New Zealand Rugby and Rugby Australia have to assume there will be no trans-Tasman Super Rugby next year, even if there is an agreement.

This domestic rugby competition will again be of a standard higher than anywhere in the rugby world and will attract corresponding attention. This will in turn create more momentum to look domestically for New Zealand’s rugby future. The subject of more New Zealand professional teams will become a live issue, as it was at the start of the New Zealand rugby review.

A lot of people have a lot of opinions, which is wonderful, and The Roar would be nothing without it. But in the end what actually happens, not just what everyone thinks is going to happen, is what’s interesting. australia new zealand rugby live

So, for all the empire-building, kite flying and posturing we’ve witnessed lately, and beyond the outrage Olympics that’s been trans-Tasman rugby, what will happen next?

The decision-makers can have their plans, but events are powerful. Nothing is more powerful than COVID-19, the pandemic that has changed everything. After what’s happened in Victoria, the danger of a similar experience in New South Wales and the disease’s reoccurrence in New Zealand, and in the absence of a proven vaccine, both New Zealand Rugby and Rugby Australia have to assume there will be no trans-Tasman Super Rugby next year, even if there is an agreement.

To survive, domestically at least, they will both have to look within. That will create structures and success that will shape the future, no matter what we think now.