Ken Borland

The man behind the favourites to become SuperRugby’s 18th franchise is French-born, studied in Paris and has citizenship in Mauritius.

Eric Series is the brains and financial muscle behind Singapore’s bid to host one of SuperRugby’s expansion franchises from 2016 and will be in South Africa this week to have discussions with SARU chief executive Jurie Roux.

The 18th franchise – debuting in 2016 alongside the Southern Kings and an Argentinian team – will be playing in the South African Conference and Singapore’s bid is the favourite because the Republic is firmly in their corner.

Sanzar have confirmed that Singapore and Japan are the two bidders remaining in contention, having rejected proposals from South Africa’s Mpumalanga Pumas, Namibia, Kenya, three interested parties from the United Kingdom and two from North America.

The main reason for South Africa to favour Singapore ahead of Japan is that the city-state is only a 10-and-a-half hour flight away, while the 2019 Rugby World Cup hosts are a further eight hours north-east. Flying to Australia and New Zealand from Singapore is also much easier than from Japan.

Series, a businessman who studied law and economics, has been heavily involved in rugby for the last three years through his ownership of the Asia Pacific Dragons, a Barbarians-style invitational team that showcases the talent outside of Australasia. Getting strong Pacific Islanders representation into SuperRugby would be another big attraction for Sanzar.

The 37-year-old also has major business interests in New Zealand – Sealegs, the makers of amphibious vehicles, are the “Marine” sponsors of the All Blacks and last year Series became an investor in the Chiefs. He is also the chairman of Samoa Water.

Counting against Singapore is the fact that Japan has much more of a rugby culture, the IRB (who have no say in the Sanzar decision) would obviously favour the 2019 World Cup hosts and they have much better local players and a thriving league.

But Singapore’s team would be built around Pacific Islanders, who have the physicality to survive in the most gruelling competition on earth (largely because of the travel), and Series has pointed out that there is already a precedent for getting other players in Asia involved through the Asia Pacific Dragons.

“We firmly believe that the Pacific Islands players must be strongly represented in the expanded format in 2016 and the composition of our Asia Pacific Dragons side is the ideal platform to include these players and also to capitalise on the growth in Asia,” Series told The Sunday Samoan.

“The issue has always been where the Pacific Islands team could play and how it could work commercially. This is where the Asia Pacific Dragons provides the perfect platform. Pacific Islands players are the heart of our squads, with other players being selected from the whole region.

“Sanzar have already publically stated that any new team must be competitive. That would be a given with Islanders being at the core of our squad, but we would also see the option for more Japanese players having opportunities to gain SuperRugby experience as well and create a meaningful pathway for Asian players in the future.”

Cherry Blossoms coach Eddie Jones has revealed himself as the president of the Japanese bid’s fan club and Australia are also favouring them.

The former Wallabies coach has been an eager basher of Singapore’s bid, describing it as “a joke”.

“Sanzar will lose all credibility if Singapore is selected to serve South African interests with a less demanding travel load. If travel is the deciding factor, then Dubai should be selected and rugby ethos and history ignored altogether,” Jones said.

But Sanzar have shown they are not asses when it comes to spotting the best financial deal and the deep pockets of Series, and the answer he provides to the Islander “problem”, could well see Australia isolated.

The strong support of the Singapore government, who are driving large sums of money into sports development, adds further lustre to the Series bid.

Ultimately, however, the three founding nations – South Africa, New Zealand and Australia – have to agree or else the decision will have to go to mediation, as was the case in 2009 when the Melbourne Rebels won a franchise ahead of the Southern Kings.

Sanzar are expanding the SuperRugby competition in 2016 and this has caused them to introduce a new four-conference system for the Southern Hemisphere’s premier rugby tournament.

The Australian and New Zealand conferences are staying the same, but the South African group is being split into two conferences, featuring three new franchises. Argentinean participation in SuperRugby has been confirmed with a team to be based in Buenos Aires, while the Southern Kings will in all likelihood be the sixth South African franchise.

This leaves space for another franchise – the 18^th SuperRugby team – and Sanzar are throwing this open to a worldwide tender process.

The six South African franchises will be split into two conferences, with the Argentinean team in one and the new 18^th participant in the other. The one African conference will only play the Australian franchises in the group stages, while the other will take on the New Zealand sides, but the disappointment of not playing everybody has been counteracted by having to travel less and by restoring some of the mystique surrounding the overseas teams because now they won’t be seen in South Africa every year.

While the South African Rugby Union ditched plans to join an Anglo-French competition – insiders say the IRB would never allow it because it would destroy the strength of the Celtic nations and there are long-term doubts about the viability of a French model that has so many overseas players – they are still keen to increase contact with Europe.

Given the similarity of time zone and the relative ease of travel, it would make sense for South Africa (the most lucrative market in Sanzar) to push for the 18^th franchise to be based in Europe, and France are still the financial powerhouses of rugby in the Northern Hemisphere.

To run a SuperRugby franchise costs around $8-10 million and that is well within the reach of someone like Mourad Boudjellal, who has already led Toulon to the Holy Grail of the Heineken Cup.

Sanzar CEO Greg Peters

Sanzar CEO Greg Peters told Midi Olympique that the selection of the 18^th franchise will rest on the rugby readiness (can they field a competitive team?), commercial programme (will they add sustainable value to Sanzar?) and infrastructure (including geographical factors like time zones) of the applicants.

“It’s an open tender process and the reality is that anyone can apply. We’ve sent Expression of Interest documents to a number of parties already and from June 2 we will start deciding on a short-list of serious contenders.

“We’re obviously looking at viability, a comprehensive business plan and can they rely on their surrounding community to engage with the brand? Will they be able to create interest within their community? It would obviously be a massive risk to take a franchise to where they don’t play rugby at all. Time zones are also a big factor for the broadcasters,” Peters said.

Apparently Singapore have their eyes on a franchise, but they would be reliant on importing players from around the world.

French clubs, already so successful on the European stage, may have their eyes on an expansion of their own.

The new SuperRugby format is by no means perfect, but it represents the best compromise that could be made between the competing interests of South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.

Argentina have now been added to that club and many in the Southern Hemisphere will be hoping for some European flavour being introduced as well.

• All teams will play 15 regular season matches (eight home/seven away or seven home/eight away) made up of:
  • 4 matches (two home/ two away) against one of the African Conferences
  • 5 matches (either two home/three away or three home/two away) against an Australasian Conference
  • 6 matches within their own Conference (three home/ three away)
  • All four conference winners will automatically host a quarter-final
  • They will be opposed by four wildcard teams who will be
    • the next three highest placed teams in the Australasian Group
    • the next highest placed team in the South African Group
    • The winners will contest the semi-finals with home field advantage going to the highest-placed team on overall standings points.

See http://www.sanzarrugby.com/sanzar/assets/Future%20of%20Super%20Rugby/The%20Evolution%20of%20Super%20Rugby.pdf for a graphic representation of the new format.