WILL SOUTH AFRICA JOIN THE 6 NATIONS IN THE FUTURE? | VOTE

WILL SOUTH AFRICA JOIN THE 6 NATIONS IN THE FUTURE? |

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[jaythstep]

I personally hate the idea - the 6N has always been very European and to add a Southern Hemisphere team doesnt feel right. I think it will take some of the excitement out of the Autumn Internationals / Lions / World Cup when the North vs South games are a bit unknown and it creates intrigue/hype - that'll be lost between the current 6N teams and SA. But, if people in suits will make more money then its obviously going to happen. Its a difficult one though - we want our sport to grow so I suppose we should be welcoming of the idea, its just this one doesnt feel right at all.

[cameronround]

I think it will happen and I think it will - in the very long run - be a good thing. Moving to a timezone rather than hemisphere based season will make the season more fluid, allow for an america's league (uraguy, chile, US, canada and so on), a pacific league (NZ, aus, tonga, fiji, samoa, japan) and an africa + europe league which will do much more for the growth of the game worldwide.

[jmurphy]

Will they? Probably.
Do I want them to? No

Tear up the years of tradition of the 6N to allow a SH team into a NH tournament. How will away days work? How does this affect the Summer and Autumn internationals? What does this mean for Georgia, Romania, Spain etc.?

The SA teams playing in Europe is completely irrelevant imo. URC can concoct whatever piss-poor product they want, doesn't mean that the 6N should be changed.

[marksmith]

100% up for them joining. Bring aus and NZ too in my opinion

[riyaadrhoda]

Would certainly make the competition exciting. As a SA fan it would be interesting to see the NH teams playing one weekend in a soaking wet cold Twickenham and the next Saturday in over 30 degrees Celcius on the highveld at altitude. Will defunately spice the competition up.

[TheIrishYoshi]

It makes logistical sense, South African teams play in Europe and South Africa is in the same timezone as France I believe
Edit: It's not, it's in the next timezone over.

[jimt]

Yes it'll happen. All the jigsaw places are being put in place. Loads of SA players playing in northern hemisphere now, and SA provincial sides playing in URC. And me personally I think it's a great thing. It will increase the quality of rugby for sure. Mouth watering prospect!

[sage]

what would be gained?

More money, increased quality, more competitive matches, increase standard of the home teams

[icarus]

I doubt very much it will happen. I don't like the idea firstly it will detract a lot from the domestic season in Europe, secondly it will mean the end of a meaningful tournament in the Southern Hemisphere every season.

[Metalmaniac]

This is a bad idea. This will kill Italian Rugby. If they want to add another country they should just flat out add Georgia & Romania and make an 8 Nations. Those nations in the Rugby Europe Championnship are a class above the rest for years now. The Six Nations should be for European Nations only just like the Rugby Championship/4 Nations should be with South Hemisphere Teams or Teams from the Pacific only. Except for money, there is no good reasons to do this trade with South Africa.

[michaelburke]

Imagine a weekend of
SA v France
Ire v England
Wales v Scotland

Every game would be exciting as opposed to the usual whoever is playing Italy wins by 30-40 points. They’ve have over 20 years to develop their game.

[michaelburke]

For me an option would be to bring in SA & maybe Georgia. Have two groups of 4. Pools decided by ranking. So you could have Ireland, England Scotland & Italy in one group and SA, France Wales and Georgia in another. Top two go through to semi finals and the competition would be decided by a final.

[bipedalame]

Inevitable. It's the travelling to NZ and Australia. South Africa is similar time zone to France and home nations. 7 hours with Sydney and Brisbane. 9 in NZ. Jetlag a daft word. Timezone lag

[lorcandonnelly]

6 nations is tradition and its traditionally a European tournament, keep it how it is and if they want to add a team add a European team like Georgia or who ever wins the European nations cup that year

[nathanbaker]

Exciting but I would hate it if this happened.

[eritchie]

Given there would be a 7th team, wouldn't that mean that rather than one of the rest weeks, a team would get a week off when they weren't playing, so might not necessarily need to be a longer tournament.

[tobybw]

Such a bad idea make it a play off but keep the six nations in Europe and change the championship so Japan and Fiji can get in. Also South Africa do some long term development and get the other African teams up to scratch

[LB_die_Kaapie]

South Africans don't want it. We are in a good place. We get a mix of North and South rugby.

[WalsallGooner]

There are many questions to consider. Should a deal be arranged for South Africa to join the 6 nations, does that mean the existing 6 nations squads cancel future summer tours to South Africa? Does it mean that there wouldn’t be a British and Irish Lions tour in 11 years time? Does it also mean that South Africa wouldn’t compete in the November series in Europe? Would Japan replace South Africa in The Rugby Championship?

[contentmoderator]

Really hope this wont happen! They need to think about growing the game in Europe! Keep Italy, try to add Georgia, Romania and potentially Portugal or Spain in the future. Hopefully countries like the Netherlands can also grow in the next couple of years.