SANZAR to revisit Super Rugby player eligibility criteria – Rugby News
The governing body of Rugby Union in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia Rugby (SANZAR) has announced their plans to revisit Super Rugby player’s eligibility criteria to address the shortcomings
in the current system.
SANZAR’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Greg Peters, made these comments on Tuesday, November 15, while talking to the officials of Super Sports.
Earlier, during the 2011 Super Rugby season, SANZAR received criticism for allowing South African Super Rugby franchise, Stormers, to acquire the services of the Springboks international player
Schalk Britz for a short stint from the English premiership outfit, Saracens.
Besides flying in Britz from England, Stormers played Britz in their 2011 play-off game against the Crusaders in the semifinal of the 2011 Super Rugby competition. The respective rugby unions
of Australia and New Zealand expressed their disappointment on the move.
However, SANZAR later announced that the Stormers had found a loophole in the eligibility criteria and on technical grounds they would adhere to the Stormers request to play Britz.
Commenting on the changes, Peters said, “We won't be making substantive changes, but there is definitely the situation regarding eligibility that we will look at.” Providing the details regarding
the key areas to focus upon, Peters suggested that SANZAR will be making it mandatory for the participating teams to announce their list of eligible players for the whole season. He added that a team will be allowed to use a replacement player only when they
provide the proof of the injury.
Peters further mentioned that in finals a team will only be allowed to play a replacement player needs to be playing in the country of Super Rugby team, before a cut-off date. He added, “We
don't want the example of this year's series when the Stormers exploited that loophole. We say good on them, but now we are closing that one.”
Peter denied any relaxation in rules to allow Argentinean players to participate in 2012 Super Rugby competition. However, he confirmed that the matter is under consideration. SANZAR has already
included Argentina in Southern Hemispheres premier competition, which is now renamed as Four Nations.
Peters expressed his confidence that these measures will avoid recurrence of the 2011 Super Rugby season’s events again in future.
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