12 in the final at Ellis Park.
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