The ACT Brumbies are in favour of a 10-team Trans-Tasman competition, but are bracing for another domestic-only rugby season should travel restrictions between Australia and New Zealand remain in 2021.
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With the financially troubled sport scrambling to navigate the COVID-19 crisis, Rugby Australia has released to potential broadcasters several future competition models which would replace Super Rugby.
Interested parties are due to report back to Rugby Australia early next month, with a new broadcast deal set to be in place by mid to late September. The current agreement expires at the end of this year.
A Trans-Tasman competition involving 10 teams is one possibility, as is an all-Australian season including the Brumbies, NSW Waratahs, Queensland Reds, Western Force and Melbourne Rebels.
Rugby Australia has also flagged a four-week post-season Super Eight competition which would involve the best teams the top two teams form Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, plus one each from Japan and South Africa while a State Of Origin type fixture between NSW and Queensland, and revamped nation-wide club rugby competition are other potential options for broadcasters.
Brumbies chief Phil Thomson said a 10-team competition involving Australia and New Zealand in 2021 would be the Brumbies' preference going forward, but noted the virus could mean that was an impossibility.
"Understanding what '21 looks like from the COVID situation is still an uncertainty, there may have to be some sort of domestic competition in Australia and New Zealand with some crossover at the end," Thomson said.
"That's all uncertain at this stage like a lot of things. The number one option we're still working towards at the moment is that trans-Tasman competition.
"It's a really extensive package of content they've put out there for the broadcasters. The timeline's been set and the clock is ticking and we need to get everything in place for 2021 and beyond."
The Brumbies were sitting second in the 15-team Super Rugby competition before it was suspended and then abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
That competition involved four teams from Australia, five from New Zealand, four from South Africa, plus one each from Japan and Argentina.
Trips to South Africa and Argentina created logistically expensive and challenging away trips for Australian and New Zealand teams, and while the virus has left the code in a dire financial situation, the revamped format would come with the silver lining of far less travel.
"Rugby Australia is working hard at the moment on the financial viability of the teams and the competition, it's very important that a good broadcast deal is done," Thomson said.
"We're no different from any other part of society or industry at the moment, we've had some tough times throughout the organisation and survival is our biggest focus.
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"I've been really happy with the resilience of the team and everyone in the organisation to work together. We've had a lot of cost cutting to ensure we could still be viable.
"This does now give us an opportunity to do a bit of a reset over the short term to see what comes of it.
"The world's changed in so many ways, the travel is going to be very restrictive for the next year or two. We need to think a little outside the square now as to what the rugby would look like.
"It's important for everyone both sides of the ditch that we all have some certainty pretty quickly around what 21 looks like."
Brumbies hooker Connal McInerney said the players would favour a Trans-Tasman competition.
"That'd be the go, to test ourselves against a different flavour of rugby," McInerney said.
"The guys generally like traveling over there. Some guys prefer the derbies but there's so much meaning to trying to get one over the New Zealand opponents.
"You want to test yourself against the best."
James Buckley
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
