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Rugby union's latest civil war set to involve England, France and money - reports

Wales' Alun Wyn Jones is tackled by England's Manu Tuilagi during last month's Guinness Six Nations match in Cardiff (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

The Le Crunch duo of England and France have always felt they hold the whip hand when it comes it rugby in Europe. They were in the vanguard when the old ERC European Cup was disbanded in 2014 in favour of the EPCR Champions Cup, and now they are sabre-rattling again, demanding more of a financial share-out from the Six Nations to buy the support of their all-powerful clubs.  

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According to a report in the Wednesday edition of the UK Guardian newspaper, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Italy have been left to question the real value of offers from four investment companies for a minority shareholder stake in the Six Nations. 

Upwards of 27% equity would be given up in the business, allowing the successful bidder take over the commercial arm of the tournament and likely spelling the end of the Six Nations being exclusively shown on free-to-air TV in the half-dozen participating countries.

The demand by England and France for a greater share of potential revenue for their clubs has created unease in the other four countries as they are concerned it would potentially leave them more vulnerable when trying to hold onto their best players in a market where better salaries are generally available in the Premiership and Top 14.

The Guardian claimed that the Rugby Football Union was called on at a recent meeting to show some leadership due to Premiership Rugby becoming increasingly bullish after its equity deal with CVC.

(Continue reading below…)

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Apparently, the RFU has been considering contingency plans should it fail to reach agreement with its clubs over the international calendar. One alternative would even see newly formed English regional teams entering the PRO14 with players centrally contracted.

As it stands, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Italy would allegedly gain more financially from World Rugby’s plan to set up a Nations Championship from 2022.

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However, the sticking point here is that Ireland, Scotland and Italy oppose the insistence on relegation being introduced to the Six Nations and to the Rugby Championship even though it could take the form of a play-off and a parachute payment would be made.

World Rugby met the leading unions, together with Fiji and Japan, in Dublin last week and initially gave them two weeks to sign a due diligence agreement. That deadline has since been put back until 5 April. Under the plan there would be no involvement of private investment companies and the Six Nations would remain on free-to-air television.

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F
Flankly 2 hours ago
There remains a culture of excuses in Australian rugby

One team has exceeded expectations in this series and the other has not. Hats off to a Wallabies team in rebuild mode for a smile-inducing effort in the second test (especially the first half).


Completely agree that a top ranked team finds ways to defend a big half-time lead, and they did not quite pull it off. The fact that Piardi did not run the Head Contact Process in the 79th minute Tizzano/Morgan incident is worth discussion. However, Schmidt will be pointing out to the team that avoiding a defensive breakdown on your own 5m line at that point in the game is the thing in their control. Equally, clarification 3-2022 says you cannot jump or dive as a means of avoiding a tackle, as Sheehan admits to have done, but the question for Australia is why and how they were facing a tap-and-go 5m from their line (again).


Where I disagree with this article is the suggestion that Australia are caught in an excuse-making trap of poor performance. For me they are on a steep curve of improvement, and from what we have seen of Schmidt, there is little reason to assume that this will end now. Granted Australia lacks player depth, and that’s a real problem against big teams and in major campaigns. But the Lions are a pretty good team, probably ranking in the top five in the world, and the rebuilding Wallabies were seconds (and a couple of 50/50 ref calls) away from beating them at the MCG.


In the end, the Wallabies are building to a home RWC, and were expected to lose the Lions series on the way to that goal. Success looks like being seriously competitive in the series loss, with good learnings about what needs to be fixed. A series win would have been a fantastic bonus, and humiliation for the UK/Ireland team.


I expect the Wallabies to be very credible in the 2025 RC, to be much better in 2026, and to be a very challenging opponent for any team in the 2027 RWC.

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