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If Boks remain in Championship something will have to give

rugby28 October 2021 09:08| © SuperSport
By:Gavin Rich
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Springboks © Getty Images

The South African rugby switch to the northern hemisphere hemisphere season, meaning it becomes a summer sport in this country, will mean something is going to have to change when it comes to their participation in the Castle Lager Rugby Championship.

Six Nations chief executive Ben Morel has poured cold water on the ongoing speculation of an imminent Springbok move to the northern hemisphere international competition. Although it has been consistently denied through the official channels, UK media people in South Africa for the British and Irish Lions tour were pretty adamant that the Boks joining to make it a Seven Nations is inevitable and an open secret in the UK and Ireland. The consensus was this could happen as early as 2024.

But Morel says there are no plans afoot to expand the South African switch to European competitions at regional/provincial level to the international stage, and points to the South African commitment to the SANZAAR international competition, the Rugby Championship, as one of the reasons this won’t happen.

“It’s not currently a question. Our understanding is that South Africa are committed to the Rugby Championship and at the same time our focus is on July and November (incoming and outgoing tours featuring southern hemisphere teams),” Morel told Sky Sport.

SWITCH OF SA SEASONS INTRODUCES BIG CHALLENGES

However, while it is hard to imagine South African rugby ever discontinuing the annual rivalry between the current world champions and the All Blacks, and the recent exciting clashes between the two global giants in Australia should have further whet the appetite, the current Rugby Championship lock in is only until 2025. And South Africa’s switch to a northern timeline at the other top levels of the sport does introduce massive logistical challenges and questions if the current Championship format is to be continued.

For instance, as it stands, the Rugby Championship will continue in its current time slot of August through to October, with the Boks due to host two tests against the All Blacks and one against the Pumas next year.  They will play two away tests against the Wallabies and one in Argentina in the 2022 edition of the competition.

Unless the Boks are going to do away with off-seasons and sign up to be on duty for 12 months of the year, which of course would be suicidal from a player welfare viewpoint, sticking to an August to October time-slot for the Championship is going to become impractical.

The news that next year’s Currie Cup will begin on 15 January and be concluded with a final on 25 June has pretty much confirmed the switch of seasons. What was a winter sport in South Africa has now become a summer sport.

The Vodacom United Rugby Championship will be concluded with the final a week earlier than that, 18 June, and the following season, which will be the 2022/2023 season, will start in September. The Springboks start what used to be the June incoming tour sequence of the rugby year, which will now be in July, just a few weeks after the conclusion of the Currie Cup and URC, with three tests scheduled against Wales on 9, 16 and 23 July 2022.

From there it will be straight into the Rugby Championship, if it proceeds in the current scheduled time slot. And after that comes the 2022 end of year tour, which will be an important one the year before the next Rugby World Cup takes place in France.

THERE ARE ALSO FRANCHISE COMMITMENTS

Let’s not forget either that the Boks will then have to link up with their franchises to play in the URC, which will carry on to June 2023. And then comes what should be an abbreviated 2023 edition of the Rugby Championship as the real build-up starts for the RWC in September of that year.

So when are the Boks going to rest? As it stands there is no gap, and while there might be a suggestion that the Boks just shouldn't play that much URC and perhaps rest at another time of the year, you have to question how much appetite the public will have for the inter-hemisphere regional competition if it is not played at full strength.

And if a sizeable portion of the URC is not played at full strength, meaning that the South African international players are not involved, then can it be seen as a proper breeding ground for Springboks? 

All these questions are understood to be of concern to the organisation that represents players’ concerns and protects their welfare interests, MyPlayers, and they are busy with an ongoing negotiation process with SA Rugby.

But it is not just the here and now, and the next two years, that should be of concern. The South African rugby switch of seasons at professional level through the decision to sign up for participation in not just the URC but also the Champions Cup from next year, looks set to be permanent.

BOKS WOULD BE DISADVANTAGED

The Boks playing Rugby Championship when they should be in offseason just doesn’t make sense, and they would be at a disadvantage regardless of what is done to accommodate them in that time slot.  If they are just starting a new season after coming off an offseason they are at a disadvantage because they won’t have played enough, and they’d be disadvantaged for the exact opposite reason if the Rugby Championship fell at the end of what would effectively be a 12 months season for them.

South African rugby is committed to Rugby Championship until 2025 but when all the above considerations are taken into account it does appear to make more sense for them to align their international program with the hemisphere they are competing in. In which case the Boks play in the Six (Seven) Nations and have annual meetings with the All Blacks in July (outgoing) and November (incoming) as if they were a northern hemisphere nation.

They can also host tours from Australia and Argentina or tour those countries in the old time slots where they used to be either hosting or touring the nations that will now be their annual competition opponents in the Seven Nations. The big prize for SA Rugby should be participation in both the Seven Nations and the Rugby Championship, but that would require the latter competition to switch to a different window in the year.

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