The Leinster side in Bloemfontein was missing 14 international players for various reasons so while the Pro 14 isn't as strong as super rugby (It's fairer to compare it to a domestic league or cup anyway) the top half of the table wouldn't be out of their depth playing Super Rugby.

In addition to that the competition from other sports is significantly less, soccer's main attractions in Ireland are Man U and Liverpool, Scotland have a wholly uncompetitive league and the Welsh have a couple bang average sides all of whom are competing with rugby team that compete at the latter end of this competition. In this sense Dublin's 1.5 million population is way more lucrative than Melbourne's 3.8. In addition to this the Pro 14 is supplemented by the European Cup which adds London and Paris to the mix and I'd wager that the Cheetahs will be testing the waters of that competition in 2019. SARU's goal from this venture is to get into Europe and the viewing figures of European rugby plus the Pro 14 would eclipse that of Super Rugby plus the Currie Cup I would imagine without knowing the statistics.