South Africa supports a global season: the challenge of bringing together the Rugby Championship and the Six Nations

From South Africa spoke about the possibility of a modification in the world rugby calendar, by changing the date of the Rugby Championship to align it with the Six Nations.

Rian Oberholzer, CEO of SA Rugby, said that to make a change to the calendar a reality, it will be necessary for all parties to agree: “I think everyone understands that we need a global season for several reasons. If you look at player well-being and proper downtime for professional players, and giving leagues a fair chance to have their players, it becomes very important. A global season would bring clarity,” he pointed out.

Meanwhile, the manager expressed himself about its difficulty: “The challenge is how to get there. We can’t have a global season if no one is willing to sacrifice anything. “Everyone will have to give up something in their usual way of doing things,” he clarified.

And he added: “The Six Nations may have to be changed. We may have to move the Rugby Championship closer to that period. We all agree in principle, but when it comes to specifying who moves and what we are willing to change, that’s where things get complicated. The best scenario for us is a calendar with a period for international rugby, then a period for the leagues and then another international period. The challenge is to fit all that into 365 days.”he said.

Finally, Oberholzer express: “It’s easy to say, ‘Let’s play the Rugby Championship in the Six Nations window,’ but what will the broadcasters say? There are a lot of factors to consider. You almost have to start from scratch and see if everything fits together.”“, he concluded.