Super 15 Rugby

Super Rugby sits as the pinnacle of club rugby for many and illustrates the strengths of the southern hemisphere, but the Stormers' roundabout route into this year's play-offs has once again brought its format into disrepute.

An idealistic league layout has well-placed priorities of fairness and balance at its core, but in seeing the Stormers qualify for the post-season in 2015, we're instead witnessing results of an unfair and unbalanced regime.

The conference system, introduced in 2011, ensures that one team from each of the New Zealand, South Africa and Australia conferences is guaranteed to be represented in the play-offs.

But one has to ask whether Super Rugby's needs are being met when the Stormers can qualify in third place despite claiming fewer points (45) than the Crusaders, who finished seventh (46). ESPN Scrum's Brett McKay sympathised with the New Zealand bastions:

The outrage in Christchurch is understandable, too. In failing to make it to the play-offs, the Crusaders see their 14-year streak of post-season participation come to an end, not to mention this being a most disappointing farewell to Dan Carter and Richie McCaw.

To simplify the matter, Allister Coetzee's side are being rewarded for their campaign when, truthfully, it should already be at an end. David Moseley of News24 suggested he's among those who see the flaw in the conference system:

It's only the second time in five years of the conference system being in use that the third-place finisher—the lowest-placed conference winner—has ended up with fewer points than the team finishing in sixth.

The other example came in 2012, when the Reds ended their regular campaign on 58 points behind the Stormers of South Africa and New Zealand's Chiefs. Meanwhile, the Crusaders, Bulls and Sharks finished on 61 points, 59 points and 59 points, respectively, to end up fourth, fifth and sixth.

The obvious alternative would be to revert to a meritocracy in which the top places are handed out to the highest points-earners across the regular campaign, but the issues of fairness would again be inevitable.

As Opta's Russ Petty depicts, New Zealand have boasted domination over teams outside their conference in the past five years, while Australia's foreign success has been more volatile and South Africa's steady, if not spectacular:

At present, each team plays the other four teams of their conference home and away, along with four teams from each of the other two conferences to make up a 16-game season.

In an ideal world, fans would see every team play each other twice, at home and away, but it's just not a realistic option given the extreme travelling distances involved and the toll such a calendar would take on players' bodies.

This is especially the case given that the introduction of South Africa's Kings, as well as franchises from Japan and Argentina, will see the league boosted to an 18-team format in 2016.

Sky Sport broadcaster Scotty Stevenson believes the current structure works, however, outlining that wins ultimately rule the roost:

Stevenson may be right up to a point, but Super Rugby opens itself up to controversy when an inferior team stands a better chance of claiming a championship crown.

We saw the Hurricanes run away with first place this season, and as long as the Stormers knew they were better off than their closest conference rivals, the Lions, third place or higher was assured.

The Stormers welcome the Brumbies to Cape Town on Saturday, and while their place in the 2015 Super Rugby semi-finals is far from assured, they'll be the first to acknowledge it as a far better fate than finishing seventh.

Starting in 2016, a new conference layout will get its debut in the hopes of seeing the quality and balance of Super Rugby improve simultaneously, but the experiment thus far suggests we're far from the perfect system.