Springboks great Schalk Burger has vehemently disagreed with the Super Rugby Pacific chief, who claims that they are not being hampered by South Africa’s absence.
The teams from the Republic were axed from the competition in 2020 and have since decided to align their club game with the northern hemisphere.
Their big four franchises – the Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers – opted to join the United Rugby Championship, leaving Australia and New Zealand to go it alone.
A debate has continued to rage as to whether the trans-Tasman duo should try to convince their fellow southern hemisphere giant to rejoin, but CEO Jack Mesley poured scorn on that idea.
Mesley is convinced that they are better off without the South Africans, but that has attracted some criticism from big-name pundits.
Springboks legends agreeing with Sir John Kirwan
All Blacks legend Sir John Kirwan stated that those comments were “bull***” and Burger agrees.
“I think he’s (Kirwan) got a point there. We were all part of it, Super 12/14/15. I think we lost the plot after that, it got too big, but it’s the greatest comp I’ve ever played,” he said on the Boks Unpacked podcast.
“Having South Africa there, how can it not add to it? He’s going to protect his own competition, which he is, but I don’t think there’s any value in that statement.”
Mesley controversially stated that the South Africans don’t ‘rate’ as well, which surprised Burger and his fellow Springboks legend Jean de Villiers, who joined the former back-rower on the show.
“I don’t know what it’s based on, whether it’s attendance, viewership or commercially,” De Villiers said.
“To Schalk’s point, he’s the CEO of the competition, surely you’re going to say that it’s better now than it’s ever been, but I’d like to see the facts on that.”
Since moving to the URC, the South Africans have provided a significant commercial boost to the competition, which Burger claimed was the same in Super Rugby.
“South Africa, we were two-thirds of everything commercially in that business model,” he said.
“Look at the situation with the URC and what South Africa has done for the URC, growing it by an exponential rate every year.
“Also the crowds we pull in. Cape Town in the last two games at DHL stadium, 55,000 for the two games, so I don’t think there’s any value in that statement.”
Super Rugby Pacific ‘rates’ better without South Africa as CEO issues blunt verdict on expansion
Why Super Rugby declined
De Villiers and Burger also agreed that the standards in Super Rugby slipped over the years after once considering it the best club or franchise competition in the world.
“If you think the quality of rugby back then, call it Super 12, from an attacking point of view, you were tested. From a defensive point of view, you were tested, so it went both ways,” De Villiers said.
“You never had an easy game. Name one team where you went there and thought, ‘we’re definitely going to get a win’, it was never like that. And then you get one on the road against whoever – that one game we won against the Blues in Auckland where it was against all odds and suddenly your season’s on the up again.”
Super Rugby also wasn’t helped by the fiscal dominance of France, England and Japan, who attracted some of the top southern hemisphere stars away from Super Rugby.
“The landscape’s changed. Back then all the big South Africa players were based in South Africa, so too New Zealand, so too Australia,” Burger said.
“It was a sprint. We started in Feb and it ended in May before we started with the June internationals, and it was like a trial before we went there, every player had to perform.
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“The competition, not only in South Africa but so too in the other nations participating, was immense. It was like watching a Test match if you saw the Brumbies facing the Crusaders.”
De Villiers added: “Once the competition moved to every team not playing every team, that’s where I think we lost interest. In the conference [system], you would end with more points but not make it through to the play-offs.
“With Super 10, Super 12 and initially Super 14, you played every single team, tested yourself against every single team and then the top teams went through.”