The second season of the 18-team Super Rugby competition kicks off on Thursday amid some uncertainty about the future form of the competition, the success of which offers the southern hemisphere a bulwark against the riches of Europe. The maiden season of the new format, which must rank among the most complex in world sport, brought Argentina and Japan into the fold and ultimately produced worthy champions when the Wellington Hurricanes beat South Africa's Lions in the final. No such ambitious undertaking would ever be without its critics, however, and there have been calls for a restoration of the number of derbies, a cull of weaker franchises, a rejig of the conferences and tweaks to the playoff format. Those will no doubt get a full airing at March's SANZAAR board meeting in London but even if changes to the provincial competition are agreed, they will not come into place until 2018. Rugby fans can look therefore look forward to at least one more season of try-fests across four continents, eight countries and 15 time zones all-culminating, more than likely, with the crowning of champions from New Zealand. New Zealand teams have won the title in 14 of 21 Super Rugby seasons and their dominance was almost complete last year with only the Lions able to match the 11-4 regular season win-loss record of the top four teams from the home of the All Blacks. The Hurricanes, 2015 champion Otago Highlanders, 2012-13 winners Waikato Chiefs and seven-times champion Canterbury Crusaders all rode a brand of high octane, physical rugby into the playoffs and more of the same can be expected this year. Whatever hopes there are of stopping the New Zealand juggernaut may well rest with another team of Lions, the British and Irish tourists who in June and July pay their first visit to the islands since 2005. Playing against the Lions is a once-in-a-career opportunity that could prove a distraction for players early in the season, while the physical demands on those selected to play the three tests might be a factor at the business end of the competition. It will be another four years until South Africa has such a distraction and hopes of bringing the Super Rugby title back to Africa for the first time since 2010 will likely depend on the performances of the Johannesburg-based Lions and three-times champion Bulls. While Johan Ackermann's Lions delighted neutrals with a free-flowing brand of attacking rugby last year, the Pretoria-based Bulls are unlikely to abandon their traditional power-based game even with Handre Pollard back at flyhalf. The Stormers have brought a skills coach from New Zealand to Cape Town to try to build more variation in their backline and they should also be in the hunt for the Africa 1 conference title and the playoff spot that goes with it. It is hard to see Japan's Sunwolves as anything more than Africa 1 whipping boys in their second season, particularly as they will face the might of the New Zealand teams for the first time. Argentina's Jaguares will look to mount more of a challenge in the Africa 2 conference this season after their Puma-laden squad was given a lesson in the realities of transcontinental provincial rugby last year. Australia's title chances are once again in the hands of 2014 champion New South Wales Waratahs with their core of test players, but the Queensland Reds, champions in 2011, will be out to spring a surprise or two after a big recruitment drive. The twice champion ACT Brumbies could be in for a season of struggle after losing Wallabies captain Stephen Moore to the Reds and David Pocock to a sabbatical. The Melbourne Rebels will be looking to build on a 7-8 record in 2016 while the Perth-based Western Force must produce something of an argument that they should not be the first team shown the door if the number of franchises is reduced next year. — Reuters
