World Rugby’s massive test shake-up step closer
World Rugby, renowned for moving at glacial speeds, is suddenly in overdrive in its bid to revamp the international landscape, and the prospect of an annual mini-World Cup being introduced in 2020 remains very much alive.
World Rugby will shortly announce it has two or three change options on the table.
Those details are guarded for now but are variations on World Rugby deputy chairman Gus Pichot’s proposal to introduce a World League of sorts.
Pichot believes test rugby needs an overhaul to produce more meaningful fixtures.
His view, supported by New Zealand Rugby and other major unions at a World Rugby meeting in Sydney this week, is to see if some kind of competition can be created to be played in the June (which will become July in 2020) and November test windows.
A 12-team format with four pools of three and knockout rounds to follow has been floated and this is effectively what the summit in Sydney was all about.
It was a chance to see if the detail could be refined to the point where a workable proposition could be established.
NZR chief executive Steve Tew says the general principle of building a competitive framework into the July and November test programmes has everyone’s support.
“If we can bring more meaning to more tests, then I think it will open up a number of commercial and broadcast opportunities,” Tew said.
The issue, he says, will be working out ways in which extra revenue can be generated, how it will be shared and how the mechanics of any new competition would work.
From a New Zealand perspective, the main attraction of change is the chance to generate more revenue from All Blacks tests.
The All Blacks typically sell out all their home tests but they would love the chance to share in some of the profit generated when they play at the much larger European stadiums.
There are obvious logistical questions that immediately arise. The historic nature of test rugby is that the Southern Hemisphere hosts Northern Hemisphere sides in June and then the situation is reversed in November. That way, all games are played in winter.
But if that persists, it will presumably see the Southern Hemisphere locked into hosting pool games and the North being the venue for finals.
One potential way around that is for the July window to be scrapped and instead October and November could be used for all cross-Equator tests.
That idea works better for the Southern Hemisphere as it would keep a logical flow to their season of Super Rugby being played in one continuous bloc, before moving into the Rugby Championship and then World League.
It wouldn’t be so good for the Northern Hemisphere, however, as it would see their top players play a few club games in September, shift into test rugby in October and November, back to their clubs in December and January and then into the Six Nations in February and March.
There is also the question of Tier Two nations outside of the top 12 ranked teams and how they can realistically force their way into the picture if they are not scheduled to play many, or indeed any tests against higher-ranked opposition.
To climb the world rankings, teams need to beat those ahead of them.
World Rugby will meet again in London in November.