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RUGBY CHIEFS ‘IN TALKS’ OVER REPEAT OF SIX NATIONS IN AUTUMN

RUGBY bosses are to hold talks this week to start finalising contingency plans for a second Six Nations tournament to be played this year and which would take place in the autumn.

Four matches have still to be finished in the official 2020 Six Nations Championship and a date has yet to be set for the ‘Super Saturday’ finale after the Covid-19 crisis bit hard into the back end of the tournament.

Among the matches still to be played is Wales’ Principality Stadium finale with Scotland.

But The Rugby Paper report home union bosses will begin drawing up plans for an emergency tournament, which would be played in October and November should the traditional autumn internationals fall foul of the coronavirus pandemic.

The matches would be played over an eight-week block.

And The Rugby Paper claim fixtures will be the same as this season.

The one-off second Six Nations is expected to generate £100 million in ticket sales and would offset the potential loss of the traditional money-spinning autumn fixtures.

The games are being drawn up amid growing concerns that the southern hemisphere nations will not be able to make their traditional autumn tours of Europe. Wales are due to meet New Zealand, South Africa, Fiji and Argentina at the Principality Stadium and need fixtures to help bring millions into Welsh rugby.

Across the border, the Rugby Football Union already claim a blank autumn campaign could cost them as much as £50m in lost revenue.

That explains the reasoning behind the contingency plan of a second Six Nations.

But the stumbling block remains the fixtures still to be completed from the tournament already underway, with Ireland having two games left, France and England needing to go to Rome, while Wales have to host the Scots. The home unions will discuss the prospect of those matches finishing by the end of September, so the emergency Six Nations can kick off the following month.

It would also mean the Government needing to have relaxed their guidelines on social distancing.

Gallagher Premiership, Guinness PRO14 and Top 14 sides will also have to agree to the release of their players, something that has been a thorny issue in the past.

It could lead to demands from clubs for hefty compensation fees with players possibly unavailable to them for close on three months.

But the four home unions need the revenue international rugby brings in and another Six Nations is one of the ideas being mooted. Wales are involved in talks with World Rugby and are considering a number of options for the autumn.

One could be travelling to still play their scheduled summer tour games against New Zealand and Japan, only these would take place in October instead. If the southern hemipshere countries are given permission to travel themselves, the previously arranged autumn fixtures in Cardiff could then go ahead as planned.

But everything is up in the air at the moment and a second Six Nations might prove the solution, which is why rugby bosses will attempt to thrash out the detail in the coming days.

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