All Blacks coach: ‘We’ve missed playing South Africa in Super Rugby’

Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika will join Australia and New Zealand Rugby in the next Super Rugby phase, which begins in 2022.

Brumbies, The Blues, Chiefs, Highlanders, Fijian Drua, Crusaders, Hurricanes, Moana, Queensland Reds, Pasifika, Melbourne Rebels, NSW Waratahs, and Western Force are among the teams competing in the hype-up tournament.

However, the conspicuous absence of South Africa teams remains the edition’s most noticeable shortcoming. South African teams have provided immense competition for other participating opponents over the years, and their continued absence will also be felt across Betway rugby online betting channels.

Ian Foster, the All Blacks’ coach, cited this as one of the key causes for his team’s failings on their year-end trip, in which Ireland and France defeated them.

Since those defeats, Foster has been in the crosshairs, but he feels he knows where things went wrong.

New Zealand Rugby‘s choice to ignore their most powerful ally and speed South Africa’s transition to European tournaments in the Northern Hemisphere had the unintended result of ‘weakening’ the All Black game.

South Africa’s main franchises – the Bulls, Lions, Sharks, and Stormers – currently compete in the Northern Hemisphere’s United Rugby Championship, with their final taste of Super Rugby action coming in March 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic shut down global sport.

Speaking to a Newzealand source, Foster said, “I think we’ve definitely missed playing South Africa in Super Rugby.” 

“Just the sheer size of the players, and the fact that maybe they don’t allow you to play as much rugby as you want to play.”

Since then, the Kiwis have competed in Super Rugby Aotearoa and a Trans-Tasman event with Australia. The league will be renamed Super Rugby Pacific next year, with the addition of Pacific Island clubs Moana Pasifika and Fijian Drua. As usual, you can bet on different markets on all matches on Betway.

In 2021, the All Blacks won 12 of their 15 Tests, but they lost back-to-back matches against Ireland and France to finish second to the Springboks.

“Reviewing is a multifaceted thing and everyone will find different ways to do it,” Foster added, reflecting on the season.

“For us, we do a review every week. We get used to having pretty tough conversations with each other after Test matches and after training sessions. I think the challenge when you review is to make sure it doesn’t turn into a judgment from one group to the other.”

Foster admitted that Super Rugby Aotearoa has made New Zealand a little isolated in articulating his concerns.

In the interview, he claims that in 2022, adjustments will be implemented. Betway will continue providing the most competitive odds for rugby matches happening globally.

“Yes, there will be,” he announced.

“We’ve got some clear indicators of a couple of areas where we’ve got to sharpen up. There’s a couple of areas where when we’re under pressure, we need to be really clear about what works for us.

“I think we showed in the northern hemisphere that we have the answers, but we certainly didn’t for long enough periods of the game to get away with it.”