Wayne Pivac is a straight-talking Kiwi, which is why he didn’t bluster this week when he revealed talks have already begun about moving the 2021 Six Nations back a little in order to try and get some fans in through the door. This morning, the Six Nations confirmed they were examining the idea. But Steffan Thomas argues something a lot more radical needs to happen to save this season and maybe the game itself.
Test rugby returns this weekend with 30,000 supporters expected to be in attendance at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington as New Zealand host Australia in the much anticipated first Bledisloe Cup clash.
Yet again, the southern hemisphere is leading the way.
This time it’s ahead when it comes to the reintroduction of supporters following various national lockdowns put in place to combat the spread of Covid-19.
New Zealand’s phenomenal Super Rugby Aotearoa competition was awash with sensational rugby and big crowds up until the final weekend when Auckland slipped back into a milder form of lockdown.
What administrators, players and supporters in the United Kingdom would give to see a similar scenario unfolding on these isles.
Of course, the situation is out of the control of rugby’s blazers in this part of the world and is down to the shambolic manner in which the British government has handled this whole pandemic and the value they place on sport.
The fact of the matter is even with television money, rugby in this part of the world will whither away and die without the return of crowds in the near future.
It is absolutely right that people’s health and safety be put first. After all, rugby is just a game in the grand scheme of things.
But without fans paying to go through the turnstiles there won’t be any professional rugby to return to in the near future.
Test rugby will return in this part of the world at the end of this month with the rearranged final round of last season’s Six Nations campaign, where Wales host Scotland in Llanelli, before a one-off Nations Cup including the best of European rugby along with Georgia and Fiji.
There will be money coming in from Amazon Prime with the tournament being shown behind a paywall.
Imagine how many amatuer sports clubs this summer have had the same sort of Covid Super Spreading moments as Sale Sharks have had? But without the regular testing processes of ‘elite’ sports to highlight it, no one would have known.
— Michael Burgess (@MikeJBurgess) October 7, 2020
But it’s safe to say all the unions involved will still be taking a significant financial hit given they originally expected there to be a certain number of spectators permitted entry into the grounds.
The Welsh Rugby Union were seriously exploring the options of playing their home games in London with Twickenham and West Ham United’s London Stadium being considered as possible venues.
With the WRU facing a financial blackhole of up to £50m the failure of their original plan would have come as a major setback.
Which is why everything possible must be done to give the Six Nations the best possible opportunity of hosting paying punters.
This week, Wales head coach Wayne Pivac revealed discussions are underway at potentially pushing the 2021 Six Nations back to a little later in the year in order to give it the best possible opportunity to play to full, or part-full stadia.
It’s a sensible idea. But they need to go further by pushing the annual competition back to the summer and postponing this season’s much anticipated British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa by a year.
Many of us like to view the Six Nations through rose-tinted spectacles. But if we were to take the emotion out of it, it probably isn’t as high a standard as the Rugby Championship.
The reason the Six Nations is the best annual rugby competition in the world is because of the tribalism and the hundreds of thousands of people who pack out the likes of the Principality Stadium and the Stade de France, not to mention the swathes of travelling support.
The Six Nations is as much about having a pint in busy pubs in Richmond, or a stout in Ballsbridge, as it is about the rugby. For many, more so.
While postponing the Lions tour would be a huge disappointment to the thousands of supporters who have already bought tickets, would it really be responsible to let those fans, many of them in the more vulnerable age bracket, travel to South Africa given the current climate?
And what kind of second rate experience might it be if those fans couldn’t gather together in bars?
So time after time @BorisJohnson has said it’s safer to meet outdoors, yet hearing on radio today indoor events are allowing people in and football/rugby and other OUTDOOR sports can’t have fans 🤦🏻♂️ Talking Bollox AGIAN!!! #Covid_19 #CancelTheCurfew
— Tony Sharpe 🍺🎤🦢🏴🤘🏻 (@CelticWarrior_3) October 8, 2020
Forget playing Lions Test matches behind closed doors, or in front of limited crowds. It just isn’t going to work.
A Lions tour has always been a financial godsend to the host country. For example, the New Zealand Rugby Union had matchday revenues of NZ$9.2m in 2004 and NZ$ 11.2m in 2006 but after the 2005 Lions tour their revenues went up to NZ$33.9m.
So, surely the Six Nations must be moved to the summer in order to potentially raise greater revenues through crowds with the Lions tour pushed back a year so the host nation can cash in on the experience to the absolute maximum?
Another reason it would be better to push back the Six Nations is the detrimental effect so much Test rugby is having on the club and provincial game in this part of the world.
After this weekend of Guinness Pro14 rugby, it is unlikely the four professional sides in Wales will see their international players again until April.
In a league which struggles to gain much attention at the best of times, that could be extremely damaging to the professional arm of the game in Wales.
In fact, there’s a good argument to move the Six Nations to the summer on a permanent basis, but perhaps that’s a discussion for a different day.
Since time immemorial New Zealand, Australia and South Africa have glanced over their shoulders at the Six Nations with a look of envy.
Now, for the first time, European rugby’s oldest and grandest competition will give off more than a hint of jealousy at their southern hemisphere cousins.
Let’s hope it’s the only time.
