New start for world rugby

Calendars could be realigned

Negotiations to align the southern and northern hemisphere club and international windows have been accelerated by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on rugby and sport in general.

While all club and international competitions have been cancelled or postponed to later in the year, national unions have entered into negotiations over what a post-coronavirus calendar could look like.

According to SA Rugby CEO Jurie Roux in a digital media conference held on Monday, talks are at an advanced stage and an agreement could be reached as early as next month.

The changes are significant and read as follows:

- The Rugby Championship could be moved from the end of the year to the beginning of the year in line with the Six Nations.

- Super Rugby will either start after the Rugby Championship or in February.

- The Inbound Series will not take place, but instead internationals against northern hemisphere nations like Italy, Wales and England could be played in South Africa in October with a return schedule up north where the Boks could face Ireland, Scotland and France.

This will be played in the form of a series, wherein the best two teams will play in a finale at Twickenham.

This whole global calendar will mean northern hemisphere clubs have to change from winter to summer with their competitions scheduled from December to July or from February to September.

The biggest stumbling block “to the new calendar was scheduling next year’s British and Irish Lions tour that is planned for July in South Africa,” Roux said.

“It means that tour must be moved to later in the year under the new global scheduling, which might happen anyway, given the restrictions on travel and crowd attendance as a result of the coronavirus.”

Also, it falls in the same dates as the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics which now take place from July 23 to August 8 2021.

Rugby bosses are working around the clock to find solutions for these unprecedented situations we find ourselves in.

With that comes the opportunity to realign rugby globally, which will be of greater benefit for the worldwide audience.

❝ The Rugby Championship could be moved from the end of the year to the beginning of the year