SANZAR issue S15 plea

SANZAR CEO Steve Tew

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Governing body South Africa, New Zealand, Australia Rugby (SANZAR), has called for teams wishing to join an expanded Super 15 competition to continue their applications.

SANZAR has already announced the 15th team will play in the Australian conference from 2011 but does not have to be based there.

Australia currently have four teams competing in the Southern Hemisphere tournament while South Africa and New Zealand have five each. Both Australia and South Africa have indicated they plan to bid for the 15th franchise.

SANZAR also asked the Samoan Rugby Union to consider making a bid as part of their pledge to help promote rugby in the South Pacific and expand the competition further in the future.

Wildcards

A SANZAR statement read: "This is the first step in the application process to determine the location of the 15th team. SANZAR anticipates a decision will be made by November.

"Geographical location and the time-zone of the new team will be a key consideration for SANZAR as the 15th team will play in the Australian conference."

Under the agreed proposal to expand the competition, the 15 teams will be split into three conferences, one in each country.

Each of those sides will play the teams in their own conference twice a season, home and away, to increase the number of local derby matches.

They will also play eight of the other 10 teams from the other two conferences once, either home or away.

The three conference winners will qualify for the finals along with three wildcards, comprising other teams with the highest points for the season from any of the conferences.

Expansion

The season will be expanded from 14 to 24 weeks, starting in late February and ending in August, except in World Cup years when everything will move forward.

SANZAR is also looking at the option of adding more teams in the future.

"SANZAR has also written to the national rugby unions of Argentina, Canada, Fiji, Japan, USA and Tonga and advised that, while SANZAR is not considering them as potential expansion locations for the 15th team, SANZAR sees the change in the competition format from 2011 as a first step in positioning Super Rugby to allow for future opportunities," the statement said.