EXTRA PRESSURE
Player welfare concerns over ‘Seven Nations’
THE Six Nations are facing a major battle to win support from clubs and players for an expanded tournament featuring South Africa.
On Saturday, Sportsmail broke the story of the ongoing negotiations to include the Springboks in a rebooted competition from the 2024/25 season – and can now reveal further details of proposals that would dramatically alter international rugby.
While the final details have yet to be agreed, there is a strong feeling among many of the Six Nations that any new tournament needs to take place within the existing international window, which may mollify the clubs but would raise major concerns over player welfare.
Under one draft itinerary for a proposed Seven Nations that has been shared with Sportsmail, the tournament would take place within a seven-week block, with each team getting just one week off. Teams with byes in the first and last
week would therefore have to play six matches in successive weekends, while those with byes on matchdays two and six would have five games in a row. The other three nations would be given a more meaningful break in the middle of the tournament. Such a lop-sided proposed schedule has led to question marks over the integrity of the competition, as well as raising major issues over player welfare. Ireland captain Johnny Sexton was extremely vocal in his criticism of plans for a new Nations League last year in his role as president of the International Rugby Players Association, with Sexton arguing that playing
Tests in five successive weeks would be “potentially harmful”, a congested programme that is also a feature of the initial Seven Nations talks. The alternative for the unions who run the Six Nations is to seek an extension of the seven-week window, although that would present a complex political challenge. In addition to gaining approval of the Premiership, Pro14 and French clubs, the Six Nations would also require World Rugby to change Regulation Nine, which obliges clubs to release players for international duty at certain times. World Rugby will also come under pressure themselves to resist the expansion of the Six Nations from the New Zealand and Australian unions, who would be reluctant to lose South Africa from the Rugby Championship. Japan and Fiji would be potential beneficiaries of the proposals however, as South Africa’s departure would increase their chances of being admitted to a reformed southern hemisphere competition. Ironically, the growing momentum for Japan to be admitted to the Rugby Championship may have helped hasten South Africa’s departure, as the addition of more long-haul flights to the southern hemisphere would make it an even less attractive proposition for the Boks.