Toomua calls for change to ‘aged and outdated’ Super Rugby

Rebels and Australia playmaker Matt Toomua has called for a rethink of an “aged and outdated” Super Rugby format.

Fifteen franchises from five countries compete in the prestigious southern hemisphere tournament.

The versatile Toomua believes a domestic or trans-Tasman competition may be better alternatives and thinks the coronavirus pandemic may speed up a revamp.

He told rugby.com.au: “There’s a lot of people who have had this in mind for a while that maybe the model that we’ve got is a little bit aged and outdated and maybe we need to have a rethink.

“I guess this [pandemic] is almost forcing us to do it, whether it be in the short term until those borders open or whether it be long-term into something else that’s a bit more sustainable, bit more domestically focused.

“There’s going to be all sorts of pressures on the game next year, whether it be inflation and cost prices for travelling and the current SANZAAR models, the costs are going to go through the roof, so how do [we] respond to that, how do we handle that curve?

“I think there’s a lot of people who are wanting to have a domestic model for quite a while now, whether it be Australia-focused or Australia-New Zealand focused or something along those lines.”

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