All Blacks legend Sir John Kirwan has rejected the notion that Super Rugby is better off without the South African sides involved.<\/p>\n
The Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers were ousted from the southern hemisphere tournament in 2020 and joined the United Rugby Championship.<\/p>\n
Many believe that it is has negatively impacted Super Rugby<\/a> and would like to see them return, but chief executive Jack Mesley disagrees.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, if you go back and look at the data, those games did not rate well,\u201d Mesley said last week.<\/p>\n \u201cThey did not attend well. They did not rate like we\u2019re rating now. They did not attend like we are attending now.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, I think there is a romance associated with the South African days.\u201d<\/p>\n Kirwan hits out<\/p>\n Kirwan\u2019s<\/a> response to those comments was blunt as he said on the Rivals podcast: \u201cThat\u2019s bull****\u201d, before stating that \u201cthe CEO has to say that.\u201d<\/p>\n He then posed the question: \u201cWhat is Super Rugby? Is it a competition or is it a high performance competition to prepare us for Test matches?\u201d<\/p>\n Victor Matfield joined Kirwan on the show and gave his view on Super Rugby having competed in it while playing for the Bulls.<\/p>\n \u201cSuper Rugby was the best competition in the world, I get goosebumps thinking about it,\u201d Matfield said.<\/p>\n \u201cWaking up as a kid, looking at the Blues running everyone wild and then the Crusaders taking over, and then we came through.<\/p>\n Super Rugby Pacific \u2018rates\u2019 better without South Africa as CEO issues blunt verdict on expansion<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cEvery Saturday morning, I was up at four or five watching the games \u2013 that was the closest to Test match rugby you could get.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought it was tougher to win Super Rugby than a World Cup because you needed to perform at a high level for 12 weeks. Then you maybe needed to go overseas and win a semi-final in New Zealand, whereas in a World Cup you only need to win three tough games.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a brilliant competition when it was Super 10, Super 12. After that when they started going to this pool system, it lost a little bit and where it\u2019s standing now, only you guys can tell.\u201d<\/p>\n All Blacks hampered by Super Rugby<\/p>\n Many believe that the lack of South African<\/a> teams in Super Rugby has hampered the All Blacks and Wallabies at Test level. That includes Kirwan, who feels that New Zealand have been disadvantaged by the change in format.<\/p>\n \u201cI understand why he said that, I just do not agree with him at all. I don\u2019t agree with him from a high performance point of view because I think we are missing the physique and the style of rugby South Africa bring,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom a high performance point of view, I think we\u2019ve gone backwards. That means the leap from Super Rugby to Test rugby is way bigger than it used to be.<\/p>\n \u201cI would love to see the data around the crowds, I just don\u2019t think what he said was on the money.\u201d<\/p>\n Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n