World Rugby to consider Test match changes

WAYNE Pivac’s first year as national coach could see him lead Wales in a new home and away block of fixtures against southern hemisphere nations being considered for October and November.

World Rugby are reportedly looking at scrapping the traditional summer Test window in favour of a new and more concise event in the autumn as part of a new global season from 2020.

According to the Daily Mail , this would mean the mothballing of original plans to move June tours by northern hemisphere countries to the south back to July.

The report claims the October-November proposal is appealing to an increasing number of nations amid concerns about falling attendances for the current June games.

Being able to market an extended programme of matches in the autumn as a new global event could be the solution, some believe.

Early last year leading rugby nations revealed a plan for a new global calendar with the hope that it would solve long-standing pressure points in the existing schedule.

But there was no shortage of opposition to the blueprint, not least from players in the north who railed against an already lengthy season being extended to July on the grounds of increased physical demand.

The new suggestion is at an embryonic stage and whether it becomes reality will inevitably depend on the co-operation of clubs.

It also remains to be seen how many fixtures Wales could play in any new two-month window.

They currently squeeze four into November - and this coming season face Scotland, Tonga, Australia and South Africa - but one of those matches is always outside the official World Rugby window and therefore raises age-old issues of player availability.

Whether doubling the number of fixtures to eight in the proposed new time-frame would be feasible is highly questionable. Six games may be more realistic.

And while demands on Wales players would increase in the autumn, the pay-off would be the opportunity to rest every summer.

It’s reported that, as yet, there are no plans to move the Lions tour to South Africa in 2021 from the usual June-July slot.