KEY POINTS:
Expansion. The word seems to be coming out of every rugby's official's pores as they ponder solutions to rugby's struggling profile.
Aussie boss John O'Neill was banging on about revitalising the Super scene with a 26-week tournament and a new side in Japan, before our man Steve Tew began espousing ideas involving Argentina or the States.
Then Sanzar revealed yesterday it wanted to expand those horizons even further in response to the threat of the rugby economies in the Northern Hemisphere.
Tew said the Sanzar countries wanted to talk with Japan, Argentina, the United States, Canada and the Pacific Islands in the next six months to discuss the expansion of the Super 14 and Tri-Nations series.
It seems madness that as players seek lucrative contracts with the incentive of reduced travel demands in Europe, the NZRU is looking to increase their itineraries and time away from home.
Player welfare? Yeah right.
The demands are already excessive, with those who make the All Blacks likely to be away from home for at least 160 days this year. Add trips to Argentina, the United States, Japan or all three in an extended 2010 Super tournament, and the excitement will soon dim for those involved.
Only fanatical insomniacs will care to keep up with that programme.
And quite how officials could run such a widespread event when they cannot agree as a tripartite Sanzar group is baffling.
Sifting through those playing Super 14 this season, it seems about 30 players for a variety of reasons will not return next season. Some will retire, others will grab the offshore loot, others opt for lifestyle - because they are disillusioned with the current schedules.
Let's consider a few alternatives and start with the World Cup, which is not going to disappear. That event is scheduled quadrennially for September and October.
So in the other three years of the cycle let's make that the time for both inbound and outbound tours or tests. Forget the sort of unbecoming drive-by internationals we are getting from Ireland and England in June.
The Super series should begin in April and run for about 20 weeks of round robin and finals competition. New Zealand rugby would be better served if the competition had the same number of teams but no South African content.
Time zones and an absence of provincial tribalism are sporting enemies in the Super series. Transtasman combat is an answer; eight NZ sides and six from Oz playing in front of capacity crowds at smaller stadiums would also be more financially sustainable, logical, interesting and easier to follow.
Players would have the progressive build-up of club and country, while an amateur club and amateur NPC competitions could run underneath the professional series.
A gap between the round robin and finals could be put aside for the Bledisloe Cup, while tests against the Springboks would become far more appealing if they went into the September-October international window. The distinctive honour of tests would return if players were involved in six or eight a year rather than double that as they are now.
The All Blacks could then take leave before Christmas. All professionals could have January and February to condition and March to prepare with their team before an April start.
