I’ve been asked 20 times in the past month to explain the format of the Super Rugby knock out phases. It requires a PhD to fully understand. I first encountered it in Australian club rugby when I coached at Eastern Suburbs some eight years ago. This is the format they play under. It’s more egalitarian, and a fair go for more teams, mate. Typical Aussies. And let me tell you, we’ve been spared the full version (à la rugby league) where eight teams reach the “finals”, as they call it. And some teams get to lose a knock out fixture and continue on – go figure.

So, as you know, there are three conferences: the Saffers, the Aussies and the Kiwis. Each team in their own conference plays each other team twice (home and away). This amounts to eight domestic games each out of a total of 16. The other eight games played are against international competition. This means that teams miss out on two foreign opponents – useful if it’s the Crusaders and the Reds in Brisbane on current form.

Six teams make the play offs. The first three are the winners of their domestic conferences. That is to say that the top Saffer team, for example, regardless of where they finish overall, makes it. As do the top Aussie and Kiwi teams. The next three spots are then up for grabs based on the regular points table.

So, how do six teams compete in a knockout, you ask? Week one – called the Quarter Finals – sees only two games taking place. The teams that finished first and second in the overall standings get a bye. The team placed third plays the team placed sixth, and fourth plays fifth. The winner of the third/sixth playoff then plays the second-placed team coming off their week of rest. The same is true for the team that wins the fourth/fifth place play off, who go on to meet the first-placed team, also coming off their bye. This is called the Semi Finals, which makes sense as the remaining four teams compete. The Final is then contested between the two Semi Final winners.

Now here’s the thing. In my experience, it’s all about momentum. Having a break after the final group round, before the Semi-Finals can be a real momentum killer. A team starting to hit their straps, accumulating three or four wins back-to-back, will not be served by finishing in the top two and earning a rest week. However, for some teams a break can come at the right time, especially with key players being injured and needing an additional recovery week. It all depends.

I would suggest that finishing second is a death wish. Finishing third can be a better position – you keep momentum and play against the sixth placed team (easy). You then face – okay, away from home – a team pretty evenly matched with you (having finished only one place above you) and who might just be lethargic following a bye. And imagine if a team finishing first or second has their regular season bye in round 18, they could conceivably play no rugby for three weeks and that could be the real killer. Luckily the organisers in their wisdom ensured that wouldn’t happen this year when setting out the fixtures – the last regular season bye went to the Lions.

What do you think of the format? Does it make sense to you? It might be a departure from the norm for us in the republic, but it includes 50% more teams in the knockout phases. It also ensures each country has a team to support at the death. I like it. Do you?

To illustrate my point, let’s imagine this was the standing at the end of the season. The conference winners are teams 1,2 and 3 – one from each country. The Blues and Stormers would rest, the Reds would host the Sharks in Brisbane, and the Crusaders would play host to the Highlanders. The Reds or Sharks would then visit Cape Town in their Semi, and the Crusaders or Highlanders would go north to Auckland.

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