Super Rugby is an interesting beast. It’s the premier club rugby tournament in the Southern Hemisphere, many of the greatest Southern Hemisphere players to ever play professional rugby union have played in the competition and some of the best club sides of the last 30 years have lifted the trophy. And yet, it feels as though it’s quickly, and dramatically, fallen behind the club game in Europe (which includes the South African clubs at the moment) and when you add in the money aspect, it is slipping behind the Japanese league. As we are about to enter the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific season, with big name departures, a club teetering of the brink of collapse and apathy galore both at home and abroad, is Super Rugby just not that super anymore?

Super Rugby started back in 1996 after rugby union entered the professionalism era. It initially involved 12 teams from across Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and was won in the inaugural season by the Auckland Blues, who followed that up by also winning in 97 and reaching the final in 98. The format has undergone various changes since 2005, when 2 new teams entered the fray. Since then, teams have come and gone as the unions of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa (known collective as SANZAAR) have grappled with variable media interest, financial pressures and outside pressure to expand the value and reaches of the tournament and to compete with other leagues. In 2016, a team was added from Argentina and another from Japan in the most ambitious move made by SANZAAR, although both have now dropped out so it can’t be considered a success. The biggest change happened post-Covid when South Africa Rugby pulled all their teams out of the tournament and shifted 4 of the franchises across into the Pro14, which has now become the United Rugby Championship. Off the back of this, 2 new teams were added to Super Rugby, Fijian Drua based in Fiji and Moana Pasifika who are in the tournament to represent the Pacific Islands but are currently based out of Auckland.

All the chopping and changing of franchises, league structure and media outlets hasn’t helped the competition grow, especially when other challenges arise. For the past South African teams, they were hurt by the long travel distances and the time zone differences. They still face travel pressures in the URC, but at least the time zones line up to help fan interaction and to lessen the burden of jetlag. In Australia, rugby union isn’t among the most popular sports, and isn’t even the most popular form of rugby (that would be rugby league), so public interest and investment hasn’t reached the levels needed to remain competitive. For New Zealand, their struggle is money (again) and keeping players at home. While rugby remains the national pastime, and verges on the national religion, a country of just 5 million doesn’t generate the income to compete with England, France or Japan when money becomes a factor.

The long and short is that it’s been a while since we could think of Super Rugby as being the force it once was. But could that change?

Onto 2024 and for those counting, the current iteration of Super Rugby has 12 teams: 5 from Australia (Brumbies, Reds, Waratahs, Rebels and Western Force), 1 from Fiji (the Drua), 5 from New Zealand (Blues, Highlanders, Hurricanes, Chiefs and Crusaders) and 1 from the Pacific Islands (Moana). Back to the number we started with.

What the league has going for it is plenty freestyling play and excitement, with almost all teams set up to play flowing and expansive rugby. Super Rugby has also been at the forefront in recent years of adopting rules to speed up the game and make it more attacking. The 50-22 rule which is now become universal, was first trialled in Super Rugby. The league has also long been a hotbed for developing some of the finest young talent and expect plenty more names to pop up this year. Unfortunately, the loss of big names like Beauden Barrett, Richie Mounga and Aaron Smith, won’t help in the popularity contest for 2024. There’s a fair number of players reaching the twilight of their careers who have decided to ahead away in search of a payday. We’ve also seen players leave who have become resigned to the fact that they won’t make the international squads so have gone searching for a change of scenery. Alex Nahkivell was playing extremely well at centre for the Chiefs but found his way to an All Blacks jersey blocked and decided he’d give it a bash in Ireland and has been classy for Munster so far this season. That doesn’t mean we have no star names but they mostly reside in Auckland and Waikato with Reiko Ioane, Mark Telea, Caleb Clarke, Shaun Stevenson and Damian McKenzie leading the way in terms of name recognition and firepower.

The lack of competitiveness has long been a problem with the Crusaders dominating the competition in recent years, while New Zealand teams as whole have had the number over their Aussie rivals. Only the Brumbies have been largely competitive in the past few seasons with the Reds having the odd hot moment.

Maybe this year will provide a bit more shift in dynamics given the upheaval in New Zealand. The Crusaders might come back to the pack after losing head coach Scott Robertson (now running the All Blacks) and a number of key players who have moved abroad or are on the long-term injury list, with superstar back Will Jordan the highest profile name on the physio table where he’ll remain for the whole season. The Chiefs and Blues figure to the teams most likely to usurp the men from Canterbury. Although they have suffered their own departures in the playing squad, both teams have been building sufficient squad depth over the past seasons that they should be able to plaster over those gaps in the early rounds and stand as the likely teams to be playing in the Grand Final. The other teams from New Zealand, the Hurricanes and Highlanders, will likely be chasing the top 3 rather than being in amongst the contenders (although given the absurd nature of the play-offs, both figure to make it that far). The Canes have lost their talisman in Ardie Savea but have a decent blend of youth and experience to be competitive. The Highlanders have toiled recently but are going in hard on youth in order to build a sustainable long-term future. This might be a bumpy year again, but their arrow looks to be on the up. For Moana, it figures to be tough again with some of their best players of recent years moving on, although they have brought in players with plenty of experience in the form of James Lay, Julian Savea and Sione Havili Talitui.

Across the Tasman, the Brumbies are still the Australian team to beat and will be hoping to challenge the 3 big boys from New Zealand as the competition heats up with their experience in the pack and speed and finesse in the backs. The Reds will harbour similar aspirations but expect them to be in the 2^nd tier rather than pushing for the title as time wears on. The Western Force and Rebels have spent big money to be more competitive, but the Rebels are now in dire financial straits and are teetering on the brink of administration. The Force don’t appear to be in the same sticky situation, but they’ll need to prove the investment in the likes of Nic White, Ben Donaldson and Harry Potter (from Leicester Rugby, not Hogwarts) was worth it. The Waratahs, who are celebrating their 150^th anniversary in 2024, have turned to youth like the Highlanders and will be hopeful that young stars like Max Jorgensen and Tane Edmed can kick on to take the Tahs back to the summit of Aussie rugby. Lastly, expect the Drua to provide the same entertainment and flash we’ve came to love, with teams struggling on their visits to Fiji. Of all the teams in Super Rugby Pacific, the Drua will be seen as the ones most likely to cause several huge upsets. They turned over the Crusaders and Hurricanes in Fiji last season after both teams sent diminished squads, don’t expect any teams to repeat that approach in 2024.

Can Super Rugby return to its perch atop club rugby? Probably not given the importance of money in the professional game. It can’t compete with the Premiership, URC and Top 14 when it comes to domestic and international viewership and financial backing so it needs to play to its strengths. If we get a more competitive league this season, and combine that with the free-flowing attacking rugby we know we’ll get, then we might start to see international (and national) interest perk up again. The loss of some high pedigree names hurts, but it provides a chance for the next generation to step up. In 6 months’ time, who knows who’ll be bolting in the New Zealand and Australia camps when they prep for the Rugby Championship. All I know is that I’ll be watching along at every turn, hoping that the Crusaders somehow don’t win again.