World Cup workload policy under fire in Super Rugby

MELBOURNE : The humbling of a second-string ACT Brumbies team in Perth has not only dented the Canberra side's Super Rugby Pacific title hopes but also fired up debate about the integrity of a competition playing second fiddle to national team interests.

With New Zealand leading the way, workload management has become a feature of Super Rugby every four years as teams are told to make sure World Cup selection candidates are given enough time to rest and recover.

The theory goes that All Blacks and Wallabies players will have less risk of injury before the World Cup and may even be "fresher" for it, thereby boosting their nation's hopes of lifting the trophy.

In practice, however, it has become a major bugbear for Super Rugby fans and pundits, who see games stripped of star players and lopsided results as understrength teams get dismantled by opponents.

"But it is not just the fans who are insulted," rugby writer Wayne Smith fumed in the Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday. "It’s the competition itself, which is distorted out of all proportions by weird results."

For the Brumbies, the policy may have jeopardised their hopes of winning their first Super Rugby title since 2004.

Resting eight Wallabies and making 12 changes to their starting 15, coach Stephen Larkham fielded virtually a 'B' team against Western Force and were beaten 34-19, snapping a 14-match winning streak against the Perth side.

Once in line for a top two finish at the end of the regular season - which would give them home ground advantage through to the semi-finals - the Brumbies are now third and will likely need to win two playoffs in New Zealand to claim the title.

Larkham denied the Brumbies had disrespected the Force by thinking they could beat them with a