Japan appears to have "moved ahead in the race to become the 18th
Super Rugby side by offering to host matches at the home of rival bidder
Singapore to negate concerns about long travel times from South Africa," according to Patrick Johnston of REUTERS. The "considerably longer journey was believed to be Japan's main
stumbling block in their bid to edge out Singapore" and join the southern
hemisphere competition in '16 along with South Africa's Southern Kings
and an Argentine-based team. The 18th side would be "pooled in one of two African conferences,"
meaning 10-hour flight times for teams "coming from Johannesburg to
Singapore, with Tokyo another eight hours by air from the citystate." On Wednesday, South African Rugby Union President Oregan Hoskins
told reporters that Japan's bid proposal "had been changed to include
Singapore as a host for some of the matches." Singapore would "host up to four matches at their
55,000 seat, retractable roof National Stadium for the Japanese team,"
although the format and number of games in the '16 season is yet to be
determined. The "new shared deal and coyness" of Singapore Rugby Union President Low Teo Ping suggests Japan is a strong favorite to "join the current 15 team tournament for franchise sides from South Africa, Australia and New Zealand." Singapore's bid is to have the Asian Pacific Dragons, a team made up of
"mainly Pacific Islanders backed financially by the chairman of Samoa
Water Eric Series, compete at the centre piece" of their new $1B Sports Hub (REUTERS, 10/9).
