Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Australian clubs believe the Super Rugby Pacific’s revamp will strengthen the league’s appeal and boost the Wallabies’ chances of success.
The league will shrink to 10 teams next year after New Zealand Rugby rejected investor pitches to save Moana Pasifika.
This led to an overhaul of the regular-season structure, with the competition expanding from 15 to 17 weeks and teams to play 16 matches, giving each side an additional home-and-away clash.
ACT Brumbies general manager Gav Hunt says the extra fixtures can also help the Wallabies, who are hosting the World Cup next year.
“It’s really important for the pathway for our Wallabies players and those aspiring to be Wallabies players. The more often we can play the New Zealand teams, the better they can acquit themselves,” Hunt told AAP on Wednesday.
“It’s not quite a full home-and-away series, but you’re ending up playing all of your Australian opponents twice, and then you’ll play at least three of the New Zealand teams twice during the course of the year as well.
“From our perspective, the players want to be playing football, so adding a couple of games to the season is a really positive thing.”
The finals structure is also changing, with the top two teams earning a bye and advancing directly to the semi-finals. The third- and fourth-placed finishers will host the fifth- and sixth-placed sides respectively, for a place in the final four.
No Australian team has won the competition since the Waratahs in 2014, and Hunt says the changes will add more interest for the four Aussie sides.
He said this would help attract more eyes to the competition, which has struggled financially and has had difficulty attracting big crowds.
“It certainly amplifies the importance of finishing first and second on the ladder, doesn’t it?” Hunt said.
“The ability to play at home in a semi-final, which we all know is really critical to getting into a grand final (also helps).”
The first Anzac Day Bledisloe Cup Test will also take place next year, and teams for that game will be named following round nine.
“From my perspective, it (the Bledisloe Cup Test mid-season) creates more discussion, more media and more attention on rugby union and Super Rugby Pacific,” Queensland Reds chief executive David Hanham told AAP.
“People are going to be talking about who’s going to be earning those Test jerseys, so that’ll create another level of interest and more discussion.”
There will also be one bye instead of two, potentially creating a sticking point after clubs complained of the taxing impacts of the busy Test schedule and Super Rugby season last campaign, with only a small break between the pair.
But Hanham rubbished the idea that player loads will be further strained, saying there is an appropriate amount of rest and that clubs would work with the Wallabies to ensure players aren’t overstretched.
