Seven Australian Expressions of interest received for 15th Super Rugby Team

    Submitted by Martin Fuggle on 23 July 2009 - 11:20am

    The Australian Rugby Union has received, on behalf of the SANZAR joint venture, seven Expressions of Interest from domestic parties wanting to establish the 15th Super Rugby team when the competition expands to include an additional side in 2011.

    ARU has received three separate EOI documents from Victoria, two from Queensland and one each from Western Sydney and NSW Country.

    ARU will assess the respective EOI over coming weeks and decide whether one or more of them should be forwarded to SANZAR for its consideration next month.

    During the month of August, SANZAR will consider all EOI passed on by the National Unions of South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.
     
    The SANZAR Executive Committee will then decide how many of the interested parties should proceed to the next stage of submitting a full bid document.

    Those bids will be due in mid to late September with a final decision from SANZAR expected in late October.

    The 15th team will be included in a new “Australian Conference” from 2011 when the competition format takes on a fresh look.

    The revamp will see five teams each assigned to South African, New Zealand and Australian conferences.

    The five teams will play the other four sides within their conference on a home and away basis and will also play (home or away) four of the five teams in each of the other two conferences.

    This makes for a total of 16 matches for each Super Rugby team leading into an expanded six-team final series.

    “Receiving Expressions of Interest for a 15th side is the first step towards appointing what will be the next team welcomed into the Super Rugby fold from 2011,” said ARU Managing Director and CEO John O’Neill.

    “From an Australian perspective, to receive interest from seven domestic parties is a significant vote of confidence in the game.

    “It shows there is strong support for Rugby right across the eastern seaboard in particular.
     
    “We look forward to discussing the future with interested parties over the coming weeks.”

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