Super 15 format revealed

You heard it here first, with no inside sources I practically nailed the new Super 15 competition structure. Clearly SANZAR must read this blog and come here for advice, or perhaps we both know a good idea when we hear it.

The key difference between my proposal and the new format is the six team playoff system, where the three conference champions and three wild card teams make the playoffs. The top ranked conference winners receive a first round bye in the playoffs, while the rest battle it out in elimination finals.

One question which hasn’t been answered anywhere that I’ve read is how the rankings will work to determine the first round of elimination finals. Will the teams be ranked according to their competition points? Or will the lowest ranked conference winner be ranked above the wild card teams?

Here’s an example from this year’s tournament. South African Conference champions are the Bulls, Australian Conference the Waratahs and New Zealand conference the Chiefs, wild cards go to the Hurricanes, Crusaders and Sharks. The Bulls and Chiefs are the top two ranked conference winners and get a first round bye, so the question is: Would the Waratahs be ranked above the Crusaders and Hurricanes because they won their conference, or would the Hurricanes and Crusaders be ranked third and fourth due to their competition points?

The only other difference from my proposal is the fact that teams will only play four of the five teams from the other two conferences in regular season play, eight games instead of ten. Do we need a full round robin system? No, and as always the cream will rise to the top. Notice the six teams who would make the playoffs under this system? Notice where they are on the points table? First through sixth, funny that.

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The Super 15 format revealed by Hamish McBrearty, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.