The most important meeting in world rugby this month is not a Test match in the Six Nations. It is a World Rugby workshop in London.
I hear you say: “Another World Rugby workshop … another one that starts in the pub and ends in the pub."
In 2020, World Rugby’s powerbrokers wasted time discussing a global rugby calendar. There was plenty of PR following the meeting and talk of a rugby revolution, but five years later nothing fundamental has changed.
Players are still playing too much without an off-season and one club or international tournament seems to morph into the other, forcing players to choose between playing for their countries or focusing on their club contracts.
Among the powerbrokers, a split remains between the northern and southern hemispheres. The club season in the north runs deep into the southern summer, and the Rugby Championship, the biggest southern hemisphere international competition, runs into the northern summer.
And South Africa’s best players are still expected to stitch the two together with their bodies.
No meaningful off-season
In this column, a few weeks ago, I used the example of Bulls and Springboks strongman Wilco Louw. Since October 2024, Louw has not had a meaningful off-season. He moved from the Bulls to the Springboks and back again, month after month, competition after competition. He has played 45 matches in the last 16 months.
Some would applaud Louw’s commitment to club and country, while others will see it as a primary example of World Rugby’s exploitation dressed up as commitment.
South Africa, more than any other major rugby nation, lives in two worlds. Our franchises compete in the URC and Investec Champions Cup, embedded in the northern hemisphere club calendar.
The irony is that a unified calendar would strengthen the competitions. If players are properly rested, the quality of the Rugby Championship, the Six Nations and the major club tournaments will improve
Our national team plays in the Rugby Championship, the southern hemisphere’s flagship competition, and tours the north in November.
There’s no natural alignment, and there’s no universal rest period. There is only overlap.
For elite South African players, the season never truly ends; the colour of the jersey worn changes. That is why this latest World Rugby global calendar workshop in London cannot be bar talk for the blazer brigade.
According to French publication Midi Olympique, the global calendar is central to discussions during the Six Nations window. Proposals include aligning the Rugby Championship and Six Nations into the same international window and restructuring the Test schedule to create clearer blocks for club and country.
Open to compromise
SA Rugby CEO Rian Oberholzer has said momentum is building and that Australia is on board, and New Zealand, once the primary obstacle, appears more open to compromise. The French Top 14, the English Premiership, and the URC are part of the conversation, and the pre-workshop boast was that the voices were louder from a group that was larger than five years ago.
SA Rugby president Mark Alexander has called for unions to arrive with a blank sheet of paper and no entrenched demands or fixed positions, which is easier said than actioned.
The biggest assets in world rugby are the players, and a unified global season must guarantee a dedicated rest period that is medically shaped and contractually protected.
It must create defined windows for club rugby and defined windows for Test rugby, with no grey zones in between.
When we talk about player welfare, we cannot mean softer training sessions or improved recovery protocols. Welfare begins with time off.
The irony is that a unified calendar would strengthen the competitions. If players are properly rested, the quality of the Rugby Championship, the Six Nations and the major club tournaments will improve.
Stars will be available more consistently, coaches will plan better and broadcasters will sell certainty of best versus best.
From a South African perspective, the message to global stakeholders from Alexander was around four core principles:
- player welfare;
- protected league windows;
- clear international slots; and
- global equity.
Five years ago, world rugby leaders were enthusiastic about a global season, but they had no intention of turning PR speak into a tangible plan that protects players.
In the next week, the workshop(s) must deliver more than a post-drinks communique and a press release similar to the hollow one written in 2020.
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