Super Rugby
Jake White 'not a fan' of SANZAR expansion proposal
ESPN Staff
May 16, 2014

Jake White has spoken out against the proposed 18-team Super Rugby expansion plan comprising four conferences and two regional groups, saying "I just sense there are so many things that could go right or wrong in the makeup of that group".

Sharks' director of rugby Jake White keeps an eye on the warm up, Saracens v Sharks, friendly, Allianz Park, Barnet, January 25, 2014
"Maybe I'm a bit old school," Jake White says © Getty Images
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"I'm not a fan of that system," the Sharks coach said in Christchurch, where his Super Rugby ladder-leading Sharks will face the Crusaders at AMI Stadium on Saturday.

White said that mismatched games would hinder the progress of teams and crossover games between the groups would not result in a fair competition. He accepted the proposed competition would boost player welfare because of reduced travel and fewer brutal derbies, but he said "you could end up, in two years, getting the toughest draw and I don't believe this competition should be determined by how your draw looks".

"It should be because you have got a good side.

"To be fair, the flaws that are in this system now are you could end up winning this competition because of the draw."

White accepts that SANZAR is trying to grow the Super Rugby audience in Argentina and possibly Asia and Europe, but he says "maybe I'm a bit old school".

"My feeling in this case is that less would have been more … I remember a time when you played everybody and you tested yourself against the best."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd

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