Former All Black says New Zealand have regressed since SA teams left Super Rugby

Mesley recently said that he had no interest in getting South African teams back into Super Rugby Pacific.

He reasoned that fixtures involving teams from the Rainbow Nation did not get good television ratings or attract big crowds to stadiums.

However, speaking to the Rivals podcast, Kirwan suggested that Mesley's comments may have been entirely based on facts.

"That is nonsense and I think he probably just had to say it as the CEO of Super Rugby. I can understand that to a degree, but I cannot agree with him," Kirwan said.

"I still feel that if we want to properly develop our players on this side of the world for the challenges of Test rugby, we have to let them play against South African teams.

"We have gone backwards, and when I say that, I mean the step up for some of our players from Super Rugby to Test rugby is currently too big."

Kirwan also believes the overall standard of Super Rugby has dropped significantly since South African teams left the competition.

"I just want to know: What has become of Super Rugby? Is it a competitive competition and are we doing rugby development at a high-performance level to try and prepare players to play Test rugby?

"Then I would also like to see the data [Mesley talks about] on how attendance and interest have increased. I don't think he is telling the truth."

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