New Zealand Rugby Boss Steve Tew has admitted that Super Rugby’s organizers SANZAR are nervous about two of the three new teams joining Super Rugby in 2016.
Super Rugby will expand from 15 to 18 teams in 2016 when Argentina, Japan and South Africa all get a new Super Rugby team.
Tew has revealed that even though Japan beat South Africa at the Rugby World Cup SANZAR are still concerned about their entry into the new 18 team Super Rugby competition
“We are concerned about any expansion when you bring new teams into a competition and it takes a bit of time for it to bed down,” NZ Rugby boss Steve Tew told the NZHerald.
“We are nervous about the strength the Kings will bring to that competition too.”
Sanzar had explained why they had gone for the new structure and the rationale behind taking a little bit of a gamble on bringing Japan and Argentina into the competition.
“We are all very excited by what Japan achieved at Rugby World Cup but we remain pretty nervous about their readiness for Investec Super Rugby and that is their next step forward,” said Tew.
“On the upside it looks like the Argentinian side will be in very, very good shape. Very well organized, very prepared and got a very strong playing roster an they might actually be a considerable worry. They will add some significant amount of colour to the competition.”
SANZAR have been working closely with the Japanese team after Eddie Jones announced that he was leaving as Director of Rugby for the Japan team and would ultimately be coaching the Stormers.
A Japanese representative has been in Sydney this week and addressed a Sanzar meeting in Sydney this week about details they had in place for next year.
“They have not announced a coach yet so that is clearly an issue and they have not got a playing roster completely full so they are the two issues they have to put their foot on the throttle for.”
The South African team the Southern Kings are arguably a bigger concern for SANZAR as they have run out of money and not paid their players for last month and two players have already announced their intention to leave the Union.
The Southern Kings had been hoping for a major sponsorship to come in and save the day but so far this has not materialised and EP Kings Boss Cheeky Watson is understood to be in Australia to chase up sponsors.
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