A new Super Rugby competition kicks off in 2021, missing a team that should feature by 2022, but not missing the vaunted physicality of mate versus mate.
Here’s the good news around Super Rugby, or should that be SKY Super Rugby Aotearoa 2021: the competition will kick off on February 26, which is a far friendlier date than the sweltering January 31 kickoff we saw in 2020.
There’ll be a plethora of intense clashes with most of the best players clattering into each other. It’ll be physical and fast, just like we want with our Super Rugby. It’ll all be done by the May 8 final, followed by a trans-Tasman competition, which will run for six intense weeks.
But we will have to be patient to see a Pasifika team join the party, a long overdue entry which will become reality in 2022. This is the Moana Pasifika bid, which was set to be ready to go in 2021, but has another 12 months to get its house in order for the big introduction.
There was talk out of NZR that it was better to err on the side of caution and to not promote Moana Pasifika too soon, before it could be competitive enough on the field and viable enough off it. One of its advocates, Sir Bryan Williams, denied that, saying the bid was good to go and that the financials were in place.
It’s worth noting, too, that the ill-fated Sunwolves in Japan were hardly competitive on the field, racking up just a handful of wins in the five years from 2016-20. But they paid their way and engendered strong support. They were for the chop even before Covid-19 hit.
One suspects the virus can be used as an excuse in many scenarios. New Zealand Rugby, facing a $40 million loss, is hardly a charity, but you wonder what leadership Sanzaar has shown in all this, or is it now essentially obsolete?
Anyhow, the 26th season incarnation of Super Rugby is nearly upon us. There will be the usual Friday and Saturday night fixtures, and it’s tremendous to see the Sunday afternoon clashes, which proved so popular in the 2020 version of Super Rugby Aotearoa, included.
Will the crowds flock to the footy, as they did from June to August last year? Or will this prove to be a false dawn?
Teams and players will have noted the bye weeks, because there is no physical respite from these brutal encounters. That’s part of the reason the competition is missing three of its best for 2021: Brodie Retallick (for the second straight year), Beauden Barrett and TJ Perenara. That’s tough on the Chiefs (again), the Blues and the Hurricanes. Perenara is virtually irreplaceable for the latter.
But there will surely be enough there to get our teeth into. The calendar is just about back to some form of normality. Super Rugby has the reboot it badly needed. We will have to wait to see the Pasifika flavour, but let’s hope the rest of the world calms down enough for the inbound July tours.
Oh, and let’s hope the main protagonists don’t smash themselves up too much or we will again see upwards of 40 players used by each franchise.