Warburton support for new-look season
FORMER Wales captain Sam Warburton believes a new global tournament that could see the Six Nations and Rugby Championship giants relegated can only be good for the growth of the sport.
The sport’s leading unions met this week in Dublin, with World Rugby keen on getting plans for a new two-tiered biennial tournament signed off ahead of a potential vote later in the year.
As well as aligning the global calendar more closely, it would open up the prospect of tier one nations such as Wales being relegated to a lower tier - meaning they would play tier two nations in summer and autumn Tests.
However, Warburton believes this would actually add to the jeopardy of Test rugby - claiming that matches against tier two nations with promotion and relegation on the line would mean more than the usual tours of fellow tier one countries.
“If countries don’t like this, and I am thinking about Wales here, then tough,” he wrote in his column for the Times.
“It should sharpen their minds to improve their rugby programmes and business models to ensure that they don’t get relegated.
“Life is about sinking or swimming. It can hopefully precipitate change in countries where it is obviously needed.
“If Wales are not good enough, then they should get relegated. As a Welshman if Wales were playing Georgia, Spain and Italy in three Tests in a summer and they needed to win all three to get promotion, I would be supporting them every week.
“I think it is a great idea. I know that there will be those who don’t like it, but I just think that the game needs it to avoid complacency across the board.
“I think the players will like it. They want to play in meaningful matches. Are three Tests in South Africa this summer for Wales, who probably will not be anywhere near full strength, meaningful?
“It is going to be so tough for them. Too often the summer tours can feel a little like they lack relevance and are just cash cows. Yes, you are playing for rankings points, but they can be a little dull.
“For instance I would have loved to have gone away to Georgia and play in Tbilisi in a match that had real bite and significance.”
Warburton also noted that playing just three autumn games rather than four “might not sit well with the administrators in Wales”, but added it would be good for player welfare - having described Wales’ autumns as “undoubtedly the hardest campaign of the year”.