After a torrid weekend for the South African teams in Europe, the debate is once again raging over the very concept of their participation in the two competitions.
Be that travel issues, with clubs either travelling in different groups or even via multiple countries or deploying rotated sides due to injuries or player load, the South African sides have had a pretty turbulent time of it since joining the EPCR system.
Things have all come to a head in this year’s opening two rounds. The three South African sides in the Champions Cup have lost five of their opening six games, with the Sharks’ victory over Exeter the only win for them so far, and the Lions have only won one of their opening two in the Challenge Cup.
These defeats have also come at a heavy cost, with the likes of Bongi Mbomambi, Eben Etzebeth and Manie Libbok sustaining serious injuries.
Now, coaches from the four clubs have aired their frustrations with the competition. Speaking after his side’s 56-17 defeat to Leicester – where he brought a much-changed side to that which beat Exeter at home a week previous – Sharks boss John Plumtree said he felt his players were being treated like robots, and Stormers counterpart John Dobson has also now called for a restructure.
But, there is one obvious solution to all their issues, and it’s not necessarily a new thought either, bring the Springboks into the Six Nations.
How bringing the Springboks into the Six Nations would boost South African interest in EPCR competitions
When you move across hemispheres, to make things easier via time zones, it makes no sense going in half-heartedly; so bringing the Springboks into the Six Nations feels like the next inevitable step in this journey.
It all has to do with calendars and alignment, and this would certainly go a long way to fixing a lot of the issues with player load. As things stand, the South African clubs play on northern hemisphere time, following their move from Super Rugby to form the United Rugby Championship – which has worked wonders – but yet they still play their Test rugby on southern hemisphere time, that’s 12 months of rugby for some players.
Putting it plain and simple, that just isn’t feasible in the modern game, where it often takes one, maybe even two days to recover from a game. Imagine doing that on repeat for a year.
When you look at it that way, it then makes sense why they rotate so many of their players. The likes of Etzebeth, Mbonambi, Aphelele Fassi, Willie le Roux, Libbok and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, just to name a few, have all essentially had no official off-season due to their club and Test commitments spread across a full calendar year.
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Therefore, bringing the Springboks into the Six Nations would actually solve this issue. It would fully align the whole of South African rugby onto the same, northern hemisphere, calendar whilst ensuring the key Test players then get a full off-season, which would mean they wouldn’t need as much rest during the actual season.
This might have an effect on the likes of Italy, Georgia and even growing forces Portugal and Spain, but with promotion and relegation between the Six Nations and the Rugby Europe Championship having already been a talking point for a number of years, it could actually strengthen both competitions as a result.
Again, travel would potentially be an issue, but it’s always going to be an issue when crossing continents and hemispheres and the issue is to align things by time zones not flight time.
What it could mean for the Rugby Championship?
If the Springboks were to enter the Six Nations, it would certainly lead to a fundamental shake-up of the Rugby Championship, but that is also something already being discussed.
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Back in September, it was announced that South Africa and New Zealand would resume their historic tours from 2026, which would have a knock-on effect for the southern hemisphere’s premier Test tournament too. But, if the Springboks were involved in the Six Nations, it would just be part of their Test calendar year.
Again, this would then actually given them a proper window to book these tours in, as it could actually take place in the July Test window when the northern hemisphere teams venture south. Whilst it might seem like then two heavyweights are taken off the table, Scotland and France went on tour to North and South America respectively and had some decent games on the pitch.
Say this was to happen, and it probably wouldn’t for some time, then it could push Fiji, Japan or even Samoa or Tonga – two unions who could do with the increased exposure – to then join the Rugby Championship and bring it in line with the Pacific Nations Cup too, with the potential of promotion and relegation too.
There are plenty of moving parts to this proposal, all just to save the European competitions, but the game as a whole has been crying out for some drastic thinking to change things and this could be it.
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/opinion-want-south-african-clubs-to-succeed-in-europe-bring-the-springboks-into-the-six-nations
