Super Rugby Pacific CEO Jack Mesley won’t entertain the idea of South African teams returning to the competition in the future.
Mesley was appointed to the CEO position in 2024 after the likes of the Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers had already left the tournament and joined what is now the United Rugby Championship.
Traditionalists have rued South Africa’s absence in the competition, which they helped form back in 1996 when the game officially went professional.
Another Super Rugby expansion?
When the tournament debuted in 1996, it featured 12 teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and grew to 14 by 2006.
The numbers fluctuated from then on, expanding to 15 in 2011, 18 in 2016 and finally 15 between 2018 and 2020, with teams from Japan and Argentina first joining in 2016. The global pandemic proved to be the final nail in the fractured relationship between SA Rugby and the SANZAR partners, with South African teams joining what was then the PRO14 in the Northern Hemisphere.
Five teams from New Zealand and Australia then competed for the 2021 Super Rugby title before the tournament was once again expanded by two clubs, with the Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika coming on board in the freshly branded Super Rugby Pacific.
However, last year the Melbourne Rebels entered administration and eventually collapsed leaving a void in the tournament’s club line-up.
That void won’t be filled, according to Mesley, despite the Cheetahs airing their desire to return to the competition and suggestions that the Jaguares could do the same.
Instead, the CEO wants the status quo for the 2025 to remain intact going forward despite the odd number of teams.
“No. None,” Mesley bluntly stated when asked on the DSPN podcast with Martin Devlin whether there were plans to replace the Melbourne Rebels.
“Our focus right now is largely because of the point you just made, Super Rugby has had so many guises, so many changes.
“We need fans of rugby in this region to understand our comp. Who are our teams? Who are our players? There are no secrets; clubs, financially, are not necessarily in the strongest position.
“We’ve got a job to solidify and really contain and fortify what we have now. So that is where our energy is focused on strengthening our existing clubs, ensuring that the fans understand what Super Rugby Pacific is today, the teams that are involved and the wonderful talent that we have.
“So I still think there’s a lot of headroom for growth within that current structure, and no secrets, we don’t have resources coming out of our ears. So I want, you know, I want every 60 minutes of an hour spent strengthening our competition today versus 30 spent looking for pots of gold in faraway lands that maybe don’t even exist.”
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The South Africans ‘don’t rate well’
There is also a thought that much of the Wallabies and All Blacks’ struggles in recent seasons have been due to the absence of the South African teams, who produce a different style of play to their Australian and New Zealand counterparts.
It’s been a hot talking point over the years with Wallabies legend Matt Burke crediting the South Africans’ absence as a reason to why Australia have sometimes struggled with the physicality of Test matches.
Ex-All Blacks Sonny Bill Williams and Stephen Donald have also pleaded for their return to the competition, the latter preferring that over an expansion to America, which has also been slated.
On the flipside, former Springboks forward Schalk Brits believes that the URC and Champions Cup is better preparing South Africa for international rugby than Super Rugby did.
But Super Rugby’s boss Mesley stood firm, stating that the tournament is in a better space ratings-wise than it was when South African teams were involved.
“No,” was his frankly reply when asked would he have the South African teams back in the tournament.
Pressed as to why that was the case, he replied: “Well, if you go back and look at the data, those games did not rate well.
“They did not attend well. They did not rate like we’re rating now. They did not attend like we are attending now.
“So, I think there is a romance associated with the South African days.”
Devlin added: “It always is about the girlfriend who leaves, mate. You know that.”
With Mesley finishing the discussion, adding to the joke, “Even a South African one.”