From a URC and whatever the Heineken Cup is called nowadays that probably would make sense.
To be fair the calendar hasn’t radically changed for the NH sides. Ireland will still play the Six Nations in Spring and then in non RWC years internationals in July and November. In two of those three years these will now be the Nations Championship so will be competitive and structured (and yes, at the expense of shutting out the lower tier sides, which is a whole different debate). There will be an Autumn Nations Series in the other year. For the Southern Hemisphere, a bit more change but not as radical as mooted. The Rugby Championship will still run 3 out of 4 years and the compensation for losing that fourth year is (a) a double round robin RC in RWC years and (b) a Bledisloe series for Australia in the off years (presumably RSA and Argentina will arrange something for themselves at the same time). RSA and NZ have gotten their Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry onto the calendar, so interesting to see how that works out.
It's moving deckchairs and won't solve the fact that rugby is heading for a crash.
Nope, makes zero sense. Make the 6N move to match the RC. The rugby calendar over here is a complete mess. At least in NZ you have a domestic season leading into an international season. Here you're juggling multiple competitions with the 6N slapped in the middle of the season.
The powers that be in Rugby couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery.
I have no problem with this NZ tour of SA, especially as a kiwi. Despite playing SA fairly regularly, we don't get anything like the tours of old.
The Rugby Championship was great this year, but it's still got a ridiculous format. The inequality between home and away games doesn't make it a very 'fair' competition. That said, the 6N format has the same issues and people here don't seem bothered by it.
Absolutely not, the 6N in Spring is class, and the format is perfectly fine.
Have you experienced freezing your tits off at a Scotland match at the Aviva with zero atmosphere? 😂
Never mind that, have you experienced freezing your tits off at a Scotland match in Murrayfield? I'm pretty sure it's the coldest place on planet earth.
youve never been racing in Thurles. Thurles race track is worse. Murrayfield is grand compared to thurles race track on A Thursdsy in winter!!!
Id hate to see 6 Nations move from spring. think its at an ideal time and dont think a move would help it
That's the corporate seats and bandwagon crowd not the time of year.
Move it to any time you like and Irish games will be the same unless the bubble bursts.
Yeah, there's huge heritage and history to it being on at that time of year - I think it has literally always been played at that time of year going right back to the 1880's, with a handful of notable exceptions (foot & mouth scare in 2001 etc).
It kind of has the sporting calendar largely to itself to an extent at that time of year (at least for the sports I personally care about anyway).
And im not sure it would get the complete blanket tv coverage it gets in its position now if it did move to later. It doesnt compete with too much else at that time and its great leading into paddys day and early spring
The 6 nations wont move. Its in the perfect position in the annual calendar where its not up against any other major sporting event. But i think it could move 2 weeks. see below
It makes much more sense to move the RC (6 rounds) to the same time period (start mid jan) and push Super Rugby out past it. NPC could actually run during this period as well, as it currently does during the RC anyway.
French rugby is the big issue. This season is just shy of 42 weeks long !!! First round on 6th August and Final will be on w/e of 26th June. That is simply unsustainable. European Rugby doesnt help with their season. In fact im coming round to the idea of european rugby being played off over 7 weeks over one block.
Say URC, Prem Top 14 all finish their leagues 2 weeks before 6N.
that would mean The URC, with its 21 rounds (18+3) could start 24 weeks before 14 Feb (6N start date), which would be approx 15th September (allowing for 2 week off for xmas)
Prem, with 20 rounds, can start then as well and match URC
Top 14 with 29 rounds, can get rid of the SF qualifiers, and start 7 weeks earlier (mid / start august)
All league finals are then played over the weekend of 1st Feb.
6 Nations then would be 14 feb to 30 March (typically), one week off, then 7 weeks of European rugby (1 down week in the middle) which means the season finishes around the end of May.
Summer Tours then are full squads.
Nov. series draw from clubs during the leagues, as it also currently does.
Rugby Championship runs mid january to end feb. Super rugby 17 rounds then march - mid June.
PAU with a population of galway just gone top of T14, fair fecks
The problem isn't age it's depth. No harm using these friendlies to see a few players who might be called on if we need them for real tournaments like the upcoming 6N.
The importance of these now twice yearly meetings of southern teams is just pure marketing hype at this stage.
Given their respective performances at the weekend and over the last few months,is it fair to say Crowley should be ahead of Prendergast for the Autumn Series……..
Yeah, can't believe no one has mentioned that before now.
If I was South African I might be concerned about the age profile of the team, I'd also be delighted that we won the last two RWCs.
As a non SA and looking forward the the next RWC I think they'll face a cliff edge if Rassie doesn't start mixing it up with his squads. As an Irish supporter I really couldn't give a rats arse who he picks or the age profile of their team.
Should that prevent me from having an opinion on my team?
Not an auful idea by all accounts. Neither would playing the 6N during the RC window in August/September. I like the SANZAAR format of having the club season before the international season rather than splitting the club season up around international windows.
I'm interested what narrative and what media/bloggers you are referring to here?
I think it's fair to say that Rassie is conservative. But I also think it's fair to say that Farrell is conservative too. I'd go far as as suggesting a lot of the media I consume has acknowledged both.
I think you're looking to be outraged, very few Irish people or the media here really care about SA rugby unless we're playing them.
When an Irish coach has two successive RWC medals in their back pocket then I'm sure the media here won't be too concerned about the age of the players. But when you see a 37yo out on his feet in another QF loss you can see why the media would question our trust in selecting the same squad over and over again.
I didn't have any major issues with the age profile of the Ireland squad up to and including the 2023 RWC.
For me, it's the relative conservatism since then. A large cohort of this Irish team, starters and in the 23, are really beginning to push on.
But conservatism isn't just about age profile, it's also about the number of caps and minutes being given to those players. One stat that comes to mind in contrast is that Rassie played 47 players during the Rugby Champioship. I think Farrell played 31 in the 6 Nations?
And to concede, all the caveats about SA having a significantly bigger net are absolutely valid. I just think it's possible that's true, and that Rassie is a conservative selector, and that Farrell has become one too.
Rassie is one of the least conservative coaches in the game. He pulled off some batshit stuff in the last world cup (7-1 bench, no hookers, 4 scrum halves, scrum from a mark..) and a lot of pure nonsense besides (midfield mauls, 5m restarts...).
That's fair, I suppose I mean selection rather than game play type stuff (maybe "innovation" might be a good word for it?); but then 7-1, 4 SH's etc. too so fair point.
most of those were a load of bollox and didn't actually contribute anything of value. I don't think there's a coach in the game whose benefited from luck more than Rassie.
Wayne Pivac in 2021 6 Nations? They were jammy that year.
SA probably get a bit of leeway based on the fact that they're back-to-back World Cup and Rugby Championship champions.
Ireland are a team that seems to be past their peak, without a clear vision of what's coming through to replace their aging players.
Farrell was away with the Lions but equally I highly doubt Easterby had complete free reign to make his own selections. But I don’t really care whether SA are getting called out on their age profile or not tbh. I care about whether Ireland are being too conservative, and I believe they are.
I dont think Easterby had free reign at all. It would be madness to go away from what Farrell is building…
And i agree about South Africa. Theyre entitled to do what they see fit and as double reigning world champions they can do what they want but think we have to look at things differently than we have in past.
I don't think "Farrell picked the team entirely" or "Easterby picked the team entirely" are quite the only 2 options available tho…
