Another World Rugby stumble as clubs hold sway

World Rugby’s plans to play any postponed July tests in October is under threat from European clubs guarding their competitions.

The coronavirus pandemic has thrown the 2020 rugby calender into disarray.

The July window for northern teams to tour south – the All Blacks are set to host Wales and Scotland – seems unlikely and the backup plan is to squeeze those tests into October ahead of the traditional November window that sees southern teams play in Europe.

But the rich European clubs won’t

budge from trying to complete their own disrupted season then, threatening the tests through the clash of dates and availability of leading players for internationals.

The Guardian reports that European rugby’s governing body has told World Rugby they intend to stage the Champions Cup final in October and say it is ‘‘unacceptable’’ to squeeze extra autumn tests into the calendar on weekends reserved for top-level club rugby.

‘‘We absolutely do not accept a schedule of international rugby in October,’’ Simon Halliday, European Professional

Club Rugby’s chairman, told The Guardian.

‘‘That directly clashes with us and we are informing World Rugby we fully intend to use our October window if we need it.

‘‘We could play our semis and finals on those two weekends or, alternatively, just use one of them for the final and try and find two other dates in August and September for the quarters and semis.’’

Halliday is adamant his competitions need to try to complete their moth-balled seasons.

‘‘When you have club tournaments locked into multi-year contracts with partners and broadcasters, which is the lifeblood of the game, you can’t just cancel everything.

‘‘If we don’t do what we are contracted to do, there are serious ramifications,’’ Halliday said.

‘‘We can’t be bailed out by World Rugby, we don’t have that luxury. But we’re all connected, we’re all part of the same game. The value of our tournament, the English Premiership, the Pro14 and the Top 14, collectively, is close to a billion pounds.

‘‘Before people start saying what is valuable, it constitutes a very large – and increasing – percentage of the world’s rugby revenue. Significant investment has been made in European rugby.’’

Halliday has stressed the importance of the clubs as the sport tries to use the current situation as a way to plan a better calendar moving forward.

‘‘We’re in times of real crisis here and we are not oblivious to worst-case scenarios. None of us entirely knows what will happen but everyone’s position in the game has to be respected. You’ve got to include the clubs and provinces of Europe at the heart of the conversation.’’