A New Zealand view of the SARU spat with SANZAR
Once again South African rugby officials are spouting off and causing further cracks in an already strained relationship with the Australian and New Zealand Unions.
By David Long
A few weeks ago their coach Peter de Villiers was sounding off about a bias towards the All Blacks.
Then a week later South Africa Rugby Union (Saru) president Oregan Hoskins said it was a “declaration of war” that de Villiers would face a Sanzar misconduct hearing for his comments.
The latest tripe to come out of South Africa is that Saru are exploring other options for when the current broadcasting deal ends in 2015.
Privately, it must make Tew’s blood boil to constantly have to deal with these kind of situations.
Of course he can never say anything publicly, because that would just fire up the South Africans yet again, but the hard word needs to come down from him and ARU boss John O’Neill that the South African Rugby Union needs to pulls its head in.
Saru needs the ARU and NZRU as much as they both need Saru.
They may well go and spend some time going off exploring other options, but it’s as clear as day that there aren’t any for them.
There is no chance whatsoever for South Africa to become a part of the European rugby scene.
The season is congested enough as it is in Europe and there would be no place for their franchises to join the English Premiership or the Celtic League.
There would also be no chance of them getting into an expanded Six Nations. The European clubs wouldn’t stand to have their players taken away from them for any longer than they are now.
Saru has two options. Either toe the line inside Sanzar, or go it alone again like they did in their apartheid era.
The second one would leave the Springboks just playing tests inside the June and November windows and the rest of their rugby calendar taken up by the Currie Cup.
Arguably they’re already playing an out-of-date style of rugby – it would be even worse if they went down this route.
It would hit Australian and New Zealand rugby financially if South Africa quit the alliance, but it wouldn’t take long to build up a successful trans-Tasman competition which could potentially put more bums on seats than Super rugby.
Does anyone in New Zealand ever get excited when the team they support is hosting the Cheetahs or Lions? Of course not.
Hoskins and de Villiers have to snap out of this “them against us” attitude they’ve got with the ARU and NZRU.
They need to realise which side their bread is buttered on and look to strengthen, not weaken. the Sanzar partnership.
Other fights are brewing. Saru reportedly want the Southern Kings to be a part of Super Rugby in 2013. They were unhappy the 15th team went to Melbourne and for political reasons they’re desperate to squeeze another team into the competition.
But why should the NZRU and ARU continue to appease Saru all the time just because they threaten to throw their toys out of the cot each time they don’t get things their way?
Tew and O’Neill aren’t out to destroy South African rugby. They want it to be as strong as possible, because that’s how everyone benefits.
But try telling that to Saru.
Same same and same again.
This is definitely not the first…..I wonder if NZAR will just call SARUs bluff!.
1@ Wallabie.:
Walla, coming from an Ausie that is very rich… Ausie probably needs SA more in a rugby sense than what NZ does…
There simply is so much sporting competition for Rugby Union in Ausie that the only thing which keeps Ausie rugby floating and the books balancing is SANZAR and it’s 2 major competitions, namely the Super 14 and the Tri-Nations.
Without the Super 14, Australia does not even have a domestic competition to write home about…
… and just how much money is to be gathered and/or made from the poorest nations in your general region, the Pacific Rim countries? There might be oodles of money in Japan… but really will Japan or it’s Clubs be even half decent competition in a Super 14-type Comp??
Tell O’Neill to call the bluff… go on….
There is far more chance of SA fitting in with Countries on the same Time-zone line all over Europe, than anything the Anzacs can organise.
Having said this, I do not want to see SA departing from SANZAR, but I’ll be happy once someone with some solid brass balls does all negotiation for SA, rather than that limp-dick Marinos or the even more limp Hoskins.
Anyway, how’s just looking at or considering other options from the SA side hurting SANZAR.
There’s a good old Afrikaans saying…. David Long kan gaan doppies blaas… in other words Long can f-off and die.
@ Wallabie.: Wallabie..I’m sure you can understand the South African rugby supporter’s frustration. We don’t want any of this crap…we just want to watch a good game. All these rugby bosses and coaches are changing this into a schoolyard slagging match, with accusations being slung left right and centre. They should learn discuss things like this behind close doors. Rugby union is already loosing ground to rugby league and sevens…all this bad publicity doesn’t help and so unnecessary.
Thing is.. “what happens on the field, stays on the field” only seem to apply to the players.
I think all ARU and NZRU needs to do is wait it out, it is not going to be much longer and the current corporate political environment in SARU is going to back fire.
One thing SA supporters and stake holders won’t do is accept this BS much longer, so let it implode, perhaps then some proper business man can take over, wipe the blood off his desk, and sit down with the antipodes.
If that’s their attitude stuff them. Our players are playing way too much rugby as it is. I’ll rather see our top players in the Currie Cup, and going on a grand slam end of year tour every year. If we abandon Sanzar it doesn’t mean we never going to play them again. Just not as frequently. We can afford to show them the finger, they in turn can’t afford to show us the finger
@ rugbybal:
I feel the same way, if we move away from the SANZAR agreeement, I would prefer we go on our own.
GBS
I for one thing enjoy RSA being in the trinations. It is best to have at least 3 than having two. As Oneill says SANZAR each nation needs each other…the sum of all parts.
My frustration and of those NZ and ARU is the political baraging we get from SARU. The ultimatums thrown left right and centre because SARU is having a hissy fit. I mean who PDV to have a temper because he is not having the rub of the green with refs…get a life…who does he think he is to think he can be righteous about ref performance.
In his mind he think it is only RSA who gets bad decisions…..I have seen aweful decisions go against the wallabies and Aus S14 sides…really aweful. It is a fact of life.
