{"id":273166,"date":"2025-11-20T08:08:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T08:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/273166\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T08:08:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T08:08:16","slug":"six-nations-makes-decision-on-springboks-entry-as-seventh-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/273166\/","title":{"rendered":"Six Nations Makes Decision on Springboks\u2019 Entry as Seventh Team"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Rassie Erasmus has poured cold water on any hopes of the Springboks joining the Six Nations, insisting the northern hemisphere isn\u2019t ready \u2013 and maybe never will be.<\/p>\n<p>The reigning world champions currently battle it out in the Rugby Championship with New Zealand, Australia, and Argentina, but there have been persistent whispers about a seismic shift to Europe\u2019s premier competition. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/channel\/AbYd2l05pp1bM_Ix\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Join RUCK\u2019s Instagram broadcast channel <\/a>and get the latest rugby news straight to your phone.<\/p>\n<p>The upcoming 2026 Nations Championships introduced by World Rugby makes such a move even more unlikely, adding another layer of complexity to any potential expansion.<\/p>\n<p>It would be a move that sends shockwaves through the rugby world \u2013 but Erasmus isn\u2019t buying into the hype.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUs joining the Six Nations? I\u2019m not sure how that sits with other people,\u201d Erasmus said.<br \/>\u201cWe admire the competition \u2013 when I was at Munster, I saw how big it really is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While fans might salivate at the idea of South Africa clashing with England, Ireland, or France every year, Erasmus sees a major obstacle \u2013 tradition.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are a lot of traditions that are more valuable than us just fitting in,\u201d he added.<br \/>\u201cThis is a competition with deep heritage. I\u2019m not sure if we can just walk in and be accepted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>EDITORS PICKS:<\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udfc9\u00a02026 Six Nations Fixtures: Round-by-Round Guide<\/p>\n<p>ROUND 1<\/p>\n<p>Thursday 5th February 2026<br \/>\ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddf7\u00a0France v Ireland<br \/>\ud83d\udccd Venue TBC<br \/>\ud83d\udd57 Kick-off: 8:10pm<\/p>\n<p>Saturday 7th February 2026<br \/>\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf9\u00a0Italy v Scotland<br \/>\ud83d\udccd Stadio Olimpico, Rome<br \/>\ud83d\udd51 Kick-off: 2:10pm<\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udfdf\ufe0f\u00a0England v Wales<br \/>\ud83d\udccd Allianz Stadium, Twickenham<br \/>\ud83d\udd5f Kick-off: 4:40pm<\/p>\n<p>ROUND 2<\/p>\n<p>Saturday 14th February 2026<br \/>\u2618\ufe0f\u00a0Ireland v Italy<br \/>\ud83d\udccd Aviva Stadium, Dublin<br \/>\ud83d\udd51 Kick-off: 2:10pm<\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udff4\u00a0Scotland v England<br \/>\ud83d\udccd Murrayfield, Edinburgh<br \/>\ud83d\udd5f Kick-off: 4:40pm<\/p>\n<p>Sunday 15th February 2026<br \/>\ud83d\udc09\u00a0Wales v France<br \/>\ud83d\udccd Principality Stadium, Cardiff<br \/>\ud83d\udd52 Kick-off: 3:10pm<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ruck.co.uk\/six-nations-makes-decision-on-springboks-entry-as-seventh-team\/2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">CONTINUES ON PAGE TWO<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Like this:<\/p>\n<p>Like Loading&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"sd-link-color\"\/>\t\t\t<script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rassie Erasmus has poured cold water on any hopes of the Springboks joining the Six Nations, insisting the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-273166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}