Boks, and Six Nations, must look at the bigger picture

THE Springboks in the Six Nations is a topic that refuses to go away. Rassie Erasmus recently fanned the flames when he said, “I think it would be awesome.”

Rassie clearly hasn’t been shy of a comment lately that is going to get people talking.

The Springboks are locked in with the Rugby Championship until 2025 and there are two arguments to this case.

The first is tradition and the second is what people want. I think it would be very exciting to see South Africa part of the Six Nations. Given that our teams are playing in the URC anyway, competing against those northern hemisphere countries makes sense.

I think it would make a mid-year tour against Australia and New Zealand in consecutive years equally as exciting.

A three-Test series against the All Blacks would be unreal and akin to rolling back the years.

Change is inevitable – whether we go north or not – something is definitely going to happen. However, I hope we don’t just discount the competition against Australia, New Zealand and Argentina because we risk losing something special.

I would like to see the research and stats behind it before such a decision is made. As SA Rugby’s Director of Rugby said: “If the Springboks joining the Six Nations would make the Rugby Championship weaker and damage the growth of the global game then we shouldn’t do it.”

That’s a great comment and the suits won’t necesthe sarily make a selfish decision based on what’s best for South Africa but rather what’s best for world rugby as well.

In terms of whether to expand rather than contract, it’s a Catch-22. You try to develop nations like Italy who are on the periphery, but how do you justify retaining Italy in Six Nations when they have won just 13 games out of 110?

It’s a valid argument because you want a competitive competition. I don’t know if it’s going to become a Seven or even Eight Nations if the Springboks and another team join but it’s been proven that less is more.