Would you watch the Wallabies play in summer? It’s more chance than you think |
Fancy watching a Wallabies Test in shorts and zinc cream?
That may become the new reality for Australian rugby fans in the future under a proposed new global calendar that would result in the Wallabies - and other major Southern Hemisphere nations - playing Test matches during their summer months.
The radical calendar shake-up is high on the agenda at meetings this week in London involving most of the world’s most powerful rugby bosses, including Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh.
World Rugby officials, heads of national unions, and executives from major club competitions will gather to discuss aligning rugby’s fragmented international calendar. Rugby Australia says they’re entering the talks with an “open mind”, and given the scale of change a so-called global season would mean for rugby in Australia and New Zealand, that’s already significant.
In effect, global alignment would see the world aligning to the Northern Hemisphere’s calendar, with the Rugby Championship brought forward six months and played at the same time as the Six Nations.
Currently, the Rugby Championship is played in August and September, but in a global season, the SANZAAR tournament - played between the Springboks, the All Blacks, Argentina, and Australia - would move to February and March.
Len Ikitau playing in the September sunshine in Townsville. How would February feel?Credit: Getty Images
In previous talks, the Six Nations indicated they could delay their start date (it was February 4 this year) one or two weeks, but playing TRC Tests in late February would still see the Wallabies and rivals playing international rugby in summer.
If it becomes reality, the Wallabies and All Blacks would have to return from leave and play a warm-up fixture or two in early February. Average summer temperatures in Australia in February range between 19 and 27 degrees, and are even higher in Brisbane.