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World Rugby release official structure of 'Nations Championship' and its start date


Sam Whitelock, All Blacks lock. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)
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World Rugby has moved to clarify the organisation’s position on the merits and structure of an annual global competition in advance of key meetings in Dublin next week.

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However, the new format has raised more questions around how it will work.

A statement reads:

“The current rugby broadcast market is complicated, which impairs the overall ability of the game – including players, fans, unions and clubs – to realise its full potential. World Rugby is undertaking this important work on behalf of our unions to secure the long-term growth and stability of the sport in an ever more competitive sports and entertainment environment.

“It is incumbent on World Rugby to champion and represent the whole game, not just the top of the game, and we are committed to working with our union and player representative colleagues to ensure an equitable solution that works for all.

That is why we tabled the below competition model with union CEOs and International Rugby Players in September 2018:

Nations Championship to debut in 2022

  • The 6 Nations, The Rugby Championship and British and Irish Lions completely retained and protected as jewels in the calendar
  • Two-division, merit-based format with promotion and relegation and a potential pathway for all unions
  • Two conferences comprising the 6 Nations and The Rugby Championship (where two tier two teams would be immediately added to make six in total)
  • Each team plays the other 11 teams once either home or away with points accumulated throughout counting towards a league table
  • Top two teams from each conference would play cross-conference semi-finals, followed by a grand final
  • Running in two of the four years in the Rugby World Cup cycle (not running in a Rugby World Cup year and truncated version in a Lions year)
  • Broadcast rights aggregated and collectively sold, increasing revenue potential. Possibility to centralise some sponsorship rights
  • The competition would provide qualification and seeding for future Rugby World Cups
  • Rugby World Cup to be enhanced as the pinnacle global event, potentially moving to 24 teams in 2027

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Phantom 34 minutes ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Fact: the gap between the North and the South has narrowed considerably - that I get. However, determining that only selecting only Home grown players or playing in the home country is is the optimal strategy is a bit of a toss up and highly reliant on the economies of the home union. I do understand that England and to a lesser degree Ireland selects home based only. The top 14 is a massive threat to their domestic product. France would probably not be affected (the money is at home). Fiji, Argentina, Samoa, Italy and you could even argue Scotland have only benefitted from this. Their players either go overseas to learn at higher levels (Fiji, Samoa, Argentina) or players coming into their leagues to strengthen the home product and their National teams (Scotland, Italy, Japan).

South Africa used to limit its selection to the home based players, but the reality of a weak currency vs what players could earn oversees meant that you lost access to your best players at some stage of their careers, with very few exceptions. Kolbe left SA as he was considered too small for International Rugby (yes coaches/selectors view), but ironically in France he forced selectors to notice his endeavors and select him. He is only reaching 50 caps now despite being north of 30 - granted rotation and the odd injury also played a role, but for the most part it is having debuted or becoming a regular so late.



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