The Aussies can't win it and the Kiwis don't care. It's time to bin rotten to the core Super Rugby Pacific and start over

Really, what is the point of Super Rugby in its current form? The Aussies can’t win it and the Kiwis don’t care.

Give us one good reason why Australia should stay in Super Rugby. The only one floated by those who think Australia should persist with this relentlessly miserable experience is that without it our national team would be a whole lot worse.

It’s a myth.

Could we be a whole lot worse than being ninth-ranked nation in the world? A whole lot worse than 20 plus years of never winning the Bledisloe Cup? A whole lot worse than no Super Rugby titles in 10 years, and 19 finals matches on New Zealand soil without a a single win? Not a single win!

Rather than toughening up our players for their international duties, we’ve entrenched them as losers.

Referee James Doleman copped the brunt of many Brumbies fans after they fell to the Blues in Auckland. But no matter how predictably awful he was it is a smokescreen.

(Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

When it clears, the grim reality is plain to see. Super Rugby is, in the words of the immortal poet Eddie Jones, “dying on its arse.”

To call the dismal half full turn out at Eden Park a “crowd” would be far off the mark. It might have been quicker to introduce the fans to the players at the start, rather than the other way around.

It follows the quarterfinals where the Hurricanes played in front of quarter empty stands, and Canberrans blamed the chill in the air in the capital for their empty seats.

Super Rugby is rotten to the core. It’s not competitive – at least not between Australian and New Zealand teams – and those who can be bothered to rock up sit there mute.

And the stories are everywhere else but the field. It’s about Rugby Australia chopping a team the day before they were flying off for a final match of the season. It’s about the Wallabies’ 23-year-old No.10 deciding that a Lions tour and 2027 World Cup that RA has pinned its marketing on is, in reality, less appealing than moving to the 15th placed NRL team.

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Beyond the rusted on fans, the last time anyone seemed to really care about Super Rugby in Australia was when the Reds won that epic Super Rugby AU final over the Brumbies at Suncorp in 2021.

An Australian team held a trophy aloft.

In this current format, does anyone expect to see that again? There will be a few of course, and they’ll always be able to buy a ticket.

The Stan Sport crew remain positive – there were plenty of uses of the words “proud” and “brave” after this one-sided Blues win.

RA CEO Phil Waugh remains positive too. But what choice do they have?

“One of our jobs here is to ensure we’ve got a financially sustainable model,” Waugh told Code Sport earlier this month.

“We’re very committed to Super Rugby and we’re committed to the JV (joint venture) agreement we have with NZR through until the end of 2030.

“We are also very conscious that the economics of the game need to change and we need to scenario plan for whatever the future may hold when we go into the next broadcast cycle which starts in 2026.”

The axing of the Rebels means 11 teams for next season. The hope is that the carve up of talent will in some way help boost the playing stocks of the remain four teams – the fantasy that at some point Australians will be able to compete again with the New Zealanders.

Rob Valetini of the Brumbies following the Super Rugby Pacific Semi Final match between Blues and ACT Brumbies at Eden Park, on June 14, 2024, in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

The flip side is that their treatment of the Rebels players, and not just them, has seen talent like Carter Gordon and Mark Nawaqanitawase head to rugby league, and other Wallabies head overseas.

Code reported a 16 per cent rise in viewership from last year in New Zealand. Waugh talked up an increase in crowds in Australia, although it seems a hollow win.

“I think the product that Super Rugby has been this year, has arguably been the best provincial competition in the world again, and even the engagement we’re seeing in New Zealand with increased broadcast ratings and the rugby and competitiveness of our Australian teams has been far better as well,” Waugh said.

“Australian crowds are up 17 per cent over the last two years, which gives us great encouragement that we’re on the right track.

“I am optimistic we can really revive Super Rugby in a similar way to what New Zealand have this year.”

RA are trapped between a rock and hard place but the sport needs a radical rethink, because what we’ve seen over the past few months ain’t it. The game, and its Australian stars, are being crushed before our eyes.

It was etched on the face of Allan Alaalatoa in the aftermath of the Blues defeat, when he was asked by Jeff Wilson: “I want to talk about the competition as a whole because people have talked about this season being more competitive, faster, have you enjoyed the season and the nature of the game?”

“Yeah I really have,” the Wallabies prop said with a total lack of enthusiasm. “We thought that we were building nicely and we’re probably going to write a different script this year but it wasn’t meant to be.”

The script is never changing and the only words missing from Super Rugby’s story are these: The End.