If it weren’t for the Lions‚ Super Rugby 2016 would have been a forgettable affair for SA‚ while the tournament in general was one of the worst in the history of the competition. With the tournament expanded to include the Southern Kings from Port Elizabeth‚ Jaguares from Argentina and Sunwolves from Japan‚ there was initially a novelty factor to the competition. There was also a change in the bonus point structure demanding that teams would need to score at least three tries more than their opponents to earn a try-scoring bonus point. Despite the gimmicks‚ the novelty of the tournament fast wore off as the growing realisation dawned in fans that more rugby did not necessarily mean better rugby. Super Rugby’s expansion to an 18-team tournament‚ played in six countries and one city-state‚ across 16 times zones‚ over six months with six different logs was overbearing. The result of a New Zealand or Australia derby no longer had any influence on a South African team’s fortunes because ...
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