JRFU Super Rugby project comes with considerable cost and risk

Whilst the JRFU have managed to secure a spot in an expanded Super Rugby format, there is a considerable amount of both cost and risk attached to the project.

It was finally confirmed this week that Japan's Super Rugby bid beat off the competition from Singapore. Despite having the South Africans publicly backing the Singapore bid and the New Zealanders leaning towards it, Japan who had the advantage of a more rugby tradition is thought to have swung the debate back in their favour by offering a compromise to play games in Singapore and reduce travel which was their major downfall.

APD backer Eric Series said
SANZAR 'not ready for a
fully privately owned club'

In contrast to the Singapore bid though, which was to be the Asia Pacific Dragons backed by French businessman Eric Series, the Japan bid has as yet had very little detail about how exactly it is all going to work and has numerous questions unanswered.

Thanks to a confidentiality agreement with SANZAR, we may not hear answers from a while from the JRFU either. However the questions still need to be asked, perhaps most importantly revolving around how it effect the structure of the Japanese season and also who is stumping up the money?

Super Rugby will not come cheap. According Kyodo News journalist Rich Freeman sources from Singapore had the price at around $20m (£15m) per season. Similar figures at to the cost were referenced by NZRU Chairman Brent Impey as well.

Anything like those sums will be a very large proportion of the JRFU's budget. Yet JRFU will be needing to pay for it somehow, with reportedly their bid being a more Union run operation a factor behind SANZAR backing it, as was suggested by Asia Pacific Dragons backer Eric Series saying 'perhaps the competition is not ready for a fully privately owned club'.

It has been suggested as a result that central contracts for the Japanese Super Rugby players could be on the table.

Problem with that though is Japan doesn't have a system of centrally run professional rugby, with the Top League being owned by private companies as their titles would of course suggest. Central contracting systems are expensive, and would need to be sorted through a labyrinth of rugby politics.

The Top League are thought to be expected to need to shorten their season to accommodate, but they are unlikely to be simply charity for the JRFU.

With 18 Super Rugby fixtures and Japan currently playing 12 internationals per year, that's at least about 25-30 games per year for a JRFU team. That leaves little time on the calendar to play for their club or your approaching risks of player burnout.

There are signs of that even this season. Scrum half Fumiaki Tanaka combining games for the national team Japan along with Panasonic, Highlanders and Otago, has meant since June last year Tanaka played a total of 54 games barely having an off season, and now recently seen his form dip and been left out of the Japan's November squad. Meanwhile the other player combining schedules Shota Horie (48 games over that period) has broken down injured.

Negotiations of how this should
change the existing club structure
in Japan could prove to be tricky

It is tough to contribute full on and offer value for all parties, meaning what a Japan Super Rugby player can offer a Top League club is compromised possibly to the extent of only being able to play a minor part for them. Top League teams aren't likely to want to subsidise and pay wages for players for a JRFU team with little in it for them, which is where the Union will need to foot the bill.

So can the JRFU afford it? They aren't made of money, and there is large amount of risk attached to an investment which probably records a loss and where the results are far from guaranteed.

The expanded Super Rugby format is to be frank, a complete and utter mess. SANZAR have tried to satisfy too many parties and have ended up with an asymmetrical complicated system, with a largely unprecedented quantity of travel (Argentina and Japan in a so called 'Africa' conference) and not been particularly well received by fans.

With increased pressure on the system coming from Europe which could be felt in the near future, there is a danger that expanded Super Rugby flops under that pressure, and it's doubtful that this messy 18 team format stays in place for a prolonged period of time.

For Japan there's simply a lack of safe reliable guarantees behind the project, which is why throwing $20m per year at it has the danger of backfiring badly.

As for the Top League clubs (who are not all supportive of the project) with the season shortened and league being rendered secondary, that is likely to have an adverse effect on the amount of money and investment the league gets and could see potential issues arise with the progress of that league as well. Hopefully clearer details will emerge soon, but right now the question marks haven't been answered.