Nations Championship?
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Play 3 Nations of opposite hemisphere each touring window. Same as now except will always be the same 6, 3 at home, 3 over seas. So, say we get Ireland, Scotland, & Wales in July, then play England, France, and Italy in November. Then it seems 1st v 1st, 2nd v 2nd play of in Nov, obviously in NH cos that's where they all are. Maybe a double header. That will require another international weekend.
I don't think the RC, 6N count towards it.
Looks like the second division won't be up and running even if this does, i2024. This means no tier 2 teams, aside from Japan & Fiji, get to play tier 1 every second year, at least until second division starts up.
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i know it would kill NZ Rugby
but
part of me would like to see far less international rugby
I just started reading a book about the ABs v the Boks, and the thought of waiting 5 years to avenge a loss as a certain romantic appeal, and would certainly bring back some passion and interest.
I'm not suggesting waiting 8 years, but certainly every other year would be pretty sweet.Anyway, i know i am probably alone in this, and i am well aware it has zero chance of ever being a thing. Just musing out loud.
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@mariner4life you are not wrong though...less is more
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@taniwharugby said in World League Rugby / Nations Championship:
@mariner4life you are not wrong though...less is more
Except when it comes to money, in which case less is NZ rugby broke and fucked
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There's a lot more information in this article... But yes, Six Nations/TRC games are irrelevant, only the July/November windows would affect the two divisions.
Sounds like while it would result in Div 2 teams getting shafted during the two years of the actual competition, there'd be greater opportunities to play (understrength) NH teams during the Lions series (e.g. England might travel to Samoa). Still sounds like an overall downgrade in terms of inter-tier matches but it would still be great to see Tonga play Uruguay regularly etc.
There's a lot of talk surrounding how it will significantly increase commercial interest but it's hard to say what that's based on.
Rugby’s radical plan for new global competition with grand final every two years
Global rugby executives have been urged to embrace plans for the sport’s biggest revolution since the dawn of professionalism — including a world grand final ev
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So in simple terms each SH side plays the NH sides once. The NH sides play each SH side once.
There would be a ladder with 12 teams and the top two sides after the 6 games play the grand final. So it's entirely possible two SH or two NH sides could play the final.
The bottom team from the NH and SH plays a promotion relegation game same weekend I guess as grand final.
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@Stargazer said in World League Rugby / Nations Championship:
@Dan54 I don't think so. I think it's meant to be something like:
year 1: Nations Championship
year 2: Lions Tour
year 3: Nations Championship
year 4: Rugby World CupUnless I've totally misunderstood the proposals.
Makes sense Star! Best of both worlds maybe, though you would think it better to have league champion 2 years before WC, I can understand why it would be this way.
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@mariner4life said in World League Rugby / Nations Championship:
i know it would kill NZ Rugby
but
part of me would like to see far less international rugby
I just started reading a book about the ABs v the Boks, and the thought of waiting 5 years to avenge a loss as a certain romantic appeal, and would certainly bring back some passion and interest.
I'm not suggesting waiting 8 years, but certainly every other year would be pretty sweet.Anyway, i know i am probably alone in this, and i am well aware it has zero chance of ever being a thing. Just musing out loud.
Yep Mariner, I understand why it happens like it does now, but any touring team was gold to have when you sometimes only had 4 tests in a year, and less than that at times. We had great support for provincial rugby in those days too. But as I say I understand what has happened, and was always going to with professionalism
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@chimoaus said in World League Rugby / Nations Championship:
Any ideas on how they will share revenue? Will it be a 50/50 gate takings and then and equal share of the broadcast rights? Could be a good windfall for Fiji/Japan etc
Read that its still being debated. And is a contentious area
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According to the Telegraph (20 March 2023):
Rugby chiefs have agreed a new world league blueprint that will see a northern versus southern hemisphere ‘grand final’ every two years, as well as the ringfencing of the Six Nations Championship, Telegraph Sport can reveal.
