Either the Western Force or the Melbourne Rebels are to be axed from Super Rugby after this season, but the Brumbies appear to be in the clear.
SANZAAR announced on Sunday that the Super Rugby competition will be reduced to 15 teams from next season.
Two teams from South Africa and one from Australia will be axed.
The Western Force were initially widely tipped to be the Australian team to get the chop.
But the Rebels are also now in grave danger, with the Australian Rugby Union now set to let the two endangered franchises plead their case for survival.
It’s understood the Brumbies are safe from the axe, leaving the Rebels and Force to battle it out for survival.
The ARU has scheduled a media conference for chairman Cameron Clyne and CEO Bill Pulver at 9.30am in Sydney on Monday, but it’s understood they won’t at that point name which team will be cut.
Under pressure due to financial losses and fan discontent over the confusing and unbalanced competition, SANZAAR has opted to slash it from 18 teams to 15 and from four conferences to three – the numbers that existed in 2015.
Australia will lose one of its five teams while South Africa loses two of its six teams and New Zealand’s dominant group of five foundation teams remains unchanged.
The three five-team conferences will be New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, with Japan’s Sunwolves to join the Australian conference and Argentina’s Jaguares to play in the South Africa conference.
SANZAAR left it to the national rugby unions concerned to announce the teams they are cutting.
The Port Elizabeth-based Kings and Bloemfontein-based Cheetahs are considered the most vulnerable South African franchises.
“Naturally we understand that there will be some very disappointed franchises but the tournament’s long-term future and the economic reality of the business at present is something that had to be addressed,” said SANZAAR chairman Brett Impey.
The 18-team format, introduced in 2016 after Argentina’s Jaguares and the Sunwolves of Japan joined the competition and the Kings returned, was widely criticised and there were fears the quality of the product was being diluted.
Impey addressed fans’ concerns at the Sunwolves, with just two wins in their existence, surviving while better-performed teams get axed.
“The decision to retain the Sunwolves is linked directly to SANZAAR’s strategic plan for the future,” he said.
“The potential for growth of the sport in Asia off the back of the establishment of the Sunwolves and the impending RWC in 2019 is significant.”
