Sanzar decision will force other changes

The announcement that the various Sanzar competitions are going to be expanded from 2006 is confirmation of something that was becoming inevitable – the importance of the Currie Cup is going to have to be downgraded.

It was announced on Monday that from the start of the 2006 season the Super 12 will become a Super 14, with an extra team each from South Africa and Australia, and that the Tri-Nations will in future be made up of nine matches instead of the current six. Instead of playing two games against each team, the various nations will now play three.

These changes will by implication further narrow down the space available to domestic competition, but perhaps I should rephrase my opening statement. The Currie Cup should not become less important, it should just be refocused to serve a different purpose. Instead of it being the tournament that decides the champion South African province, it should be the feeding and breeding ground for the teams that will play in the newly expanded Super 14.

There are already influential people within South African rugby, even working in the provinces, who feel it is time to face facts. Rob Wagner, managing director of both the Stormers and Western Province, is one who agrees with Sarfu president Brian van Rooyen’s view that you cannot expect players to play an entire Super 12 season (as it is presently constituted), the home tests, the Tri-Nations and the Currie Cup and then still expect them to perform on an end of year tour.

Of course, there is a counter-argument that what should be dropped is the end of year tour. This one definitely has merit, particularly if the northern hemisphere can somehow accommodate themselves into the world order by agreeing to a global season.

But money is what makes the sport go round, and as long as there is no global season, which is not on the agenda any time soon, then I suppose we have to grudgingly admit that it would be counter-productive if we completely did away with end of season tours. Having no contact with northern teams and trends would isolate us and leave the Boks at a disadvantage come time for the next World Cup, which just happens to be scheduled for northern conditions (apart from France, key games in the 2007 tournament will be played at British venues).

So if you subscribe to the sports scientist view that players need to rest much longer than they currently do if their careers are not to be shortened and performance compromised (and these people don’t just suck all of this out of their thumbs), then some other gap in the year needs to be identified where players can take an extended break.

For the top international players, that period would be the two months of the Currie Cup season, a period which may become even shorter now that the Tri-Nations teams will be playing six games, and not the current four. The length of the Super 14 is also going to have to be lengthened to accommodate the extra games.

Western Province coach Carel du Plessis has already rested Schalk Burger for the past two matches, and who knows, maybe he will continue to do so as he helps both himself and Jake White by keeping the players fresh for the Currie Cup play-offs in October and the Springbok tour that follows two weeks later.

The current WP management process, by the way, illustrates the benefits of having the top players spread between fewer unions. WP can afford to rest certain players for the simple reason that they have the depth in those positions.

For instance, the fact Du Plessis has De Wet Barry, Marius Joubert and Jean de Villiers (let’s not forget Gus Theron was nearly a Springbok last year too) to choose from in the midfield is good for South African rugby, not bad for it as it means they can be rotated.

This is something that Sarfu should keep in mind if it ever gets to the stage where it contemplates taking charge of the South African playing resources to the extent that they can allocate the players to the regions they believe need it.

Spreading the strength around might make some of our teams more competitive, but it will not produce a winning Super 12 (or Super 14 team) as the experiences of Canterbury Crusaders and the ACT Brumbies have shown down the years that a winning squad requires depth.

Right now the Stormers, who have just acquired the services of Gerrie Britz, look well equipped to launch a major challenge on the Super 12 title next year.

Those who doubt it should remember that they came pretty close (they were forced to do too much flying immediately before this year’s semi-final) in the most recent edition of the competition, and they did not have Joe van Niekerk and Jean de Villiers playing for them at the time. Burger was also younger and less experienced than he will be next year.

But let’s get back to the future positioning of the Currie Cup. With the Sanzar competitions now taking up more time on the calendar, it is logical to assume that the various nations who make up this organization have, like Wagner, decided that the southern hemisphere competitions are now the all-important events.

The Springbok coach wants his players rested, or at least used sparingly, at this time of the year, and it makes a lot of sense. It also makes sense for those teams with serious Super 12 (or Super 14 aspirations). If Burger, De Villiers and company are given some opportunity to rest now, then it will not just be the Bok Grand Slam chances that benefit, but the Stormers’ Super 12 chances too (believe me, some of the WP players are already talking quite excitedly about next year’s Super 12).

Pulling the Springboks out of the Currie Cup in future seasons will pose serious challenges for the provinces. But the positive spin-off will be that they will be under greater pressure to produce talent, and that talent, once established at Currie Cup level, will improve the depth available to the regional teams the following year.

Greater depth will also make it possible for certain young developing players to be withdrawn during the Super 12 phase of the season. Instead of playing rugby at that time of the year (goodbye Vodacom Cup!), those players should be doing a Clyde Rathbone by spending their time building their strength. Someone like the prodigiously talented Earl Rose, for instance, could certainly benefit from such a system.

The downside might be that a team like WP, while seeing their Super 14 alter ego excelling, might have to accept the days of Currie Cup trophies might become fewer and further between. The upside might be that having the top players withdrawn could give the people of Durban a much better chance of spotting that golden cup that has been away from the ABSA Stadium trophy cabinet since 1996.