VIDEO: Cash is King in Sunwolves axing

REACTION: The unwillingness – or inability – of the Japanese Rugby Football Union to continue funding the Sunwolves has resulted in their axing from Super Rugby.

That, along with the unwillingness among the SANZAAR nations to prop them up, resulted in the Japanese franchise being axed from the SANZAAR competition from 2021.

The Sunwolves will play out the rest of the 2019 season and the 2020 year before the competition reverts to the round robin format in 2021.

This dealt a heavy blow to Asian rugby just six months before Japan hosts the continent’s first World Cup.

Rugby Australia Chief Executive Raelene Castle said it had come down to a decision about the “financial sustainability for our Super Rugby franchises”.

“The reality is that as much as we see Japan as being an incredibly important part of the future of rugby, when the JRFU withdrew their underwriting support for the Sunwolves, it left the SANZAAR partners in an exposed position financially,” she said in Sydney.

“We didn’t think that was in the best interests of the SANZAAR partnership,” added Castle, who said keeping the Sunwolves afloat involved millions of dollars.

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However, players expressed concern about the move.

“You’re always wanting to be growing our game, not only in our country, but globally,” Brumbies captain Christian Lealiifano said.

“I think they’ve been a team that has been continually growing and being a threat in this competition. They’re not easybeats anymore.”

The Aussie chief, Castle, made in clear finances was at the heart of the decision to axe the Sunwolves.

“It has been a long process of work to look at competition models, to look at the financial sustainability of each of those models, to look at the integrity of those models, to look at what we think is going to be good for high performance outcomes but most importantly is to look at the financial sustainability for our Super franchises,” she said.

“The reality is as much as we see Japan being an incredibly important part of the future of rugby, when the JRFU withdrew their underwrite support for the Sunwolves and they couldn’t find another to guarantee that underwrite it left the SANZAAR partners in an exposed position financially and we didn’t think that was in the best interests of the Super Rugby partnership.”

While the timing is awkward for the side, still just a third of the way through the 2019 season, Castle said she was confident the Sunwolves’ pride and their contractual obligations would ensure they continued to develop and be competitive in their remaining time in Super Rugby.

“It’s always difficult when you make a decision like this you always end up with an overrun because of the nature of broadcast timing,” she said.

“It’s a reality, it’s a fact and we have considered that but they are under contract to deliver a Sunwolves team for next year and we’re confident they’re very proud people that they want to make sure that Sunwolves team is competitive and they’ve got players that will be contracted into that time period as well.”

Castle said the SANZAAR countries were committed to helping Japanese rugby continue to develop regardless of their Super Rugby involvement.

“That’s certainly a significant driver but I think the announcement today that has been in the press release is also about recognising that whilst we don’t see them taking part in the Super Rugby competition directly, SANZAAR is very keen to work closely with Japanese rugby to make sure we work with them to help them develop the second tier professional or their own professional competition,” she said.

“That’s where certainly New Zealand, Australia are going to be working very closely with the Japanese rugby union to bring our expertise, be that high performance experiences or competition development experience, to be part of that competition.

“I think the closeness of the two competitions and the relationships between the national bodies is very important as we look at perhaps the Cherry Blossoms coming into either the Rugby Championship or World Nations Cup competition to ensure that they’re sustainable over that longer time.”

Sources: @rugbycomau & AFP