Italy’s Six Nations place safe despite desperate run

RELEGATION will not be introduced to the Six Nations, according to tournament chief Ben Morel, who also says there is no prospect of another country joining the competition.

Italy have not won a match in the series since 2015 and are two places below Georgia, who are pushing for inclusion, in the world rankings.

“Relegation is absolutely not on the agenda,” Morel said. “We are very happy that Italy is part of our Championship.”

Italy, who were added to the old Five Nations tournament in 2000, are 15th in the world rankings, while Georgia – now with Graham Rowntree in charge of the pack – are 13th.

The Azzurri, who have lost their past 17 Six Nations games, began their 2019 campaign with defeat to Scotland at Murrayfield yesterday.

“In order to even start discussing relegation you need to be able to be relegated to some sustainable league or property and we are far from that,” said Morel.

He also warned against the idea of adding another team to the Six Nations.

“There is a lot of temptation for sports generally to drive value by driving volume – rugby can’t,” he said. “Player welfare is paramount; calendar and management of calendars is paramount.

“Adding more matches is not, for me, the immediate solution. The solution is to work on the value.”

Morel, who was part of what World Rugby described as “positive and productive” meetings on a shake-up of the international calendar last Tuesday, urged caution on innovations in the calendar.

Talks between Tier One unions and competition chief executives took place in Los Angeles and explored further how to “invigorate” the Test game, including the introduction of new world league.

“It is clear that any future adaptations to be considered will need to be a substantial improvement on the current set-up, which is successful as the latest Autumn internationals series can attest,” said Morel.

“It would also need to fully consider player welfare aspects and not dilute key existing and leading competitions such as Six Nations.”

A World Rugby spokesperson said: “The objective of this exploratory work is to deliver a global competition product and commercial model that will deliver greater value and certainty to all Unions by building on the strong foundations of existing competitions and invigorating the July and November windows.

Morel said he is on a mission to “propel the women’s game to the next level”.

“There is great opportunity behind the women’s game,” Morel said.

“The Women’s Six Nations has a lot of growth ahead of it.

“The time is now and I think there is a lot opportunity. It can always be improved. We just need to propel it to the next level. The opportunity is just staring at us right now.”