1 May 2014

USA or Asia to provide 18th Super rugby team

5:58 pm on 1 May 2014

The 18th team in a revamped Super rugby competition is likely to come from either the United States or Asia.

From 2016 the current 15 team competition will become a four conference, 18 team competition with a sixth South African side, an Argentina team and yet to be confirmed franchise.

The chief executive of the New Zealand rugby union Steve Tew says there has been some interest shown from the likes of Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and the West Coast of the United States.

Tew says SANZAR will run a tender process with the 18th franchise expected to finalised by the end of the year.

The Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder has welcomed the planned changes.

Blackadder believes it's reasonable that South Africa get six teams and doesn't believe New Zealand would be capable of fielding a sixth franchise of suitable quality.