Former All Blacks wing John Kirwan has dismissed claims that South Africa’s involvement was not a major benefit to Super Rugby.
In a recent podcast interview, Super Rugby Pacific CEO Jack Mesley said he would not welcome South African teams back into Super Rugby.
Asked why, he replied: “If you go back and look at the data, those games did not rate well. They did not attend well. They did not rate like we’re rating now. They did not attend like we are attending now.”
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Speaking on the Rivals podcast, which also features former Springbok lock Victor Matfield, Kirwan made it clear he does not share Mesley’s view.
“That is nonsense and I think he probably just had to say it as the CEO of Super Rugby. I can understand that to a degree, but I cannot agree with him,” Kirwan said.
“I still feel that if we want to properly develop our players on this side of the world for the challenges of Test rugby, we have to let them play against South African teams.
“We have gone backwards [since South African teams left Super Rugby], and when I say that, I mean the step up for some of our players from Super Rugby to Test rugby is currently too big.”
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Kirwan also questioned whether the competition has maintained its competitive edge since the South African sides departed.
“I just want to know: What has become of Super Rugby? Is it a competitive competition and are we doing rugby development at a high-performance level to try and prepare players to play Test rugby?
“Then I would also like to see the data [Mesley talks about] on how attendance and interest have increased. I don’t think he is telling the truth.”
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Photo: Nic Bothma/EPA
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