Unions in talks about massive shake-up of international rugby scene

A massive development is in the pipeline with regard to the international rugby scene. 

The proposed idea of the Nations Championship – a competition involving twelve teams (England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France and Italy, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Fiji and Japan) would take place biannually and not clash with either the World Cup or B&I Lions Tours. 

According to the Times, the unions are set to meet in Dublin today to hash out the details of holding such a tournament, which would conclude in the fourth week of November of every relevant year and be based on the results of the July and November international windows. Each northern hemisphere team would play a southern hemisphere rival once, either home or away. Thus, the current model of international Tests would stay much the same with Northern Hemisphere sides travelling to the southern hemisphere in June/July and vice versa in November.  

A tier-two competition would also be observed involving  Samoa, Tonga, United States, Canada, Uruguay, Chile, Georgia, Romania, Namibia, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal. 

“The last few years have seen a lot of discussion between the relevant stakeholders and I feel that the model that’s now on the table is the best for all sides,” said former All Black Conrad Smith, current head of player welfare at IRP. 

“Along with player welfare considerations, International Rugby Players has always fought for a fair deal for emerging nations to get regular game time. This will hopefully make those sides more competitive and allow them to plan their calendar years in advance — something they’ve never really had before. All sides can really benefit from the certainty of having the calendar locked-in. 

“This model isn’t perfect — and there are details still to iron out — but if we’re serious about growing the global game we can’t let commercial interests get in the way of doing the right thing.” 

More to follow.