Could Leinster, Munster, Ulster and Connacht one day be taking on the Bulls, Highlanders and Waratahs?
If you believe new New South Wales chief executive Andrew Hore, then the answer is yes.
Hore is leaving his post with Welsh side Ospreys to join the Australian Super Rugby outfit, and the New Zealander sees a potential future link-up as beneficial to both competitions.
Hore has had a ringside seat in recent seasons as the huge influx of financial muscle into the French Top 14 and England’s Premiership has threatened to leave European rugby’s poor Celtic relations trailing behind.
The southern hemisphere has also felt the commercial weight of French and English riches, with an increasing number of top-class players heading north in their primes for a big payday.
But the prospect of competing against the high-quality teams in Super Rugby would certainly offer television companies a more enticing product, according to Hore.
“The key thing is, what is it our supporters and TV companies want that would make a different and valuable proposition, uniquely different from the Premiership and Top 14?” he told the Sunday Times.
“We have to create a product around them instead of stagnating and staying with tradition. Don’t fall into the usual Celtic rugby political rubbish. People realise the Six Nations on its own is not going to solve these problems.
“The Pro12 needs to work out how it can be value extra. They can’t serve up a fillet of fish; it has to be a fillet-of-fish combo. If we try to serve up the same product as England and France, we will never get the same money.
“There is so much in common between clubs like the Ospreys and states like New South Wales. NSW are permitted only one foreigner, so like the Ospreys they have to keep developing their own talent.
“But they need to generate more revenues, like we do, so they need to help the Australian Rugby Union come up with better products. I want to be actively involved in that.”
