World Rugby to continue Nations Championship push at Dublin meetings
THE FUTURE OF the proposed Nations Championship remains unclear as World Rugby gathers for its council meetings in Dublin on Wednesday.
Rugby’s governing body will lead further discussions about the proposed competition, which it hopes will launch in 2022.
World Rugby CEO Brett Gosper. Source: Inpho/Billy Stickland
World Rugby’s proposal is that the annual global Nations Championship would involve promotion and relegation, but that has proved to be a major stumbling block in reaching an agreement with all of the leading unions.
It is not expected that a consensus will be reached this week in Dublin, adding to the sense in some quarters that the proposal is doomed, but World Rugby is still hopeful that the Nations Championship will see the light of day.
“The Nations Championship is pretty central in the discussions,” said World Rugby CEO Brett Gosper yesterday at the launch of the #TryAndStopUs campaign for women’s rugby.
“There are still some gaps between consensus so we’re going to try and close them over the next few days, or move on one way or another.
“We will see how the conversations go. I don’t want to predict either way really, it really is hard to predict.”
World Rugby has proposed that the 12-team Nations Championship would include all Six Nations and Rugby Championship countries, as well as Japan and Fiji, in an annual global championship.
Six Nations and Rugby Championship results would be part of the Nations Championship, with the remainder of the games being played in the July and November Test windows, culminating in a global winner being crowned in a final each year.
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