Super 15 is no longer Top in rugby

The Super 15 is not quite as super as it used to be, not with some of its best players migrating north to the French league.

Matt Giteau, centre, is part of a migration of top rugby players have started chasing lucrative contracts from French teams such as Toulon.

Just by virtue of its name, you would presume the Super 15 was bigger and better than the Top 14.

The premier rugby union league in the southern hemisphere contains one more team than the domestic league in France and "Super" is generally considered superior to "Top".

Yet any kudos the Super 15 enjoyed over the Top 14 looks set to be eroded after the World Cup in October when a raft of the top southern hemisphere players head north to join a thriving league which is rapidly turning into the rugby union version of cricket's Indian Premier League.

Toulon are the most ambitious of the big-spending French clubs who operate with the absence of a salary cap.

Their backline, which already boasts Jonny Wilkinson, the England fly-half, will feature new recruits in the Australians Matt Giteau and Luke Rooney, and Samoa's David Smith.

Their pack will be fortified by the presence of Bakkies Botha, from the Pretoria Bulls, and Willie Mason, the rugby league convert.

Other Super 15 franchises have been plundered for the services of Joe Rokocoko, who is bound for Bayonne along with Neemia Tialata and Mark Chisholm.

Clermont Auvergne have recruited their own All Blacks speedster in Sitiveni Sivivatu.

There will be a high quality of half-backs in the Top 14, with Ricky Januarie joining Lyon, Byron Kelleher pulling the strings for Stade Francais, should they avoid bankruptcy next week, and Luke Burgess swapping the NSW Waratahs for Toulouse.

Scrummaging is a proud tradition in France and the battle in the front row will be intensified by the arrival of Matt Dunning, the Western Force prop, at Biarritz, and Gurthro Steenkamp, the Bulls loose-head, joining Luke McAlister at Toulouse.

Other southern hemisphere players are heading farther afield to play in England.

Stephen Donald will join Bath and John Smit, the Springbok World Cup-winning captain, will move to Saracens.

There promises to be more high-profile moves before the first tackle is made at the World Cup as players decline to sign a contract with their home union and maximise their earnings during a short and physically-sapping career by playing abroad.

Where do all these departures leave the Super 15?

Well, the pool of players is already being stretched by the addition of another team - the Melbourne Rebels - this season.

Top players moving to the northern hemisphere only promises to dilute the quality of the league even further.

The Super 15, however, will still boast arguably the two best players in the world next season in Daniel Carter and Richie McCaw, who have both spurned lucrative offers abroad to sign new, four-year deals with the New Zealand Rugby Union.

Although they will have been rewarded handsomely, their commitment speaks volumes for their passion for rugby in their own country and demonstrates why the All Blacks are favourites to win the World Cup.