Editorial: Season signals great change for rugby

Photo / Richard Robinson

Opinion

The most keenly anticipated of rugby years is finally here. Tonight's opening clash of the expanded Super Rugby competition, between the Hurricanes and the Highlanders, starts a season that will culminate with the final of the World Cup at Eden Park on October 23.

Almost everything that happens between now and then will be gauged on its potential to help or hinder the All Blacks' chances of securing the game's ultimate prize on that date.

For that reason alone, there will be heightened attention in Super Rugby, the Tri-Nations series and the provincial championship, the ITM Cup. Further interest, if it were needed, will be supplied by new formats that together will supply enough rugby to satisfy the most fervent of fans.

First, there is the new competition. It introduces a conference structure that will feature home-and-away local derbies and a new playoff format.

In all, 125 matches will be played, up from 94 in last year's Super 14 competition. The format seeks to take advantage of the heightened interest and attendance that occur when New Zealand teams play each other. Population movement is such that the Hurricanes, for example, are guaranteed strong support even when playing in Auckland or Dunedin.

But the new structure is not without potentially serious problems. If familiarity breeds contempt, the plethora of local derbies could soon resemble stale bread. There will be less opportunity to eye and assess players from South Africa and Australia, one of the strengths of the Super 14.

The format also disadvantages certain teams. This year, for example, the Crusaders do not face newcomer the Melbourne Rebels or the Lions, of South Africa, both teams from which they would expect to take maximum points.

Rugby bosses say such anomalies will even out over five years. That, however, will not ease the disenchantment if a quirk of the draw is seen as costing a team a playoff spot.

It is all change in the ITM Cup also and, again, the format is far more complex. Provinces ranked one to seven will play each other in the premiership and teams who qualified eight to 14 will play in the championship and will also play four crossover matches against provinces from the other division.

While this structure features the welcome introduction of promotion and relegation, it is difficult to see it having the same appeal as the simple format that, once again, proved itself in its swansong last year. Whatever the budgetary concerns behind the changes, this seems unlikely to be an enduring solution.

With the World Cup starting on September 9, the ITM Cup has had to be compressed into eight weeks, from July 14 to September 3. This means that on most weeks rugby will be played every night except Monday.

Teams' depth will be severely tested. Similarly, the Tri-Nations has had to be truncated, with the All Backs starting their campaign against the Springboks in Wellington on July 30 and ending against the Wallabies in Brisbane on August 27. Richie McCaw's pre-season injury underlined how attention in these matches will not be related solely to the scoreboard.

It is unusual that so much change is being introduced in a World Cup year. Most sports wait until the year after their main event, usually the Olympics, to do significant restructuring. That provides time for changes to bed in during the four-year cycle. Transformation is also easier in that the situation is already fluid because a multitude of players and coaches are on the move.

As it is, however, this is a season of great change - and great promise. Never before will there have been so much rugby. Perhaps never again will New Zealanders have the chance to see so much of the very best of it in their own backyard.