Rugby union’s Super 14 will become the Super 15 in 2011, and will radically change its format under a plan by the organizers designed to breathe new life into the competition.
Agence France Presse reports that the organizers want to add one more team, and replace the round-robin first round with three ‘national conferences’ in order to have more matches between domestic rivals. Each national conference would have five teams from the same country, who would play each other home and away. The winners of each group and the next three teams with the most points, from any conference, would advance to the second phase.
The season would also be changed from February to May, to February to August with a three-month break in June for test fixtures between the Australia, New Zealand and South Africa national teams.
The extra team must compete in Australia, which has four Super 14 teams, compared to five each in New Zealand and South Africa. However a a tender to determine who the team will be will be open to the three SANZAR nations.
AFP reports that negotiators from the three countries were pleased with the deal, and will put it to media rights-holders News Corporation at the end of June.
