Pacific Islands bid for new Super Rugby franchise rejected by SANZAR

The Fiji Rugby Union have revealed that an application to launch a Pacific Islands Super Rugby team along with Samoa and Tonga has been rejected by SANZAR, delivering a major blow for the development of professional rugby among the tier two nations.

The FRU chief executive John O’Connor has claimed that SANZAR, the governing body for the leading southern hemisphere club competition, decided against a bid from the Pacific Islands to start up a new Super Rugby franchise, explaining that they did not believe the plan was “commercially viable”.

With SANZAR currently reviewing the framework that will form the competition from 2021 through to 2030, the three islands submitted a joint-bid to join the Super Rugby family, which includes the Sunwolves and Jaguares from Japan and Argentina respectively as well as teams in New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.

But while O’Connor said that SANZAR were impressed with certain aspects of the application, which was lodged back in June, it was ultimately rejected because the “commercial uplift in both broadcasting and guaranteed underwrite” could not be delivered.

“(This) would render the viability of a Pacific Super team under the proposed SANZAAR commercial model unsustainable,” O’Connor added in a statement.

The FRU did not state how much it would cost to support a Super Rugby franchise, but the Pacific Rugby Players’ Association claimed that it would take $12m (£9.4m) to maintain each year.

“The decision was made within the Pacific that financially it didn’t stack up,” the PRPA association chief executive Aayden Clarke told Radio New Zealand on Thursday.

“The losers in that, if they were to put all their eggs in that basket of having a (Super Rugby) franchise team, would probably be community rugby and club rugby.”

The rejection of a Pacific Islands franchise comes at a time when tier two nations are pushing harder than ever before for more help in building themselves into competitive forces on the international stage. Last month, Fiji recorded their first ever victory over France in a result that made headlines around the globe, while Japan gave England a scare in leading their autumn international clash at half-time, three years after they beat South Africa at the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

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But while Fiji have been on the up in recent years – winning four straight Pacific Nations Cup titles – both Samoa and Tonga have struggled and the formation of a Super Rugby franchise was hoped to be a step towards retaining their best players and preventing emerging talent being poached by the likes of New Zealand, Australia, England and France.

The rejection doesn’t make Super Rugby’s future any clearer, either. Having already cut the competition from 18 to 15 teams at the start of the year, there have been suggestions in Australia that the Sunwolves are also at risk of being cut due to their poor performances since joining in 2016.