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race erasmusThe South Africa the head coach has called rugby championship to be taken at the same time as six nations To align the international calendar in men’s rugby.
SANZAAR, the governing body of the game in the Southern Hemisphere, confirmed this on Thursday. Its flagship competition will return in 2027 The series has been dropped from the calendar next year for the launch of “Rugby’s Greatest Rivalries” between springboks And New Zealand.
Full editions of the Rugby Championship are scheduled to be held in their traditional slots in the calendar in August and September in each of the next three years.
However, that window poses particular problems for South Africa and Argentina, as the majority of both teams are based in European competitions. The top Springboks are essentially forced to play year-round, with only a short gap between the July internationals and the start of the Rugby Championship each year.
Better alignment, perhaps, could be achieved if the rugby championship were tailored to the Six Nations, unifying the Northern and Southern Hemisphere calendars – which is what Erasmus, who has led his side to back-to-back competition crownsHe believes this will be a positive step.
“It’s just my opinion, but I think it would be fantastic if we could play the Rugby Championship in February when the Six Nations takes place,” the double World Cup-winning coach said. “It would be very easy for other teams to all get together, it’s not like some countries are flat in June and other countries peak in November, and then we are flat in November.
“I think it would be much easier to implement the law changes across the board if all competitions started at the same time.
“In my honest opinion, I don’t see any reason why we, New Zealand, Argentina and Australia can’t play that competition at the same time with the Six Nations. But there might be one big thing I’m missing.”
Moving the Rugby Championship to the end of the Southern Hemisphere summer will create potential challenges in terms of weather, with both New Zealand and Australia arriving without major domestic competitions beforehand to prepare for Test rugby.
It is believed that New Zealand may be the most resistant to changes in timing for a competition it has largely dominated over the past 30 years, and any changes would not appear imminent following Sanzar’s announcement.
However, managing player workloads, particularly in South Africa, will remain a major topic over the next few years. World Rugby recently agreed a new 30-match guideline of player workload per season for all countries, including a limit of six consecutive weeks of action before a rest is required.
Erasmus has heavily rotated his Springboks squad this year to ensure proper rest and continue building squad depth. Under the current season structure, South Africa’s international players are not provided a proper offseason – although the captain he is colissi He believes that he and his team are well managed.
“We are looking forward to the break,” Kolisi said. “We can talk to the club and they tell us how many weeks off we have, and then you can choose between different parts of the year when we’ll take off. I know next year I’ll already have my break: in February, we get three weeks off completely and then also three weeks of training.
“There are certain things that have been worked on to ensure that we get that kind of break. People who don’t play for South Africa get a break when we are playing international matches. The way we are looked after is really good so I have no worries at the moment.”
Kolisi also expressed his excitement for the new quadrilateral travel arrangement with New Zealand set to host the Springboks. all black The following year: “The rivalry between us and New Zealand has always been big and has always been tight. You saw that in the two games we played against them this year. They’ll get a chance to get to know South Africa a little bit more, get a chance to interact with the public. I can’t wait to experience it.”