Right on Jake.

I guess we should have been clued in that a Japan Super Rugby team was temporary but Argentina would be welcomed longer when SANZAR became SANZAAR and not SANZAJAR. So, they demanded that Australia dump a team (the Western Force) to take in the Sunwolves and now that the Sunwolves will be dumped starting in 2021, they don’t suggest that Australia should get back their fifth team. The Japan Rugby Football Union apparently started it all by saying that they could not underwrite the Sunwolves after 2020, even though they ought to be swimming in rugby money after the 2019 World Cup and 2020 Olympic rugby sevens. Just where is all that rugby money going to go? I have a guess.

Starting in 2021, Super Rugby will have a round robin for 14 teams with no conferences, meaning that in year one there will 7 home games and 6 away games for some teams and 6 home games and 7 away games for the rest; followed in year two by the reverse schedule to balance home-away games every two years combined. Still, there will be a mismatched schedule each year where the luck of the draw will help some teams make the new six-team playoffs. The top two will get a bye for the first playoff week. If Australia got a fifth team, a 15-team round robin would have home-away balance every year for the 14 games.