KUALA LUMPUR: Amidst continuing uncertainty over which teams will be dropped from the Super Rugby competition beginning next year, the scene in Australia remains gloomy, especially since the five franchises are struggling on the field.
On Friday, the Rebels lost their fifth game in five, hammered 51-12 in Dunedin by a Highlanders side still confronted by a long injury list affecting their senior players.
That defeat means that so far this year, Australian teams have lost all eight against New Zealand opposition.
In 2015, the count was 15 to 7 for the NZ teams, but last year, it was 22 wins and just three defeats for Kiwi sides, with one drawn game.
Australians have not been doing well against other opposition either, losing three away games to South African teams and one to Argentina’s Jaguares. There was only one home win, when the Reds beat the Sharks 28-26, but another home game was lost by the Brumbies to the Sharks.
As the competition reaches its sixth round this weekend, this is what the Australian conference looks like: 1 – Brumbies: two wins/three losses; 2 – Waratahs: two wins/three losses; 3 – Reds: one win/four losses; Force: one win/three losses; 5 – Rebels: five losses.
If any Australian team gets chopped at all, it is not going to guarantee better times for the union game there.
A recent survey showed negative findings all over the place.
The number of participants in rugby has fallen 63 per cent from 148,000 in 2001, leaving just 55,000 of them now. Hence, compared to other sports, the rugby union is now Australia’s 26th most popular.
Another worrying sign is that television viewers in the country find games involving the NZ teams a better watch than those involving their home sides.
Elsewhere in the competition, last year’s beaten finalist, the Lions of South Africa, are doing well again this year, with four wins from four and second in the overall table with 19 points.
Despite having only 11 points, the Brumbies are fourth. But they are there only because they head the Australian conference. The Highlanders, eight in the overall table with three wins out of six, have 14 points.
News reports are conflicting on what will happen to the competition from next year, with one saying that it could be down to 16 teams from the present 18, and others speculating that it could be reduced to 15.
There are also reports suggesting that if two teams have to go, it would be one each from Australia and South Africa.
It’s been three weeks since the ruling body met in London to decide on the competition’s future structure, and the 18 franchises are still waiting to hear the official word.
A recent news report said that while most issues have been agreed to, Australian Rugby insists that any cut in the number of teams must not affect the revenue from television broadcasts that was agreed to earlier.
This means that the national union now has to deal with TV bosses, which one report said New Zealand Rugby had already succeeded in agreeing with.
The European Champions Cup enters the quarter-final this weekend after a break from the end of the pool games the third weekend of Jan.
Leinster will play Wasps, Munster hosts Toulouse, Saracens has a home game against Glasgow Warriors and Clermont will play fellow French club Toulon.
Toulon won three of the previous four editions, while Clermont ended up as losing finalist twice, and Saracens once. Racing 92, last year’s champion, failed to qualify for this year’s knockout stages.