The Springboks playing in March and April. Preposterous you might argue. The last time they played in the first half of the year was back in 1970 at the back end of their severely disrupted and demonstrated tour of the UK and Ireland.
The average South African rugby fan is still coming to grips with their provincial franchises playing in Europe between September and May, and now, if SA Rugby has its way, the Boks may play in March and April.
The Sydney Morning Herald has reported officials from South Africa and Argentina have proposed a calendar shift for the Rugby Championship from its current August/September window to March/April. They argue it will better align their rugby calendar with that of Europe’s where their elite players campaign on a weekly basis. They point to player welfare in arguing their athletes don’t get a long enough break between seasons.
“These guys aren’t getting a break, at all. I am always talking with the club coaches in Europe, to try and negotiate it out,” Pumas coach Michael Cheika told the Herald a while back.
It will, however, be a hard sell to the Kiwis and the Aussies who are locked in combat in their much-reduced Super Rugby competition.
However, the moment South Africa and Argentina were no longer part of Super Rugby, the rules of engagement within Sanzaar changed. The Herald reported: “The sensitivity surrounding South Africa and Argentina being unhappily jettisoned from Super Rugby is a backdrop for the talks, with Sanzaar partners keen to explore all options to keep the lucrative Rugby Championship competition alive.”
South Africa are in the pound seats, as it were, as they are in a position to play both sides of the equator. Gravitational forces are pulling them north, but it does not mean they should abandon playing opportunity in the south.
The organisers of Super Rugby may not want to hear it, but it is a much diminished competition after South Africa’s exit. A Rugby Championship without South Africa will expose New Zealand and Australia to even greater risk. A tripartite competition involving New Zealand, Australia and Argentina is unlikely to attract the number of eyeballs that make TV executives drool.
Rugby bosses in the Antipodes will need no reminding of the clamour for the Springboks to join a revamped Six Nations competition. That would be a natural progression given South Africa’s expanding footprint in European competition.
Apart from being part of a more agreeable playing schedule for their elite players SA Rugby, should it join the Six Nations, will also firmly align themselves with their proposed new equity partners CVC Capital Partners. In 2021 CVC took a 14.3% stake in the Six Nations valued at $509m (R9.2bn at today’s rate), which took their total investment in rugby to more than $700m (R12.6bn). CVC has become one of the game’s power brokers and holds considerable sway.
South Africa are in the pound seats, as it were, as they are in a position to play both sides of the equator. Gravitational forces are pulling them north, but it does not mean they should abandon playing opportunity in the south. In fact, they should see it as an opportunity to re-energise their enduring rivalry with New Zealand. Playing the All Blacks every second year in a three-Test series will make those clashes much more anticipated, and meaningful.
That, however, is unlikely to happen. Rugby bosses are far more interested in what they can bank in an instant. The nature of the Springboks’ future rivalry with the All Blacks will reveal itself in the fullness of time, but for the moment SA Rugby holds a considerable amount of leverage as they seek to bring the Rugby Championship forward to a March/April window. New Zealand and Australia would do well to listen or run the risk of drifting ever further south.
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