SA must look north for better future

The South African Rugby Union would be foolish not to look to the northern hemisphere to secure their long-term future.

Although SARU are tied in with their SANZAR partners, New Zealand and Australia, till at least 2015, they can do much better by getting into bed with European giants England and France.

This is the view of Saracens Group Chief Executive Edward Griffiths, who believes that South African teams are not getting a good deal out of the SANZAR agreement.

He was speaking in a live-streaming television conference as part of the announcement that the North London club, Saracens, will play French club Biarritz in a Heineken Cup match at Cape Town Stadium in January next year.

History will be made at the Cape Town stadium on Saturday, January 14, as this will be the first European Cup match ever played outside Europe.

Griffiths, a former CEO of SARU (then still SARFU), was supported by Springbok captain John Smit – who, of course, has joined Sarries after retiring from Test rugby following the World Cup in New Zealand last month.

Smit said the suggestion that South Africans were getting a raw deal out of the SANZAR arrangement was not something that was ever going to go away.

Both the Tri-Nations – to be expanded to include Argentina from next year – and the Super Rugby tournaments have always resulted in South African teams getting the short straw in the travelling schedule.

South African teams always have been on tour for a month or longer, while the kissing cousins from Australasia spent half that time on the road.

Even more concerning is the fact that the largest chunk of television revenue comes from South Africa, but they have to share it with the Aussies and Kiwis – who can’t match them for spectators in the stadiums or television audiences.

Griffiths said that while the match in January was a once-off event, for now, there was potential for closer co-operation between South Africa and teams in the northern hemisphere.

“The match [on January 14] does present an opportunity for Cape Town,” Griffiths said.

“It will be broadcast live on Sky in the UK, on terrestrial channel France 2, throughout the rest of Europe, across the Middle East, North and South America, Asia and Australasia.

“The match definitely has a global significance and maybe even beyond that.”

He said their primary goal with this match was to grow the Saracens brand.

“It is a by-product of this match that it does open a line between South African rugby and the European Cup.

“The European Cup has the potential to be commercially the strongest provincial competition in the world.

“It will be interesting to see if some South African players, provinces, coaches and even supporters might think that participation north-south might be – commercially, travel wise and in other ways – a more enticing possibility than the current situation, where they play east-west.”

Asked how he was to see more regular interaction between teams from the north and the south, Griffiths felt it was inevitable that South Africa would explore that option.

“It is not our primary aim in this game,” he said about the prospect of luring South Africa into the European market.

“Our primary aim is to grow the Saracens brand.

“However, if you look at world rugby at a provincial and international level, the countries that generate the most commercial revenue, the most potential television rights revenue,  are South Africa, France and England and they are all in the same time zones.

“At some point rugby is going to have to organise itself in such a way where the competitions are fair… where you don’t have people going across ridiculous time zones, people in each country can wake up and watch the matches at a time when they want to watch them and where television and sponsor’s value are increased.

“To my mind, and I am not necessary speaking on behalf of Saracens, because it is not our issue, but provincial and international competitions between South Africa, France and England must at some point be taken very seriously.”

Smit admitted that this issue – South Africa looking north for a better deal – was not something that was ever going to go away.

“The kind of travel that we have, going from South Africa to both New Zealand and Australia, is demanding,” Smit said, adding: This year alone, the trip to the World Cup was my fourth trip to New Zealand in one year.

“That in itself is obviously quite demanding, so there is always going to be those kind of issues.

“North-south is easier from a travel point of view.”

He said the game on January 14 would help players broadening their horizons.

“From Saracens’ point of view, just like the Sharks and Crusaders [Super Rugby match] at Twickenham, it is creating a Test-match atmosphere in a different environment. Players who don’t necessary get to play internationally [in Tests] get to play in a big stadium in front of a big crowd.

“You create a Test-match environment in a different culture.

“Perhaps it [the game in Cape Town] will open a door and if it is a huge success, and I am pretty sure it will be, considering the type of fans that Cape Town has and the type of support that Cape Town always gives, I think it is going to be a huge success.

“Hopefully a step in the right direction… a positive one.”

Former Springbok captain Morné du Plessis, an iconic Cape Town player and currently a Saracens Board member, also supported the view that South African teams could get a better deal in the European market.

“The biggest occasion for me will be when Saracens plays against Western Province in an official competition,” said Du Plessis of the possibility of South Africa ditching their southern hemisphere partners.

“That is most likely to happen after 2015, if it ever does.”

Asked if it was important for SARU to look at Europe as an alternative, he said it would be more beneficial.

“We [SA] are committed [to SANZAR] till 2015, but if you take a scientific medical point of view – I spoke to Professor Tim Noakes – and you understand the toll the travel and this competition is taking on us, it is not in our favour.

“Why must we do things that are not in our favour?

“So what happens when they start negotiating for the next round, I don’t know, but certainly we got to start doing things that is for our benefit and if it is in our favour to play in the northern hemisphere and it is commercially to our benefit, I don’t know if there is anything that is going to stop it.”

By Jan de Koning