Here we go again.

Another year of great promise, another year of great expectation.

It’s Super Rugby time, but not as you know it.

The old model has been thrown out and in its place is a new-fangled system that borrows a little from the NBA, Champions League and Einstein. It is exotic, to say the least.

Almost everyone has taken exception, although happily this hasn’t been the view of the SA teams themselves. Complaining helps nothing. They are determined to get on with it, come what may.

Some things haven’t changed. SA teams look to be on the back foot and there are already a raft of injuries. Nothing about rugby gets easier. Even the off-season is brutal. Just ask Handre Pollard. He routinely runs into 110kg loose forwards, but mangled his knee ligaments without anyone laying a hand on him.

It robs the Bulls of their key man. The Sharks must know the feeling. Pat Lambie, their talisman and captain, is also crocked. You just hope this isn’t a metaphor for the South African challenge in the weeks and months to come.

Now that the lousy stuff is out the way, there is much good to contemplate.

One is the promise of new coaching blood heralding a fresh, innovative approach. Four of SA’s six franchises have a new coach at the helm. Only the Sharks and the Lions do not.

In two warm-up games against decent French opposition, the Sharks appeared confident and vibrant. This is good.

The Lions are well set. In the absence of Pollard and Lambie, Elton Jantjies is SA’s most accomplished flyhalf. The door has opened for him to make a bold statement. Given how the Lions have played under Johan Ackerman – with flair and adventure – the unorthodox Jantjies could thrive. The wheels may come off their free-wheeling approach at some point, but it won’t mean their game plan is wrong. It will mean they must work harder.

The Stormers are consciously trying to evolve. Coach Robbie Fleck seldom conformed as a player. You hope the same mindset underpins his coaching philosophy (although his two-captains pick is weird).

The Stormers have always had players with swagger, but they traditionally held back because coaches wouldn’t give them their freedom. The jury is still out on Fleck’s appointment as coach, but if he gets the Stormers firing, his may yet be a long-term deal.

[pullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The Bulls are determined to abandon their ox-wagons[/pullquote]

No-one has a real idea how the Bulls will go. They are determined to abandon their ox-wagons with new coach Nollis Marais wedded to a fast, open game that relies strongly on a quick and powerful back three. Losing Pollard is massive, though. It’s hard to get through a brutal tournament with a holding operation at No 10.

Franco Smith of the Cheetahs is another who doesn’t have a conservative rugby bone in his body. Such is the Cheetahs way and you imagine they will do some mind-blowing things in the months ahead. Their problem has always been defence, which often seems to be an afterthought.

Meanwhile at the Kings there’s a sense of trepidation. The squad is a construct of SA Rugby, whose hand was forced by the urgency to get a squad up and running.

Deon Davids is in charge. There isn’t a tougher job in local rugby. The franchise’s best players moved off and they had to start from the bottom up. Depth – and a world-class flyhalf – are the determining factors in Super Rugby, which is why they may struggle as the tournament wears on.

If the recent World Cup was a watershed, one of the upshots will be the emergence of exciting new players. Whoever gets the Bok coaching job will have a cleanout. There are thus openings all over the place for young players who are able to thrive in Super Rugby.

Springbok places will depend on how they perform in the white-hot environment where ordinary players are fast exposed.

It’s impossible to know how our lot will go. The new teams from Japan and Argentina offer a curious new dimension and the byzantine fixture list mean all bets are off.

So long as we stop bowing at the feet of New Zealand. It’s time they were knocked off their perch. – © Sunday Tribune