Habana highlights pros and cons, as SA rugby looks north

Springbok great Bryan Habana spent enough time playing in Europe to know
exactly what it would entail for South African rugby to ditch Sanzaar and
move into Northern Hemisphere competitions, and the 2007 World Cup winner is not totally sold on the idea.

There has been global speculation that the world champions will leave Sanzaar after the 2023 World Cup to play in an expanded Six Nations tournament, with their Super Rugby franchises joining European competitions like the Pro14 and Champions Cup.

There has also been talk emanating from Australia of Sanzaar excluding teams from both South Africa and Argentina and focusing on a trans-Tasman competition with New Zealand.

Habana, who scored a South African record 56 Super Rugby tries for the
Bulls and Stormers, finished his career spending five years playing for French club Toulon, so he has intimate knowledge of European competition.

“There’s been a lot of debate about South Africa joining the Northern Hemisphere but right now nobody even knows when rugby will be back in South Africa,” Habana said in a virtual press conference on Wednesday to announce the launch of MatchKit.co, a mobile tech platform intended to help athletes grow their commercial brands, set up by the Retroactive agency of which he is a partner.

“Probably the one thing most needed by rugby is a global season, but I suppose the one question is whether Sanzaar need SA Rugby. They have been an important part of Sanzaar for the last 25 years.

“For those in the UK and Europe it’s much easier to watch games in South
Africa than those in New Zealand or Australia, but it’s important to see
where the Springboks and Super Rugby teams could fit in and they would have
to fit in with the Northern Hemisphere schedule.

“I don’t see our guys enjoying playing in 5⁰ (temperatures) in December/January, and how are our rugby fans going to enjoy watching rugby over Christmas when they’re on holiday?”

There have also been suggestions that South African teams could play in both
Sanzaar and the Northern Hemisphere, expanding the current involvement of
the Free Sate Cheetahs and the Southern Kings in the Pro14, but Habana said
the workload on the players would be immense, even if they were just involved in Europe.

“When Toulon won the double in 2014/15 they played more than 40 games and player welfare is important. If we’re going to add four more teams and
include the Springboks in the Six Nations then that would mean even more
matches,” Habana said.

“There are advantages to both hemispheres. The players would learn

more about foreign conditions and that allows you to develop more as a rugby
player and as a person.

“To say who has the better standard of play though is very subjective because what determines a good standard? The Northern Hemisphere has come strongly to the fore in the last few years. In the 2015 World Cup the top four sides were all from the Southern Hemisphere, but in 2019 it was very different (featuring England, New Zealand, Wales and South Africa).

“Hopefully our decision makers will choose what is best for the game as a whole.”

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