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The Sunwolves have been part of Super Rugby since 2016.

SANZAAR to clarify Super Rugby future amid reports of Sunwolves axe

Australian media reported that the Tokyo-based franchise will be cut after the 2020 season.

SANZAAR WILL MAKE an announcement on the future of Super Rugby on Friday amid reports the Sunwolves will be axed.

Media in Australia reported that the Tokyo-based franchise are to be cut from the competition after the 2020 season.

The Sunwolves only joined Super Rugby in 2016 and have struggled to compete since being included.

It is claimed the tournament will be reduced to 14 teams, but SANZAAR will give no details over the future of the competition until later in the week.

A statement released by Super Rugby organisers today said: “SANZAAR will issue an official statement on the future of the Super Rugby tournament on Friday 22 March [at] 14:00 Sydney local time.

“SANZAAR and its stakeholders will not be making any comment on Super Rugby until the statement has been released.”

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    Mute Kingshu
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    Mar 20th 2019, 2:00 PM

    SA and wishing to make Pumas and Griquas step up, PRO 14 isnt intrested in them and reports are will only consider 2 of the Super Rugby sides, which means that 2 of Stormers, Bulls, Lions, Sharks join Pro 16 and those two move into super rugby. Which will again have a knock on effect in Super Rugby as two of the better teams leave and are replaced by two weaker ones. Lot of turmoil in super rugby. Hopefully they can find a balance again, world rugby needs the super teams to be strong and keep their top players.

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    Mute Éamann Ó Duinn
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    Mar 20th 2019, 2:08 PM

    @Kingshu: A compromise should be getting rid of the Kings and bringing in just one of the Super Rugby teams to join the Cheetahs who in fairness have showed promise and manage to produce good players despite losing a lot of their squad last season.

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    Mute Frankie
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    Mar 20th 2019, 3:04 PM

    @Kingshu: Word is this is also a FU to Japan rugby union for voting for France when SA rugby was generous to them in allowing them into SR. Seeing that they hold most of the broadcasting rights and dropped two teams from SR while losing players to overseas clubs because of it. And then not getting any financial reward from it, while they have an extra 8 hour flight combined with hosting the Jaguares in their pool. Keep in mind Aus and NZ have the same time zone and a short flight between each other meaning fresher teams during the course of SR one can only expect one large middle finger.

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    Mute Kingshu
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    Mar 20th 2019, 5:06 PM

    @Éamann Ó Duinn: just swapping SK doesnt give SA the 8 Pro teams they want to have. 2 strong and 2 poor is the way to go and will result in the PRO 16 being the conference system that is planned with fewer games but with 1st choice teams out more often. @Frankie: I can understand that, but part of me thinks we shouldnt have a go at Scotland and Wales for not voting for us. If everyone voted for who they think has the best bid thats the way it should be. Everyone should vote for who they think is best with no hard feelings. Would we really be happy if people voted for us even though they didnt think it was the best bid, because they owe us? What debts could we get into? Would you be happy for the IRFU not voting for someones WC bid even though its the best becuase we owed them a vote?

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    Mute Con Cussed
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    Mar 20th 2019, 5:17 PM

    @Frankie: same time zone and short flights? There are several time zones in Australia alone. It’s a five hour flight between NZ and Australia, depending on departure / arrival cities.

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    Mute Dino Baggio
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    Mar 20th 2019, 8:33 PM

    @Kingshu: Of course we’d be happy and for the development of rugby we had the best bid. Wales and Scotland’s votes were out of greed and jealousy.

    The corruption involved in the bidding process means this was probably Irelands one and only chance of getting a world cup final.

    The way it should be awarded imo is people put the minimum criteria together, tender for it and it goes on a blind lottery, rotation between SH and NH. If a country wins the bid they don’t get to bid again for a certain period of time.

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    Mute Éamann Ó Duinn
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    Mar 20th 2019, 8:59 PM

    @Kingshu: I see, no idea that South Africa had the desire for 8 teams which raises questions on funding as they are struggling to keep players due to lack of finances and the Rand hitting the floor, spreading themselves out over 8 teams is risky.

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    Mute blindside
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    Mar 20th 2019, 9:04 PM

    @Éamann Ó Duinn: 55 players to leave the SA super rugby sides after the world cup.

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    Mute Kingshu
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    Mar 20th 2019, 10:22 PM

    @Éamann Ó Duinn: As blindside says the squads for super rugby teams are being trimmed, which sounds bad and the teams are struggling if taken at face value. However when teams like Blue bulls have 204 players on contract you can understand the changes. No more contracting every youth player hoping the wide net catches the stars of the future, each squad will be smaller and more focused, meaning more more £ to keep top players rather than 150 acamady players. Plus it means the bigger teams cannot horde all the top players which means they will move making the weaker teams stronger. It means for Bulls the sad reality is that almost 100 players on contract need to be offloaded as SA rugby changes its contracting model and less than half the professional players set to have contracts in 2020.

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