Powerhouses set to square off as 2024 July tours revealed
Six huge matchups have been reported for the 2024 July tours, potentially the last of the traditionally scheduled international seasons as global rugby executives look to implement the new Nations Championship from 2026 onwards.
On Wednesday, The Times reported the July 2024 slate which was "pencilled in" during a 2017 global rugby summit in San Francisco. Each series was drawn up with the initial idea of limiting player workload following a World Cup, meaning the teams would play two matches instead of the usual three. This may be amended by the time 2024 rolls around with the possibility of teams setting up non-Test matches for their fringe players.
The 2025 Lions Tour of Australia also disrupts the annual July tour schedule, so if a Nations Championship is to come into play in 2026, then the 2024 international season poses the final opportunity for the northern hemisphere teams to secure series-winning history on southern soil.
Here are the reported matchups:
England would travel to New Zealand for the first time since 2014, giving Steve Borthwick his first and potentially England's only shot at claiming a series victory on New Zealand soil. The storylines here could be fascinating; will it be Borthwick vs Foster or Robertson - or someone else? Who will line up against Marcus Smith with the departure of both Richie Mo'unga and Beauden Barrett? How many experienced campaigners will each side be having to replace after the World Cup? That final question can of course be applied to all of the Test series.
Current World No 1 ranked Ireland would travel to current defending world champions, South Africa. Both aforementioned titles may be a distant memory by the time the sides lined up in Johannesburg. The reputation of the two sides at World Cups are polar opposites - South Africa hit form just as the 2019 tournament's knockout stages commenced while Ireland's critics are constantly chirping to the tune of "they're peaking too early". Just what kind of World Cup success each team will be riding would be sure to add plenty of intrigue and narrative to the series, as is the beginning of Ireland's post-Johnny Sexton era.
Argentina would host France, hoping to end Les Bleus run of four straight wins and go one better than both the 2016 and 2012 tours where the two nations split the two-game series one apiece. The youthful nature of France's team means there will be less significant turnover following the 2023 World Cup, so Los Pumas would have an almighty challenge on their hands.
Wales would visit Australia, a tour that historically, Australia has dominated. Although, with Dave Rennie's tenure in Australia producing a weak 37% winning rate and the likes of Eddie Jones and Scott Robertson on the market, the matchup could look very different by 2024. Wales' coaching instability makes their contribution to the tour equally as difficult to project. Similarly, the tour would offer an opportunity to turn over a new leaf for both the team in gold and in red.
Scotland would tour the Pacific islands, exactly what this entails is unconfirmed. Itlay would fly to both Canada and the USA, with the latter hoping to draw more international competition as they ready themselves as hosts of the 2031 Rugby World Cup.
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Who got the benefits out of Schmidt, Lowe, Aki, and Gibson Park?
Go to commentsI’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. As a Saffer following SA teams in the URC - I now watch virtually every European game played on the weekend. In SR, I wouldn’t be bothered to follow the games being played on the other side of the world, at weird hours, if my team wasn’t playing. I now follow the whole tournament and not just the games in my time zone. Second, with New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. Thats why I think Japan’s league needs to get in the mix. The international flavor of those teams could make for a great spectacle. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? We’ve measured down to the average no. Of seconds per game. Where the measurement of the impact on the fanbase? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
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