{"id":142792,"date":"2025-05-30T00:57:22","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T00:57:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/142792\/"},"modified":"2025-05-30T00:57:22","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T00:57:22","slug":"murray-mexted-all-blacks-players-have-got-worse-since-south-africa-left-planet-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/142792\/","title":{"rendered":"Murray Mexted: All Blacks players have got ‘worse’ since South Africa left : Planet Rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Zealand\u2019s standard of players are getting worse as a result of South Africa\u2019s departure from Super Rugby in contrast to the improving northern hemisphere.<\/b><\/p>\n

That is according to All Blacks great Murray Mexted, who believes that South Africa\u2019s move to align their club season with Europe has been \u201cterrible\u201d for the trans-Tasman duo.<\/p>\n

In 2020, the South Africans<\/a> were axed from the competition with the Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers joining the newly-formed United Rugby Championship.<\/p>\n

Mexted believes that has been a disaster for New Zealand<\/a> and is concerned it will only get worse going forward.<\/p>\n

Add an extra franchise?<\/p>\n

He has urged Super Rugby<\/a> organisers to look at the gap vacated by the South African franchises. Although they have invited Moana Pasifika and Fijian Drua to be a part of Super Rugby Pacific, the 71-year-old reckons they need another team to join them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to look at our own competition here. It\u2019s terrible losing the South African teams,\u201d he told DSPN with Martin Devlin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe lose something down under when the South Africans play in the northern hemisphere and the northern hemisphere gain something, so they gain a stronger competition because you\u2019ve got to beat those South African sides.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe average player gets better and it\u2019s the same thing in reverse in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we can carry on with the present format, I think we need to introduce something else from the Pacific Ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n

All Blacks hero \u2018would bring back South Africa\u2019 to Super Rugby instead of \u2018Mickey Mouse\u2019 American expansion<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Israel Dagg: \u2018How the hell do we not want South Africa a part of our own\u2019<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Mexted is not the only ex-All Black who has been left disappointed by South Africa\u2019s departure with Stephen Donald and Israel Dagg among those to want them back.<\/p>\n

Ma\u2019a Nonu also had his say on the matter last year. Like Donald and Dagg, the Test centurion played against those franchises in Super Rugby and feels that the southern hemisphere competition has declined as a result.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u2018South Africa have hit the jackpot\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the Top 14 edges Super Rugby two notches. For one, you\u2019ve got the best players in the world in that competition,\u201d he told the Kick Offs and Kick Ons podcast in May 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hadn\u2019t mentioned the Prem and the URC because I haven\u2019t played there, but I would say they come second and third, or maybe second equal.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuper Rugby is still good footy because you\u2019ve got the Australian and Kiwi players, but they haven\u2019t got the exposure to all the other players from other countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cSouth Africa have hit the jackpot. They left because of SANZAAR, but their teams have gotten better and better. The Stormers played the first year in the URC and won the competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuper Rugby\u2019s maybe suffering, I don\u2019t know how long it\u2019s going to be around. The level\u2019s still there, but I believe the Top 14 is ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Ma\u2019a Nonu claims South Africa \u2018hit the jackpot\u2019 with northern hemisphere move as Super Rugby \u2018suffers\u2019<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand\u2019s standard of players are getting worse as a result of South Africa\u2019s departure from Super Rugby…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[8924,225,19910,18130,704,12,4151,934,2196,79,19911,10264,16,15,4510],"class_list":{"0":"post-142792","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-bulls","9":"tag-home-page","10":"tag-lions","11":"tag-murray-mexted","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-rugby","15":"tag-sharks","16":"tag-south-africa","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-stormers","19":"tag-super-rugby","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom","22":"tag-united-rugby-championship"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114594070304388981","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}