As Super Rugby prepares to enter it's 30th year in 2026, CEO Jack Mesley has sat down with a select group of journalists to answer the big questions facing the competition including the threat of R360, it's future past 2030, thoughts of expansion, extending the length of the competition and what needs to happen for Fiji to host Super Round in the future.
ARE THERE PLANS TO EXTEND THE COMPETITION?
"At the moment, we're pretty bound by the window that we have and we're not investing a hell of a lot of energy in challenging that at the moment," Mesley said. "We're trying to work within our 19-week window to develop the most compelling comp we can in that window.
"More content does not necessarily mean more revenue, whether that be gate revenue, broadcast revenue. Premium quality content is what generates revenue. Once we've maxed that out then maybe there's a question about it."
ARE THERE THOUGHTS OF EXPANSION NOW OR IN THE FUTURE?
"Our focus is on the current comp, and yes expansion, there is a desire to investigate what it could be, but that's out into the future and we're not investing a hell of a lot of resources in that right now.
"Our focus now is on the comp as it is. Continue to improve, which I think we can do, continue to support clubs, commercialise that growth and become more sustainable.
"It's not sexy in comparison to expansion conversations, but that's the job to do. The fact that we grew attendance, we grew broadcasts, we grew all of our social media metrics and we did that by engaging fans, both improving our core product and improving everything around our product, be that our media engagement, our social channels, our fantasy. That's the job to do. It's doing 100 things really well, year in, year out to continue to solidify and then prosper in the current format rather than chasing dreams and rainbows in faraway lands."
COULD SOUTH AFRICA RETURN? WHAT ABOUT THE USA?
My view is South Africa is gone. They are now locked in to URC. I think that's highly unlikely. I think the conversations for us about expansion are primarily making sure we are as solid as we can be within the Pacific and then are there further opportunities within the Pacific?
"Then the secondary conversation is, if in the distant future, we expanded into another geography, well, what are those possibilities, and it's been documented USA [potentially], along with every other rugby strategy into the US, or Japan or South America.
"But again we're not investing a lot of time in it, we think we've got a lot of work to do and a lot of upside here in the Pacific with the competition."
DO YOU HAVE CONTINGENCY PLANS FOR THE R360 THREAT?
"I'd rather not go into R360 today and hypotheticals about if, buts and maybes. I'd rather not speculate on it. I guess all we can say is we're absolutely focused on growing this competition and continue to be focused on what we can control.
"Clearly R360 is a topic of conversation that is happening amongst the unions and professional leagues across the world, but I'd rather not speculate.
"If what's being proposed by them, there's significant implications for international rugby, for club rugby, but again it's all ifs."
DOES MOANA PASIFIKA HAVE A FUTURE?
"Our focus with them has definitely been to make sure they're good for 2026 and they are, they're in the draw, we're very excited that they're there. They added so much to the competition last year and I think they'll continue to add a lot.
"The financial stability of the clubs across the board, we need to continue to work on, continue at a competition level to support clubs, generate more revenue through more fan interest. It's not just a Moana issue that we need to continue on.
"We're really pleased that they're there in 2026 and we hope they're there for a long time."
ARE THERE FURTHER LAW INNOVATIONS COMING
"What we learned from fans at the start of this season is that Super definitely has permission to push and to innovate, but there's a balance with that in that too much law change creates confusion in an already complex game, so yeah, we will continue to look at it, but we'll just need to make sure we're managing that confusion. Some small tweaks like going to free kick if lineout not straight, that's not confusing, that's just being sensible, so I think there's a really good example of a good law change that's not too complex, that is getting the outcomes we want from the pace of the game and reducing stoppages.
"But we've got a great group working on what the shape of the game will be in 2026. That'll be looking at what, if any, law change we will look for, how do we continue to minimise dead time, improve game flow, and then the third area all about how we make sure we present the game to fans in a continued improvement in that space. So if you're watching in the stadium or if you're watching at home, the game is easy to follow, you know what's going on, it's just a discussion between the referee and the captains and we're all in and know what's happening as well."
COULD A SUPER RUGBY PLAYER DRAFT BE ON THE HORIZON?
"I think there needs to be some significant moves in some of these areas before we get there. I know in New Zealand they're used to one within the New Zealand clubs, so it has been done before in different guises. Creating jeopardy is important for the competition, but it's not a lever we're pulling now to generate that jeopardy, but it's certainly something that into the future, we'll be pushing to have discussions on."
ARE YOU A FAN OF PLAYERS CROS-TASMAN PLAYER TRANSFERS?
"I think more importantly, we've seen fans are fans of that, so I am. No doubt last year the key off season moves of JOC [James O'Connor] and Ardie [Savea} generated huge interest and huge appeal, so clearly people like that, people like seeing some of those moves and I think over time as we continue to become one competition that would make sense.
"It's not without its complexities. I am a big fan of it. I think fans want to see some of that, but it's complex."
IS A FIJI SUPER ROUND STILL ON THE CARDS?
"We really are interested in Fiji in the long term, but that requires some infrastructure. We're really keen to work with the Fijian government to look at what it would take for us to run a Super Round up in Fiji, to make sure that we've got lights, the right amount of change rooms, required to play. Particularly on the west coast [Nadi City] where the bulk of the fan accommodation is and team accommodations. We're still very hopeful that it could be a future option.
"Right now it's a one-year deal. Clearly if Christchurch, New Zealand, if the city, wanted to go again, we'd certainly respect the investment they've made to make this happen, but we want to create this event in the calendar every year and we unashamedly want it to be a great point to bring fans together and an additional revenue source for us so that we can invest more in the competition.
"I met with the [Fiji] Deputy Prime Minister to see how Super Rugby can support Fijian sport tourism aspirations and we talked specifically about lights, not just for Super Round, but we'd loved to have lights in Fiji in Lautoka, obviously the exist in Suva, but just to give us more flexibility around fixturing more broadly.
"And then change rooms are the key thing, both in terms if they're to host Super Round, you're required to have double headers, maybe even triple hearers, you need really good change room infrastructure, recovery infrastructure, particularly with heat and things like that. "We've started those conversations, yes, I think there are also conversations with the Australian and New Zealand governments as to how they might support the continued development of rugby in the region and sports tourism in the region, but that's both some of those discussions are underway."
SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC IS LOCKED IN UNTIL 2030, DO YOU THINK IT HAS A FUTURE PASSED THEN?
"Yeah, absolutely. We're happy to release this draw celebrating its 30th year and I think we've got, the last three years in particular, some good growth on growth on growth. The plans we're building will only strengthen its position.
"I think the evolution of this competition to continue to become a more fan centric competition, a more commercially viable competition, commercial strength within the competition by doing some of the things we're doing, will only put it in better stead to play a bigger role in the Pacific and continue beyond 2030."