Wallabies legend George Gregan has hit out at the Springboks and All Blacks\u2019 decision to create Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry tour at the expense of the Rugby Championship.<\/p>\n
New Zealand will travel to South Africa later this year with the All Blacks<\/a> facing all four of the United Rugby Championship teams before three Tests against the Springboks in Johannesburg and Cape Town, with Baltimore hosting the fourth and final Test.<\/p>\n The series has come at the detriment of the Rugby Championship<\/a>, which will not be held this year and again in 2030 when the Springboks<\/a> tour New Zealand.<\/p>\n Australia and Argentina have since made alternative plans and will play Test matches during that period.<\/p>\n While Gregan<\/a> understands the financial reasons and benefits from the tour, he is disappointed that the Rugby Championship is coming second to the series.<\/p>\n Gregan hits out at Springboks-All Blacks series<\/p>\n He expressed these views on the Rugby Unity<\/a> podcast,\u00a0where he weighed in on the tour as a whole and the final Test matches being hosted in the USA.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I think that the last part makes sense, going to Baltimore to play in a new market, a new country, which is good forward planning for 2031,\u201d the former Wallabies captain said.<\/p>\n \u201cTwo iconic world-leading rugby nations are playing in America. They have probably seen the success of Ireland playing against New Zealand. They always play that at Soldier Field in Chicago, where there are a few Irish people, a few Irish fans, and the Kiwis like to travel as well, and that\u2019s been a huge success.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I can see why they\u2019ve done that for the fourth Test, and it\u2019s an education. There\u2019s obviously a commercial piece to it; it would be strong for both countries.<\/p>\n \u201cBut in terms of the Greatest Rivalry, I think they could have, and I\u2019m just going back on what\u2019s happened in the past, we used to play the Mandela Cup [Australia and South Africa], they still do, but you could put an extra Test on. It didn\u2019t interfere with it; at that stage, it was the Tri Nations, and it was an add-on. But the Tri-Nations was still a really important competition.\u201d<\/p>\n Springboks: Rassie Erasmus\u2019 verdict on Nations Championship clash with England side that is \u2018certainly hitting their straps\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Six Nations equivalent<\/p>\n The Six Nations has a much longer history than the Rugby Championship, dating back to 1883 when it was the Home Nations, with two further expansions with France and Italy joining the competition.<\/p>\n But that didn\u2019t stop Gregan from drawing a comparison.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019d be like saying the Six Nations, the greatest rivalries between England and France, and then they\u2019re going to pause the Six Nations for that,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n \u201cI know there\u2019s a lot more history to the Six Nations, but to me, that\u2019s the equivalent.\u201d<\/p>\n