SA Rugby CEO Rian Oberholzer believes that rugby is closer than it’s ever been to creating a global calendar with a crunch meeting set to take place next month.
Earlier this week, Midi Olympique reported that the biggest stakeholders in the game would be meeting in mid-February to make a ‘first credible attempt’ to align club and international competitions.
One of the suggestions that has been tabled is for the Rugby Championship to move into the same timeslot as the Six Nations, with the latter tournament delayed by a fortnight.
The report states that legendary Los Pumas scrum-half and former vice-chairman of World Rugby, Agustín Pichot, will lead the discussions on behalf of the SANZAAR nations – Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
We have a good chance this time around
But Oberholzer has now provided details on the magnitude of the meeting and why there is a significantly higher chance that an agreement to create a global calendar can be reached this time around.
He explains that Australia and New Zealand have provided the stumbling blocks previously, but this time around, the former is more open to the idea. However, work still needs to be done with the latter.
It’s possible that Super Rugby Pacific would also need to be moved to later in the calendar and run more like the northern hemisphere tournaments, while existing broadcasting deals would make an agreement difficult.
Still, Oberholzer is upbeat about the possibility of a consensus being reached.
“In the past, when we last talked about it seriously, New Zealand was the biggest challenge. Australia is now on board,” he said on the Rapport Praat Sport podcast.
“We 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.”
Previously, the national bodies have been involved in these kinds of discussions and meetings, but Oberholzer states that this meeting is different because club bigwigs will also be involved.
“I’m hopeful that it will happen,” he continued.
“It’s also the first time that the different leagues we play in are also starting to form part of the conversation, the Top 14, PREM Rugby, the United Rugby Championship and others.
“There is a much larger group of people who are talking about how important one season is, so big that you can no longer ignore it.”
Springboks v All Blacks USA Test slammed as the ‘most egregious money-grab in rugby’s history’
Win-win for club and country
Achieving a global calendar has commonly been viewed as the best thing for the international game, but the club competitions’ involvement in the meeting suggests that a more win-win compromise could well be the goal of the discussions.
The CEO states that a global season is of high importance to all countries as it would also make it easier to create sufficient rest periods for players and open other opportunities.
“You buy time and have better rest periods for your players. If we are selfish (as South Africa), it works fantastically because we have one foot in the north,” he added.
“If we play the Rugby Championship in a time slot closer to the Six Nations, it opens up weekends for us later in the year.
“It’s something that I know Mark Alexander is pushing very hard at international meetings to ensure that we can look at one global season.”
Springboks v All Blacks: International venue for Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry finale unveiled
He continued: “If we get a global season, maybe we can have a few weeks open towards the end of the season, and then we can sit down and see how we best fit the competitions in.
“I’m not saying it’s going to happen, but at least there’s an opportunity to have a look at it.”
Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.
Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus is one of the most recent high-profile figures in the game to call for a global calendar, a topic he addressed after the announcement of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series.
“It would be fantastic if we can all play the Rugby Championship when the Six Nations is on,” he said.
“It would be so much easier to know other teams, to be all aligned. Not having some countries flat in June and others peaking in November, and then we are flat in November. Law changes or variations would then be so much easier to implement right across the board, because all competitions start at the same time.”
The need for a global calendar has also grown with the formation of World Rugby’s Nations Championship, particularly with France set to send a weakened team for the opening round of the new competition.