Rugby: Only way is up for new chums

Greg Somerville in the Rebels first Super Rugby match. Photo / Getty Images

Former All Black front rower Greg Somerville believes the Melbourne Rebels will prove their detractors wrong.

While conceding that New Zealand critics of the new Super Rugby franchise could be right to question its long-term viability in Australian rules-mad Victoria, Somerville, the most capped prop in All Blacks history, says the Rebels have yet to build a foundation - and the only way is up.

Somerville joined Gloucester on a two and a half year deal from the Crusaders in 2008, only to return to Super rugby with the Rebels.

His renowned skills weren't much seen in a 43-0 drubbing in the Rebels inaugural match against the Waratahs, at Melbourne's AAMI Park on Friday night.

"There's a lot of people saying the Rebels will fail and we didn't answer any questions about us as a team on Friday night but it's not easy for a new team to come in and be first," he told the Herald On Sunday.

"You've got to build a foundation like the New Zealand Super teams have done. Every other side in the competition has been established for six or more years so it's going to take us a while to establish the way we want to play and the system which best suits us."

Having experienced life in Britain's Guinness Premiership with Gloucester after 54 appearances for Canterbury in a decade-long Super rugby career in New Zealand, Somerville is more qualified than most to compare the competitions.

Known as Yoda, partly because of the physical resemblance and allegedly because of an encyclopaedic knowledge of the arcane machinations of scrummaging, Somerville believes Northern Hemisphere players are at a distinct disadvantage compared to their Southern counterparts.

"Over here we play maybe 18 games to make the Super Rugby finals. In Britain, it's more like 40 games because while the Southern Hemisphere season is only for six months, over there it's more like nine months," Somerville said.

"Although the Super Rugby season is longer, it's still a bit of a sprint compared to the Premiership in the UK - so the durability of British players is more tested.

"The grounds and the conditions are better over here but they are two different brands of rugby."

Despite the debate on eligibility rules for overseas-based New Zealand players to qualify for the All Blacks, Somerville advocates keeping the current system to safeguard the future of rugby on these shores.

"The rules shouldn't be changed because we have to do what's best for New Zealand rugby," he said. "By keeping the best players in New Zealand, it keeps the competition strong and allows the supporters to see the best players' week in and week out.

"If the players go overseas then the control passes to the clubs and you can't judge them in the same way as you can in Super Rugby."

Somerville missed out on winning a World Cup but he sees no reason why history can't repeat itself for the All Blacks on home soil for the first time since the inaugural tournament in 1987.

"The All Blacks' prospects are really good. They've been pretty consistent for the past three or four years and a lot of the players have won over 50 caps and experienced a lot of hard yakka at previous World Cups - so they will push the younger guys hard.

"They've got a good core of players; they are a tight group playing at home, and so they've got every chance of winning the World Cup."