It is Europe where Six Nations should be looking for growth... not South Africa
It was always going to take something rather significant to get Saracens out of the headlines this season, although few likely expected the prospect of South Africa joining the Guinness Six Nations to be the story that would finally do it.
In fairness, there has been a slight shift in focus in South African rugby of late with the Cheetahs and Southern Kings having decamped to Europe and joined the Guinness PRO14.
But the perception had been that SA Rugby and the Springboks were happy at the international level as part of the annual Rugby Championship tournament with New Zealand, Australia and Argentina.
If more movement to Europe were to occur, it seemed more likely that it would be the remaining Super Rugby sides – the Sharks, Stormers, Bulls and Lions – making the transition, or potentially one or two Currie Cup sides, joining the Cheetahs and the Kings in the cross-hemisphere PRO14.
But money, more than any other element, dictates professional sport and it is fair to say that South African rugby is not currently in the most fortuitous financial position.
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RPA warns of a mass player revolt over Seven Nations plot
With broadcast deals accounting for the largest slice of a union or club’s income, South Africa’s position close to Greenwich meridian does not help it garner the TV revenues from Australia and New Zealand that it would like. Much closer in time to the UK, however, South African rugby is located nicely to make the most of prime-time broadcast slots in Western Europe.
The appeal for the Springboks is obvious and arguably goes beyond financial incentives., The Rugby Championship has taken its fair amount of flak in recent seasons, while the intensity and spectacle of the Six Nations – if not always the skill levels – continues to surpass that of its southern hemisphere rival.
Similarly, the lure for the Six Nations is also obvious. The Springboks are reigning World Cup champions and are a year-on-year big-ticket in rugby. Their addition to the tournament would be fascinating, to say the least.
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The proposal faces its fair share of logistical issues with flights to South Africa taking over ten hours from London Heathrow, not to mention the extension of the tournament in games and duration and the reintroduction of bye weeks. But the Springboks are an established rugby nation and an easy boost for the Six Nations, not that one is necessarily currently needed.
The longer game – and the one the Six Nations should be playing – is furthering the growth of rugby outside of the traditional powerhouse nations. Fans have long clamoured for Georgia’s introduction to the Six Nations, especially with Italy’s waning fortunes of late, while Japan are another northern hemisphere nation that have shown themselves to be ready for an introduction to an annual tier one competition.
Both these nations have their drawbacks, most notably Georgia’s economy is not the potential gold mine the members of the Six Nations would presumably like in the tournament, while there are even more logistical issues involved with Japan than there are with South Africa given the drastically different time zone and a slightly longer flight.
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Where the Six Nations’ efforts should be concentrated are in Europe. The competition sits on the doorstep of a number of large economies, all of whom are conveniently located in terms of travel duration and time zones for preferable broadcast slots.
In many of these nations, football is king and the national sport as it is all over the world now, but there is room for growth for rugby union as potentially the second or third sport in those countries, just as it is in most of rugby’s traditional strongholds.
The Rugby Europe Championship is currently taking place and after two rounds of competition, Georgia and Portugal sit atop the pile with both nations still undefeated. Spain have beaten recent World Cup side Russia and put up a strong challenge to Georgia this past weekend. Belgium also have a win to their name, while the Russians and Romania both struggle at the bottom of the table and are winless in their opening two games.
The trio of Georgia, Spain and Portugal have all profited from successful age-grade sides and they are three nations, unlike Romania, Russia and even Scotland to a certain extent, that are trending upwards at a noticeable rate.
In the tier below that, the Netherlands are looking strong at the top of the Trophy and they too have benefitted from an uptick in the quality of players coming through their age-grade pathway with a number set to make a significant impact in the Top 14 over the next few years. Germany are a little further off the pace in that division, but with large investment beginning to come in, they are a nation to keep an eye on over the coming years.
The Rugby Europe umbrella also boasts a thriving under-20s scene and women’s tournaments and they operate on a shoestring budget in comparison to the riches that the Six Nations can call upon. If there is a genuine desire to grow the game – and thus eventually grow the money coming into the game – this is where the Six Nations need to look.
In both of these losses, there are similar skeletons buried in the grave, and if you rewind to last year’s tournament you will find they existed then too, writes @bensmithrugby https://t.co/25ALk6lMtL
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If the Six Nations were to align itself more closely with Rugby Europe and look to work with them, it would be to the benefit of both organisations, as well as the global prosperity of the game. The Six Nations doesn’t even need to incorporate relegation and promotion to get this ball rolling.
If the Six Nations were to invest into the Rugby Europe Championship, which currently broadcasts its games for free through Rugby Europe TV, there is no reason why it couldn’t be rebranded as the Six Nations Trophy and included in the broadcast package that the current Six Nations are putting together that will include men’s, women’s, under-20s and autumn internationals.
What rugby needs to grow is a larger group of nations playing the sport at a high level and in order to finance that growth, they need to work on developing nations with the economies and potential broadcast deals to make the sport sustainable.
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It’s not going to bring the short-term boost that CVC – if their investment goes through – would want and that South Africa’s inclusion would garner, but it is the approach that will bring a much brighter long-term future for rugby in Europe, the northern hemisphere and globally.
If the second tier of European rugby can be strengthened, suddenly the argument for promotion and relegation in the Six Nations becomes a stronger one, not only because the team coming up will be in a better place to compete with the established nations, but also because the relegated side will not be being cast out into the wilderness as they currently would be.
Rugby has repeatedly shown that when organisations work in unison, greater things can be achieved for both parties and cooperation between the Six Nations and Rugby Europe would be no different, just as Premiership Rugby’s compromises with the RFU helped send England to the World Cup final last year.
The Six Nations are one of the few entities in rugby that can afford to delay short-term gratification for greater reward in the long-term. Now is the time to push them to do just that.
WATCH: The latest episode of The Rugby Pod discusses Ellis Genge’s post-match interview and Finn Russell’s ongoing bust-up with Gregor Townsend
Comments on RugbyPass
Ben Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
19 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
19 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
28 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
86 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
4 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
9 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
19 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to comments