Southern Hemisphere rugby chiefs have moved to block the establishment of a proposed Twenty20-style tournament in South Africa from 2012.

SANZAR - the combined unions of South Africa, New Zealand and Australia - on Thursday said they would not support or endorse the competition mooted for before the start of the Super 15.

SANZAR officials recently met with South African tournament organisers who have sounded out players from around the world to take part without International Rugby Board support.

SANZAR boss Steve Tew said organisers, trying to model their competition on the Indian Premier League, were still yet to deliver a formal proposal as promised.

"We do not see any benefits for SANZAR and we have also expressed our strong disappointment to those involved that approaches were made to players in the SANZAR countries without the courtesy of informing the SANZAR member unions in advance," Tew said. Tew said SANZAR unions had discussed the concept with its Super 15 teams who gave overwhelmingly negative feedback due to the potential impact on the preparation of teams for the 2012 season.

Unions were strongly concerned about the impact on player welfare given January-February is the main rest and conditioning period for the All Blacks, Springboks and Wallabies.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP