Super Rugby Pacific, the Black Caps and White Ferns are in action this weekend as Newstalk ZB's Kate Wells and Elliott Smith preview what's to come. Video / NZ Herald
OPINION:
Just as there is a fine line between madness and genius, so too is the rugby world about to see that the margins are just as thin when it comes to differentiating between momentous and calamitous.
Professional rugby is at a pivotal point having realised that after almost 30years, the wheel spinning its finances has been bumped off its axis and now all sorts of big decisions have to be made about how to rebuild sustainable economic models.
New Zealand Rugby, as was announced last week, have opted to take on Silver Lake as an equity partner and while the US fund manager is promising to deliver all sorts of clever investment opportunities to revitalise and reimagine the game in this part of the world, the whole deal could yet be relegated almost moot by an impending decision by the South African Rugby Union on whether to remain part of the Rugby Championship or switch allegiance to join the Six Nations.
For years the South Africans have used the threat of shifting North to leverage a better deal within the Sanzaar alliance.
The threat was never real because the Six Nations back then didn't want the Boks. They knew that the competition's value was derived by its history, by its stability and tradition and South Africa's presence would destroy all that.
What's different now is that the Six Nations have taken on CVC as an equity partner and so there is a new and powerful voice at the table – one that is driven purely by the need to make money and therefore potentially unwilling to place the same value on tradition and stability and convinced that bringing in the Boks will send the value of future broadcast and sponsorship deals soaring. And we all know money talks – often yelling over common sense.
South Africa Rugby have committed to the Rugby Championship until 2025 but with their balance sheet in shreds thanks to Covid, they have confirmed they are seriously looking at their future pathway.
Which means New Zealand's fate has never so firmly been in South Africa's hands, because the Rugby Championship would collapse without the Boks.
The intensity would be lost, credibility shattered and the associated financial value reduced to almost nothing as who would honestly be hooked on a tournament featuring just New Zealand, Australia and Argentina?
Even if Japan and/or Fiji were rushed in to buttress the competition and plug the hole left by the Boks, it would be the proverbial band aid over a gaping wound.
South Africa and New Zealand are the load-bearing pillars of the Rugby Championship and if one comes out, the whole thing collapses.
Rugby has many great rivalries, but maybe none as special and as intense as that of the All Blacks and Springboks.
There's a complex social history intertwined into their relationship and while Scotland and England could say the same and point to their recent encounter at Murrayfield as evidence of how a long and storied history off the field can create the most febrile atmosphere on it, the All Blacks and Springboks going at each other for 80 minutes is arguably the most prized asset world rugby has.
New Zealand's Anton Lienert-Brown celebrates after Codie Taylor scores a try in 2021. Photo / Getty Images.
There's no question the sport would be losing something extraordinarily special if it could no longer be sure when and how often the All Blacks would encounter South Africa.
NZR have a duty now to do whatever it takes to keep South Africa in the Sanzaar alliance. They need to publicly, passionately and persistently declare their respect for the South Africans and their desire to remain together.
Beg them, bribe them, even blast them with Barry Manilow and James Blunt – just do whatever it takes to persuade them not to join the Six Nations because the New Zealand rugby public will not tolerate any administration that damages, or worse, loses the greatest test fixture in the game.
There's also no doubt that if South Africa quit the Rugby Championship, the All Blacks will be in serious danger of slipping behind the world's leading teams as they simply won't have enough meaningful competition in their staple diet.
Pitting themselves each year against Argentina, Australia and Japan isn't going to give them exposure to world's best and it might be that their best bet is to pull out of the Rugby Championship and effectively declare themselves rugby nomads, wondering the planet hoping to cobble together a few decent tests against anyone who can find time to play them.
What's undeniable right now is that with one decision, South Africa could almost kill its old foe and wreck untold damage on the Rugby Championship.
In effect CVC's investment in the Six Nations will trump Silver Lake's money in the All Blacks and all too painfully, those who are arguing that the arrival of private equity investment in rugby is momentous, will understand that it was in fact calamitous.
