|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
'Unofficial' expansion 'Shadow' teams could join Super 12 series
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -- Two "shadow" teams could be added to the Southern Hemisphere's Super 12 this season, a leading South African official said Tuesday. Australia and South Africa, represented by three and four teams respectively, want to expand the competition to 14 teams with the addition of an extra squad from each country, although they would be "unoffical" teams at this stage. New Zealand, represented by five teams in a tournament it has won every year, has so far blocked expansion proposals. South African Rugby Football Union managing director Rian Oberholzer said, as an experiment, he wanted two as yet unnamed sides to play alongside the main competition this year. "It's an idea that we are trying to work through with Australia as part of further preparation and building up our young players to play at the highest level of the game," Oberholzer said. A final decision will be taken at the SANZAR meeting, bringing together the South African, New Zealand and Australian rugby unions, on February 16. The proposal is for the two teams to play each other twice, at home and away, as curtain raisers to Super 12 fixtures. Oberholzer, speaking at the South African launch of the 2001 tournament, confirmed SANZAR were considering a proposal to appoint an independent group of consultants to investigate the feasibility of expanding the competition to as many as 20 teams.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
