SANZAR Fall Rugby Preview: ITM Cup, Currie Cup,

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NEW YORK, NY- We promised in the most recent Weekend Recap that we would have a preview of the Southern Hemisphere – often referred to as SANZAR. And we’re here to deliver with our Southern Hemisphere Fall Rugby Preview. Included are New Zealand’s ITM Cup, South Africa’s Currie Cup, Australia’s National Rugby Championship and Argentina’s Campeonato Argentino de Rugby.

Okay… Now that you’re done staring, let’s break it down quickly…

Country: New Zealand
ITM Cup
League: ITM Cup (Formerly the National Provincial Championship)
Defending Champions: Canterbury and Manawatu Turbos
Season Length: August 14, 2014 – October 25, 2014
Thoughts: Two conferences with two separate championships. The higher division is the premiership with a 2nd division called the championship. although for some reason inter-conference play is allowed. Within all of this there is a prize some would call even greater than the ITM Cup itself, The Ranfurly Shield. The Shield is based on a challenge so regardless of conference or any other factor a team can request and often be granted a challenge for the shield. This led to stuggling teams last year like the Hawke’s Bay Magpies holding onto it before it was taken by current holders Counties Manakau coached by All Black legend Tana Umaga and based out of Pukekohe. Taking a stab at the winners, it will see a return to glory for Auckland as they snap Canterbury’s 7-year championship run in the Premiership Conference and Hawke’s Bay as Championship Conference winners. Here is the list of teams:

Team	Head coach	Captain	Overview
Team	Head coach	Captain	2013 Placing	2013 Division
Auckland	Wayne Pivac	Hadleigh Parkes	3rd	Premiership
Bay of Plenty	Kevin Schuler	Willie Ripia	7th	Premiership
Bay of Plenty	Kevin Schuler	Willie Ripia	7th	Premiership
Canterbury	Scott Robertson	George Whitelock	1st	Premiership
Counties Manukau	Tana Umaga	Fritz Lee	4th	Premiership
Hawke’s Bay	Craig Philpott	Mike Coman	2nd	Championship
Manawatu	Jason O’Halloran	Nick Crosswell	5th	Championship
North Harbour	Liam Barry	James Parsons	7th	Championship
Northland	Derren Witcombe	Rene Ranger	6th	Championship
Otago	Tony Brown	Paul Grant	3rd	Championship
Southland	David Henderson	Jamie Mackintosh	4th	Championship
Taranaki	Colin Cooper	Kane Barrett	6th	Premiership
Tasman	Kieran Keane	Shane Christie	1st	Championship
Tasman	Kieran Keane	Shane Christie	1st	Championship
Waikato	John Walters	Matt Vant Leven	5th	Premiership
Wellington	Chris Boyd	Jeremy Thrush	2nd	Premiership

Country: South Africa
League: Currie Cup
Defending Champions: Lions (Natal Sharks)
Season Length: August 9, 2014 – October 25, 2014
Thoughts: Much like the ITM Cup, Super Rugby has caused this once great domestic comp to be altered. During the years of South Africa’s isolation from international sport, this competition was everything to SA rugby fans and players. Going into its 76th season, it has been revamped once again. Its premier division now consists of 8 teams and the second division has 6 teams. The 8-team premier division will consist of: 5 teams that form the base of the S15 franchises; the #6 team from the 2013 contest; the 2013 first division team that was promoted; and the winner of the playoff between the remaining 7 first division teams for the second playoff spot.

As per Wikipedia, currently, South Africa is divided into 14 unions. Of those unions only four draw players from an entire province: Here are the unions in the premier division and where they draw from:

Griquas – Northern Cape (home matches in Kimberley)
Natal Sharks – KwaZulu-Natal (home matches in Durban) – S15 franchise
Free State Cheetahs – central and western (home matches in Bloemfontein) – S15 franchise
Western Province – Cape Town metropolitan area – S15 franchise known as the Stormers
Golden Lions – Johannesburg and municipalities to its west (home matches in Johannesburg) – S15 franchise
Blue Bulls – Pretoria, the two Gauteng municipalities to its east, and Limpopo Province (home matches in Pretoria) – S15 franchise
Eastern Province Kings – western (home matches in Port Elizabeth) – 1st division playoff winners
Pumas – Mpumalanga (home matches in Witbank) – 1st division champions

With all that said, we feel that it is a two-horse race between the Sharks and Western Province. It is tough to see anyone upsetting the balance though the Blue Bulls may just be the team to do so.

Country: Australia
League: National Rugby Championship
Defending Champions: N/A
Season Length: August 30, 2014 – November 1, 2014
Thoughts: For only the second time in its history, Australia will have a nationwide premier rugby tournament. The first time was a few years back and that ended up a huge failure due to budget overruns. This time, new ARU CEO Bill Pulver has it all worked it with a big budget TV deal and loads more sponsors to make it feasible. There will be 9 teams with 6 of them split between rugby union heartland provinces New South Wales and Queensland. The remaining three will be in Perth, Melbourne and the capital city Canberra; all 3 have Super Rugby franchises so that makes sense. Here is a list of teams:

Team	Licencees and associated clubs	Head coach	Captain
Brisbane City	QRU / Reds	Nick Stiles	Curtis Browning
Greater Sydney Rams	West Harbour, Penrith, Parramatta, Southern Districts *	Brian Melrose	TBA
Melbourne Rising	VRU / Rebels	Sean Hedger	Nic Stirzaker
NSW Country Eagles	Easts, Randwick	Darren Coleman	TBA
North Harbour Rays	Manly, Warringah, Gordon, Norths	Geoff Townsend	TBA
Perth Spirit	WA / Force	David Wessels & Kevin Foote	TBA
Queensland Country	QRU / Reds	Steve Meehan	Anthony Fainga’a
Sydney Stars	Sydney University, Balmain	Chris Malone	Pat McCutcheon
University of Canberra Vikings	ACT Rugby / Brumbies, University of Canberra, Tuggeranong Vikings	Dan McKellar	TBA

With no history to go on, best to go based on rugby history and figure that it will be Sydney versus Brisbane in the final. Flip a coin to decide the winner.

Country: Argentina
League: Campeonato Argentino de Rugby
Defending Champions: Tucumán
Season Length: November 1 – 29, 2014
Thoughts: The inter-provincial rugby tournament in Argentina is called the Campeonato. It is also the name of the division that is considered the major tournament and is played between the 1st and 29th of November. The tournament is divided into 3 divisions, the“Campeonato”, “Ascenso”, and “Desarollo.” The Campenonato is played in November and features the top 6 regions in the country. The regions are Tucuman, Cordoba, Buenos Aires, Salta, Alta Valle and Rosario. All the teams, in particular those from the big cities, have a rich history. It will likely be a three-horse race between Tucuman, Buenos Aires and Cordoba. It is anyone’s guess who will win it all.