GLOBAL SEASON: Why Rassie supports a Rugby Championship move
The frequently mentioned ‘global season’, or a harmonised calendar, in Rugby Union has resurfaced on the eve of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour.
The South African Rugby Union has already stated their case, as one of the strongest proponents of a global calendar.
SARU’s leadership argues that without a unified calendar to protect players, the game faces a severe threat.
Shifting the Rugby Championship from its traditional August/September window to February and March and aligning it with the Six Nations will also allow SARU a more practical mandatory off-season.
SARU President Mark Alexander, at a recent media briefing in Cape Town, said the alignment of the Northern and Southern Hemisphere seasons is not merely a matter of logistical convenience, but as a critical requirement for the sport’s survival.
“A global calendar is of utmost importance for the game worldwide,” he said.
“We need to have a dedicated window for club [domestic] rugby, a dedicated window for the international game, and we need to have a dedicated rest period.
“That’s about the survival of the game.”
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus publicly backed his employers.
The Bok coach, Erasmus, was at pains to explain that he will never tell another country how to run its business.
(WATCH as Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus explains why he is supporting the move of the Rugby Championship window to align with Europe’s season……)
However, he also has some strong feelings about a global season.
“I am not scared or shy to say that the Rugby Championship and Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series should be moved to the February window,” Erasmus said from Buenos Aires, where his team is preparing for a one-off Test against Argentina’s Los Pumas on Saturday.
“Everything will be in sync,” he added.
“That is a resting period for our players and [if we move] there will be other resting periods for the players.”
He admitted that syncing the international calendar is a challenge.
“There might be plenty of logistical issues and problems that I am not aware of,” Erasmus said.
He also sympathised with Argentinean coach Felipe Contepomi, who does not have the luxury of alignment camps like the Boks, because the bulk of their players are based abroad.
“He has gotten it right a few times, having beaten us [Boks] and New Zealand here [in Argentina],” the coach said, pointing out that both teams for Saturday’s face-off are without 15 frontline players.
“We are going the rotation route, and keeping players fresh.
“Hopefully in the crunch matches, when it gets to World Cup time or Nations Championship play-off times, hopefully we peak.
“If you don’t rotate, the players will definitely burn out,” he added.
High-level talks led by World Rugby and regional stakeholders continue to evaluate synchronising the Test windows and restructuring July/November international blocks.
Implementation of structural changes like the Nations Championship aims to bring greater commercial and competitive context to international windows, though full calendar harmonisation remains an ongoing compromise.
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