Brendan Venter says SA Rugby should seriously consider leaving Sanzaar and joining a northern hemisphere competition.
Sanzaar is set to reduce Super Rugby from 18 to 15 teams, with two South African sides – the Kings and Cheetahs – in the firing line.
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The other team set to be chopped is the Perth-based Force, as Australian broadcaster Fox Sports reportedly wants the franchises from Canberra (Brumbies) and Melbourne (Rebels) to remain in the competition.
In a column for AllOutRugby, Venter said while SA Rugby had to remain part of Super Rugby until the current broadcast deal expired in 2020, a long-term solution lay north.
'With SA Rugby serving as the primary funder of Sanzaar, we can no longer afford to have a situation whereby the tail wags the dog and we subsidise other organisations,' wrote the former Bok centre.
'SA Rugby possesses the resources and must make use of their clout going forward. I don’t agree with the notion that we should be helping to build rugby in Argentina and Japan through a structure which we largely fund. I don’t believe it’s our problem to solve and from my point of view enough has already been done in order to develop rugby in those regions.
'The Sunwolves should be in a competition with Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and the Australasian teams owing to sharing similar time zones. And the perfect bet would be for South African teams to head north.'
Photo: Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images
