In another letter to the editor as we continue to encourage our readers to send CRAIG LEWIS submissions, Pieter Jacobs believes now is the time for SA rugby to move into the northern hemisphere.

CALLING OUR READERS: Send your rugby letter to the editor

We need to take our franchises and national team and get over the Rubicon (because there is no turning back).

We already have the Cheetahs and Kings in the PRO14, and if the Vodacom Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers – and maybe even the Griquas and Pumas – make the move up north we could create a PRO20.

Each team could then play the other sides just once for 18 games and one team twice for a total of 20 games. That could be followed by a quarter-final, semi-final and final.

The Currie Cup could still be kept alive and strong.

The Rugby Championship is dull, and it’s time for the Springboks to move north and join the Six Nations. We can still play the All Blacks during the June Test window in a three-match series every second year.

The small unions I don’t have much hope for. If they don’t get bought by a private investor, then I don’t see how they can keep their doors open for much longer.

My personal opinion is that those small unions like the Boland, Border, Griffons, Leopards, SWD and the Valke should shut their doors and then let SA rugby use that money to keep the other eight teams strong.

– Pieter Jacobs

*If you’d like to join Pieter in writing us a rugby letter, we invite you to send any of your thoughts or memories in an email to editor Craig Lewis at this address: [email protected]