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Sunwolves were a mismatch from the start

rugby26 March 2019 11:36| © SuperSport
By:Brenden Nel
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Sunwolves © Getty Images

Sanzaar’s decision last week to cut the Sunwolves out of a future Super Rugby competition and return the format to a 14-team one is a sensible compromise.

And to be honest, here in South Africa there will be very few people shedding tears about it.

The 14-team competition was the one aspect that Sanzaar got right over the years. Strength v Strength and everyone playing everyone. At the end of the day the top teams made it through to the final, and everyone was happy.

(There is still that little bit about flying halfway across the world for a final that unduly tilts the final towards the home side but nothing in international sport is ever perfect.)

Still, there has been some bleating about the loss of the Sunwolves, a side that was meant to be the dawn of a rugby expansion and the rise of Japan as a rugby superpower.

But while those romantics in the room have talked about the team being “everyone’s second favourite” and adding spice to the competition, the reality has been quite different.

Japanese rugby has never embraced the concept of the Sunwolves. Its company-based club system has always seen itself as a separate entity and the Sunwolves have had to play separately to the club sides without both the financial and political support it would take to make them a force in the competition.

Sure, they’ve got a win here and there and provided some interesting games for the competition, but it has been on the back of a system that turned the Sunwolves into the Barbarians-type team that hardly served the purpose of expanding Japanese rugby.

Without the financial muscle of the Japanese club system they have turned to expats, mercenaries of rugby to prop up the team, with promises to some to make the next Rugby World Cup. That’s hardly the way to sell themselves into the competition.

We’ve already seen this year the Sunwolves field 17 players who are of overseas origin in a squad of 23. For Pete's sake, their best player currently is Bulls discard Gerhard van den Heever. Very Japanese indeed.

The primary reason Japan was added – other than Australia’s insistence – was to reap the commercial rewards for the money in Japanese rugby and bring it into the Sanzaar fold.

To put on a competition like Super Rugby is a logistical nightmare. The Sunwolves’ entry made it even more so. Each country has a financial burden to bear and most cover it with broadcasting rights.

This is why the Japanese team found their way in ahead of the stronger – and higher on world rankings – Fiji, or any pacific island team for that matter.

It was commercial, and without the buy-in of the Japanese clubs that was going to be very difficult indeed.

This isn’t even touching on the political in-fighting within Japanese rugby at the moment. Rumours abound that World Rugby will be abandoning their Asian project after the Rugby World Cup, having learnt some harsh lessons indeed. If the rumours are true, the global body will spend more time developing rugby in South America and Europe, where sides like Brazil and Germany have shown immense promise instead.

And then we bring it back to Sanzaar. Despite the rumblings every now and again in Australia, Sanzaar nations are a very tight unit indeed. Their common vision and purpose make them close allies who often vote as a block.

Japan hardly did anything to endear themselves to the Sanzaar block as well. By going against Sanzaar and voting for France for the 2023 World Cup there was disbelief in Sanzaar circles.

And if reports are true that they twice voted against Saru president Mark Alexander’s bid to get onto the governing body’s council at World Rugby, who can blame SA Rugby if they weren’t their best friends when it came to revamping Super Rugby.

The Sunwolves experiment was an ill-fitting one indeed, that served little purpose other than propping up the salaries of a few journeymen players from around the Southern Hemisphere.

And a 14-team competition, which also has flaws, is a better, but not perfect way to take the competition forward.

Bigger isn’t always better it seems, and Sanzaar has learnt this.

A revamped Super 14 in 2021 is something to look forward to. And for that we should be grateful.

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