Rugby Nations Cup set for lift-off
● The much-mooted Nations Cup is closer to reality, with the 12-team competition set to launch in 2026, if not a year earlier.
World Rugby is ironing out details for the competition that will see six teams each from the southern and northern hemispheres compete in a league using more or less the same slots in use on the international calendar.
To balance the numbers, two teams will have to join the Rugby Championship fray, with Japan and Fiji most likely to be included in a future reconfiguration. Sticking points remain however, with World Rugby having to sync the calendar for international and domestic leagues to make the competition a reality.
The Rugby Championship and Six Nations would, for instance, have to be played concurrently. New Zealand rugby officials are yet to be convinced that playing the Rugby Championship earlier in the year is a good idea.
There is also criticism that the league will broaden the divide between Tier One and Tier Two nations. The league however is supposed to be underpinned by a promotion-relegation mechanism, but that is leaving some teams jittery.
Italy, who have grabbed the wooden spoon 18 times in the 24 instalments of the tournament they have been part of since 2000, are understandably nervous about their future prospects.
Adding Japan and Fiji to the southern hemisphere mix will come as a major boost for the countries, which, as things stand, have a realistic chance of advancing to the quarterfinals of this year’s Rugby World Cup (RWC).
“We want to prepare for the Nations Cup by bringing two more teams into
Sanzaar as well,” confirmed SA
Rugby president Mark Alexander. “Let’s say for now it’s
Japan and Fiji. Then we will have an equal number in the Rugby Championship and the Six Nations.”
The Nations Cup will be premised on using the July and November Test windows, with European teams heading south before the roles are reversed later in the year.
Travelling teams will alternate every year. Log points are accumulated and the two top teams advance to the final, that in the initial years of the tournament will be played in Europe. “It will be a meaningful series with a winner at the end of the year. Every game counts,” said Alexander.
He argued that national federations involved in the league will be able to leverage the exposure they get in the tournament. “There will be serious money coming into the game as well,” he said, without giving specifics of how much SA Rugby stands to gain.
“There will be lots of possibilities. There will be more money in the pot because we will be pooling our resources. There will be a better distribution. When you put your properties together, there is more value when you go to market than doing it on your own.”
Discussions are “ongoing” and the venture will be tied to the much-mooted global season, said Alexander. “We have to co-ordinate rugby in such a way that players rest at the same time. Then you can have a competition that works.
“That is why the Six Nations and the Rugby Championship should start at the same time. It will eliminate the time the players are away from their clubs. It will work out the regulation nine issue (eligibility regulation).”
On that front, clubs, especially the ones in the wealthy Top 14, will have to be in agreement. “Abdelatif Benazzi, who will be the new chairman of the French League, is ready to talk about the creation of the league,” said Alexander about the former Test player and French Rugby Federation vice-president.
He said criticism of the league by Tier Two nations is perhaps premature as they too will have a pathway to compete in the league. “There will be a promotion-relegation component. Some teams in Sanzaar for instance can drop off. Similar to the northern hemisphere, but that is a sticking point.
“The guys are battling that out. They are saying the implementation of promotion-relegation should start later, but those concerns are mainly from northern hemisphere teams.”
There will be more money in the pot because we will be pooling our resources. There will be a better distribution
Mark Alexander
SA Rugby president