The new league structure, which will only include games that take place in the summer and autumn windows, is set to be introduced from 2026 and will be formed by two groups of six teams from each hemisphere – namely the Six Nations and Rugby Championship sides, wth Japan and Fiji also expected to be included.The new format means that:
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The current format of the Six Nations Championship will be ring-fenced, ending any hope South Africa held of joining the European competition or for the introduction of promotion and relegation.
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Northern hemisphere sides will play three southern opponents away from home in the July window, bringing to an end the traditional summer tours of two or three Tests against one host country.
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The fixtures will be replicated at the home venues of the northern hemisphere nations in the November window, with the top team from each pool facing each other in a grand final, and ranking play-off games for the others.
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The tournament will be held every two years from 2026, with fixtures rotated so that every side plays against each other over a two-tournament cycle
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From 2030, a promotion and relegation could be introduced to provide a pathway from a second-tier competition which is expected to be launched next year for nations including Georgia, Samoa and Tonga.
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All stakeholders are confident it will not diminish the status of the Rugby World Cup, and it will be marketed as a battle of the hemispheres.
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The future of the British and Irish Lions tours will be secured and in Lions years countries able to stage traditional tours as normal, and include more fixtures against tier two countries to enhance their development.
It is understood that negotiations, which began in March 2020, are now entering a final consultation phase with the clubs and players’ representatives to ensure it has complete alignment and buy-in for a newly structured global season.
Senior sources have indicated that the new league is on course to be unveiled by the start of the Rugby World Cup in France this September.
“The fundamentals have been agreed,” said one source close to the negotiations. "All key stakeholders have been involved and the structure of the season, the rugby and player welfare issues were resolved some time ago. It's just tying down some of the outstanding commercial issues, but we are well advanced on those as well. We are just about over the line."Central to the negotiations from the northern hemisphere perspective was excluding the Six Nations from the new world league, which proved to be the major stumbling block of talks about the failed ‘Nations Championship’ concept in 2019.
“It was imperative that we didn’t mess around one of the major crown jewels of the game and risked that for a very hypothetical benefit,” said another senior source.
“South Africa made public their interest in joining the Six Nations, but it was never up for discussion. We have never entertained expansion.One of the details still under discussion include the possibility of staging the grand final at a high-profile neutral venue to enhance the profile of the league and grow a new audience, with Hong Kong one possibility.
It is understood one of the outstanding issues is also the timing of the Rugby Championship in the new global season.
This sounds like they want the SH hemisphere nations to adapt their schedule to that of the NH. Changing the timing of the RC will have serious consequences for Super Rugby, and then also the NPC. It will also have consequences for the Japanese Top League One which runs more or less parallel to Super Rugby.Of course this a Telegraph article, and thus written from a NH perspective. Some things more important to the SH nations may have been left out.
North versus south ‘grand final’ the crown jewel of new world league
Exclusive: Six Nations and Rugby Championship sides will form the backbone a new tournament with a 'grand final' held every two years
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It looks to be NZ/Aust vs SA/Arg for the timing of the RC. That's the problem when so many SA and Arg players play in Europe/Japan.
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i just cant see it happening...comes up every few years and nothing eventuates
completely removing even the carrot of tier 2-3 teams from joining these comps will kill rugby growth in new regions
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S Stargazer referenced this topic on
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@Bovidae What I really hate about is that it's the SH again who needs to adapt to the NH, while they just draw their line in the sand about not changing anything to the Six Nations.
There simply wouldn't be a level playing field, if NZ and Aussie players would have to play test matches straight after their off-season without any match fitness.
I also don't fully agree with the narrative that RSA and Arg were kicked out of SR. RSA had been suggesting they might join the Pro 14 and wanted to join the Six Nations years before Covid happened. Arg was just unlucky.
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It's not even the South
It's South Africa. Those fucking idiots moved their season to the Northern Winter by choice, and now want us to as well
Tell them to get fucked. The silly fluffybunnies have made their bed.