Yet RSA thinks it is only them!!!
PDV put himself in a bucket…he squeezed his ass in it all by himself then gets on a righteous feel sorry for me campaign with Hoskins declaration of war.
Our frustration is SARO and not SA rugby. But I cannot blame you guys because most write ups in most RSA newspapers after a Bok loss is all because of the ref. What is wrong with the good old…we stuffed up and we were not good enough to overcome the ref or learn to know how the ref blows a game.
I will tell you this for sure….no SA or Bok supporter has ever written…we were lucky as the ref blew some howlers against the opposition.
There were some howlers in RSA with the home town refs…some serious howlers. How Mark Lawrence is still reffing after the blues sharks game is anybodies guess…one case in point!
I have no problem with ref mistakes…i have given up blaming the ref as they are human and if one has to understand what they go through one can feel that they are dead men walking.
Anways I think, out of frustration, NZ and Aus should just call SARUs bluff to test where they really are. Problem is sure we will miss RSA for rugby reasons first…the dollar will sort itself out. Aussies dont really watch aus vs RSA as much as NZ and Aus and this goes for S14 sides as well and to mention time zone friendly matchs.
I will reiterate…I would prefer that RSA remains in the trinations purely for rugby reasons.
@ Wallabie.:
You Wannabies should get a life. Just cause we’re not taking your shit it seems like you guys are having a hissy fit. Rugby reasons, please, and the dollar will take the biggest knock, not the rugby.
@ Wallabie.:
and compared to the ozzie refs Mark Lawrence is an excellent ref
Rugby bal
We are not the ones here having the hissy fit…guess who is making all the accusations and ulitmatums.
John O neill is heading over with the NZ boss to chat with Hoskins…or help him see that his eyes are closed.
You are very defensive…relax roll the shoulders take a deep breath and dont forget to breath out!!
The aus refs are simply awesome…I rate Dickinson highly especially how he controls the ruck.
Dickinsons knowledge and control of the ruck, the most complex aspect of the game, is second to none.
To the extent many saffas dont understand because they get blown up heaps…but if you watch it again you can clearly see that he is correct most times.
@ Wallabie.: I hate it when others claim the moral high ground. All nations have moaned over bad ref’s, decisions ect in the past. I blame the media for blowing these things out of poportion. Some people are just such suckers for these kinds of things.
Wallabie. wrote:
🙂 I can only smile
Ah well…look at what Graham Henry achieved after all his moaning last year about us not playing rugby as it should be played….they could find no other way to counter our kick and chase game, so they decided to change the breakdown laws so that the rest of the world stood a change of winning some games again. Amazing to see that when they moan and complain it’s all ok..
@ Wallabie.:
Walla a good post, i really agree with a lot of your thoughts. But i moaned groaned and threw a hissey fit because of one thing CONSISTENCY
Howzit Wallabie…it takes a big man to sit here and take abuse, but as you see most of the guys are open minded about the problem.
SA cant play only Currie Cup rugby, we will get worse and worse because we wont be up to speed with world changes.
I however must say that the Boks are generally not well liked amongst the rugby public of the ANZACS…true rugby affecianados aside, we are perceived to be too physical…Its our style and we shouldnt change that. It is possible to have a league which includes Heineken Cup and I have suggested a Round Robin where teams from around the world play super 15 and Heineken cup on a rotational basis (eg 1 year Heineken, 2 years S15 etc) it will make refereeing more consistent and would be good for both Hemispheres. Good luck for the world cup, I think Oz’s timing and run up is looking just about right and you’ll be there or thereabouts.
It would be a shame if the SARU backed out of the 3 Nations. My feeling is stop whining & get down to the task of competing as you did last year. Every team has ups & downs. No sense in blowing hot & cold. I don’t recall any whining last year when the Boks were on a winning streak or when they won the RWC. Everything was wonderful then. Now you lose a few games & everybody is conspiring against SA. I enjoy watching the Boks as do most astute rugby fans. My only complaint is that the team strategy/tactics does not allow the team play to its full potential. I put that down to a lack of coaching imagination and/or authority.
See that’s the problem. When someone insults our coach and we defend them, we are suddenly abusing the person who insulted. Get real Please!
@ rugbybal:
It was intended for a smile…knowing how Dickinson is hated in RSA!!
@ Wallabie.:
That’s an understatement. So what’s news regarding super cooper, is he going to change codes? That’s the thing, if SA is out of the equation, you’ll see a lot more of that happening.
@ Wallabie.:
You see the thing is, many of us are not at all impressed with PDV, but he is ours to criticise, so naturally anyone criticising any part of SA rugby will get the brunt of our displeasure.
Having said that, it is the minority that is winging, not everyone, and the simple fact is SARU, NZRU and ARU can only stay at the top if they are collectively working towards the same goal.
We have to face the fact that financially none of us on our own will compete against the NH, but colectively we stand a chance.
The one problem I do foresee is where the Super 14 is going. I don’t like the conference idea, and I don’t like it being expanded to more teams.
We have proven over the last 15 years, that the SANZAR can remain at the top with either a Super 12 or 14, so expanding the teams allows dilution of quality, and most likely opening up our closed elitist competition.
I don’t believe we need more than 4 teams each, this will provide the best talent of each country to develop their absolute best players.
Television rights, the almighty dollar, the input of Broadcasting companies to “enhance” and “renew” the competition is all needed and we need to be realistic about it. But to forsake basic principals of strengthening SH rugby should never be compromised.
@ biltongbek:
I agree with you comments.
S12 we go back to with 4 teams from each nation…strength vs strength…bums on seats.
I think the administrators have made a blunder to go the conference…the appeal is international football that is what sets Union apart.
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