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Victor Matfield responds to Rieko Ioane's 'Super Rugby title above a World Cup' remark
By Ned Lester
All Blacks star Rieko Ioane made headlines following the Blues' Super Rugby Pacific final win over the Chiefs last weekend by saying the Super Rugby title means more to him than a World Cup.
The statement inevitably provoked a strong response online, with some fans suggesting the star centre was deflecting from his disappointment over the World Cup final loss in France last year.
However, the full quote from Ioane puts the conversation into context.
“I put a Super Rugby title above a World Cup, because of how much I love this city, how much I love this club, how much I’ve admired this club,” he told media after the final.
The rugby world has been Ioane's oyster since emerging as a teenage star. The now 27-year-old became the eighth youngest All Black debutant in 2016, running out for the first time against Italy at the age of 19.
Crediting his development as a player to the local system, Ioane's comments can be seen as less World Cup snubbing and more pride in his region.
A former Super Rugby winner and 2007 world champion has since come out in partial agreement with Ioane.
Springbok great Victor Matfield responded to the All Black's comments, reflecting on his time in the competition.
"Ioane this week said a Super Rugby title means more to him than a World Cup," Matfield began on SuperSport's Final Whistle Present Side Entry.
"When we were playing in it and we had all our best players playing for South African franchises, New Zealand had all their best, Australia had all their best, it was by far the best competition in the world.
"I really believe it's a tougher competition to win than a World Cup, because there you had to win 10 of our 12 games, then, you play against the best teams in the semi and the final, so you had to be at the top of your game for a very long time.
"In a World Cup, you probably need three good games. Even in the Champions Cup, it's a top competition because of top teams, but you only have to play two, three good games.
"Super Rugby, you were playing against 10 of the best teams in the world and you had to perform week in, and week out.
"I miss it a lot, but we're in a good space as well now."
Matfield also shared his thoughts on the long-running debate over the Springboks leaving The Rugby Championship for the Six Nations, saying while there are undeniable benefits for the Springboks up north, it's not worth leaving their southern hemisphere rivals.
"I would like to stay in the southern hemisphere. Financially, it would probably make more sense to go up north, but you have to play the All Blacks every year, you have to play Australia - yes, Australia are in a difficult time but they will bounce back, and they will be competitive again - and Argentina have shown they are a top six nation most of the time.
"For us, playing club rugby up north but staying in the south, I prefer it. I think playing the All Blacks, playing Australia, we need that as well because that is a different challenge."
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Latest Comments
Well that sux.
Go to commentsLike I've said before about your idea (actually it might have been something to do with mine, I can't remember), I like that teams will a small sustainable league focus can gain the reward of more consistent CC involvement. I'd really like the most consistent option available.
Thing is, I think rugby can do better than footballs version. I think for instance I wanted everyone in it to think they can win it, where you're talking about the worst teams not giving up because they are so far off the pace we get really bad scoreline when that and giving up to concentrate on the league is happening together.
So I really like that you could have a way to remedy that, but personally I would want my model to not need that crutch. Some of this is the same problem that football has. I really like the landscape in both the URC and Prem, but Ireland with Leinster specifically, and France, are a problem IMO. In football this has turned CL pool stages in to simply cash cow fixtures for the also ran countries teams who just want to have a Real Madrid or ManC to lose to in their pool for that bumper revenue hit. It's always been a comp that had suffered for real interest until the knockouts as well (they might have changed it in recent years?).
You've got some great principles but I'm not sure it's going to deliver on that hard hitting impact right from the start without the best teams playing in it. I think you might need to think about the most minimal requirement/way/performance, a team needs to execute to stay in the Champions Cup as I was having some thougt about that earlier and had some theory I can't remember. First they could get entry by being a losing quarter finalist in the challenge, then putting all their eggs in the Champions pool play bucket in order to never finish last in their pool, all the while showing the same indifference to their league some show to EPCR rugby now, just to remain in champions. You extrapolate that out and is there ever likely to be more change to the champions cup that the bottom four sides rotate out each year for the 4 challenge teams? Are the leagues ever likely to have the sort of 'flux' required to see some variation? Even a good one like Englands.
I'd love to have a table at hand were you can see all the outcomes, and know how likely any of your top 12 teams are going break into Champions rubyg on th back it it are?
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