Rob Nichol has issued a warning to Rugby Australia ahead of crunch talks to move the Rugby Championship and align with the Six Nations.<\/p>\n
The chief executive of the New Zealand<\/a> Rugby Players Association (NZRPA) believes that Super Rugby Pacific could take a backseat to the NPC if Australia backs South Africa\u2019s push to create a global calendar.<\/p>\n Springboks<\/a> boss Rassie Erasmus has advocated for the Rugby Championship<\/a> to be rescheduled for earlier in the year, and talks are set to take place this week over the possibility of doing just that.<\/p>\n Global calendar talks<\/p>\n This has been described as the \u2018first credible attempt\u2019<\/a> at creating a global calendar with Los Pumas legend Agustin Pichot set to lead the discussion.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it will sort out a lot of problems for us,\u201d Erasmus explained last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cPlayers resting or managing the number of games a player can play, so getting it synced, I think player welfare and rules of competitions, all those kinds of things are easier to implement and to adapt to.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, it looks like they\u2019ll keep putting questionnaires out and high-performance committees looking at it. I\u2019m not sure where it is (negotiations regarding it at the moment) and when it will start, but I think it will be awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n The benefits for South Africa, and Argentina too, are plainly evident as it would further align with the northern hemisphere rugby seasons, meaning that the Springboks players aren\u2019t effectively playing all year round.<\/p>\n After initially resisting the shift, it looks as if Australia have come around to the idea, but New Zealand are holding firm and need convincing.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the past, when we last talked about it seriously, New Zealand was the biggest challenge. Australia is now on board,\u201d SA Rugby CEO Rian Oberholzer said<\/a> on the\u00a0Rapport Praat Sport\u00a0podcast.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a good chance of getting through this time. I think New Zealand also understands that there are more solutions and positivity than negativity to change the seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n Nigel Owens: Super Rugby law trial will result in \u2018inconsistent\u2019 ref calls and reward \u2018negative acts\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Warning to Australia<\/p>\n Speaking to The Post<\/a>, NZRPA chief Nichol warned that Rugby Australia needs to be careful what they wish for as moving the Rugby Championship could have a detrimental impact on Super Rugby Pacific.<\/p>\n \u201cI can see what they\u2019re thinking,\u201d Nichol said. \u201cThey\u2019re thinking, \u2018OK, it creates a big window [April-September] for us to put Super Rugby up against the NRL and AFL in the domestic market\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cThat would be great from their perspective because you wouldn\u2019t have the Rugby Championship after July, so you\u2019d have a clear window.<\/p>\n \u201cBut for us, we\u2019ve got this incredible competition called the NPC, so that doesn\u2019t work for us.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we have works for us and the question is, if we\u2019re going to move away from that, would we actually go for a Super Rugby comp or would we actually go the other way around and just make a longer NPC?<\/p>\n \u201cWe would want to do what\u2019s best for rugby in New Zealand and if you create that kind of a window [April-September] it\u2019s not just a fait accompli you put Super Rugby into it and bypass NPC.\u201d<\/p>\n