RGR: Midweek games don't work - SARU President Mark Alexander urges a tour rethink

If South Africa gets to host a Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Tour again in eight years, SA Rugby will have a re-look at the way the tour is scheduled, and try and take games to more areas across the country, SARU President Mark Alexander believes.

Alexander, who was speaking on the fringes of the RGR Trophy reveal on Wednesday, told supersport.com that while a full review of the tour would take place after the fourth test in Baltimore, USA on 12 September, already there had been certain things identified that he believes could have been done differently.

The fact that the URC franchises have had to face the All Blacks barely three weeks into their pre-season, and without a host of their players, has not been ideal, and as a result, some of the crowds for the tour have been disappointing.

But Alexander, who was at the forefront of negotiations over the past few years to make this tour a reality, believes some things could have been done differently. He now believes it would have been more prudent to play a SA Country Districts - or composite team - out of the SA Cup or Currie Cup - where teams are more in season, and will make that suggestion in the review.

Alexander said the midweek game in Durban in particular was disappointing as it attracted only 14 000 spectators.

“I think that one of the things that we should look at is not having Midweek games, especially for Gauteng and Durban. The midweek games don't work. The weekend games seem to have done well, both the weekend games,” Alexander said.

“Also, maybe look at playing big teams like an SA A team and an SA country districts team. Having teams like the teams playing in the SA Cup, a big team, giving those boys a chance. It's about creating opportunities.

“It's about pathways and I think we need to create those pathways for the guys who don't have the opportunity to play at this level.”

While there has only been one midweek game, Alexander was also referring to next Tuesday’s final midweek game against the Lions, for which ticket sales are not going well. But being sandwiched between two tests was always going to be a challenge.

Alexander said despite this, the test is a resounding success and the test matches in South Africa have all been sold out.

“No, I think we knew that we weren't going to attract big crowds to the Provincial Games, especially on Tuesday night. But the test series is where we looked at and that's where it sold out. We've got some seats left at FNB, but we're excited about the Series,” he explained.

“We've got a lot of visitors. I think the country must be excited because the economic impact for this event, direct and indirect, is about $6.8 billion. So they're the biggest beneficiaries of this and I'm excited about that.”

Alexander said a more pressing issue was finding a solution to finally get a global season off the ground. New Zealand are the key holdouts at SANZAAR level and if they can be convinced then the season would align with the rest of the northern hemisphere and be easier to manage.

“It hasn't been ideal, but again, I don’t want to harp on again on a global season. We need to sort our seasons out and we'll always have this challenge until we can find a global season. But I think with the Nations Championship, we have a group of 12 top-tier countries. I think we'll find a solution there.”

Alexander added that if the impasse wasn’t solved, rugby could be in a lot of difficulty.

“I think we'll be foolish if we don't find a global season, find a season that works for all of rugby. Because if we don't find each other, somebody else will start another league and our players will be playing elsewhere.”

Alexander did say he was excited for Saturday’s first test.

“I'm excited about Saturday. I think it's going to be a hell of a clash. You've got two teams that have been at the top of world rugby for a long time.

“Seventy per cent of the World Cups are won by these two teams, so I'm really excited about what's going to happen next,” he said.

The first test will kick off at 5:10pm on Saturday and is live on SuperSport.