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Two nations could join Rugby Championship in wake of Nations Championship failure

Malgene Ilaua looks to hold off the tackle from Fiji's Metuisela Talebula during a test in Vannes, France in 2016. (Photo by Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images)

The Rugby Championship could be expanded to accomodate tier two nations Fiji and Japan after World Rugby scrapped plans to introduce a global Nations Championship tournament earlier this week.

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The Nations Championship was scheduled to begin in 2022, and would have taken place in in the traditional test windows – during the Six Nations in February and March, mid-year tests in July, Rugby Championship in August and September, and end-of-year tests in November.

The top two teams would then have met at the end of the year in a grand final at a neutral venue.

Introducing the multi-layered, promotion-relegation tournament would have secured participating unions millions of dollars in revenue.

As a result, cash-strapped nations in the southern hemisphere were interested in the proposal, but traction to bring the concept to fruition fell short following resistance from some northern hemisphere countries.

New Zealand Rugby chairman Brent Impey has voiced his disappointment at the decision, saying “a golden opportunity to grow the game internationally”.

In the aftermath of the decision, though, Rugby Australia boss Raelene Castle said SANZAAR could now look at expanding the existing Rugby Championship to beyond its current four-team structure.

She hasn’t ruled out the possibility of bringing Japan and Fiji, two sides that were involved in discussions with World Rugby about the Nations Championship proposal, into the competition alongside New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Argentina.

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“Certainly what World Rugby Nations Championship has done with this project is allow us to think outside the box about different things, around the calendar, the timing, inclusion of different teams, all of those things,” she said in a conference call on Thursday.

“It’s allowed the SANZAAR nations to think about the expansion of the Rugby Championship, how does that work from a team participation point of view, a commercial sustainability point of view, how does it work to grow the reach of the Rugby Championship, and one of the options is the expansion of the Rugby Championship but no final decision has been made.”

Japan would provide the most financial prosperity of all the involved nations, and shocked the world with a 34-32 victory over the Springboks at the 2015 World Cup in England.

A steady flow of promising results in the ensuing years suggests they have the ability to compete with tier one nations in the long-term future, and their performances at this year’s World Cup, which they are hosting, will be indicative of how competitive have become.

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Fiji, meanwhile, have long been been shunned from facing quality, tier one opposition on a regular basis, largely for their lack of financial security.

However, many Fijian-born players have gone on to star for other nations, and Fiji themselves have performed above expectation on occasion, with their most notable success coming during the 2007 World Cup, when they beat Wales to qualify for the quarter-finals for the first time in their history.

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SK 12 minutes ago
'Tonyball, ageing warriors and worrying growth' - What the Springboks learned from the Rugby Championship

The Springboks are developing well however there are still concerns over depth at 6,7 and 8. Yes PSDT and Siya had a great championship and Marco and Jasper were excellent but when Jasper was injured there was no good options to replace him at 8 and at 7 even fewer options to replace PSDT. Smith has been excellent from the bench. Franco Mostert is now past it and cant play in the loosies, yes Hanekom and Louw are to come back but they are struggling to stay fit and between them have just a few caps so are hardly experienced campaigners. So the Boks need to find new options fast as I believe Kolisi is waning and is only capable of a good 50-60mins. By the next world cup he will be a bench player at best and PSDT is a monster but he will be 2 years older come 2027 and may not be an 80min player. Paul de Villiers looks good for the Stormers and would love to seem him in the squad. As for Eben he is hardly raging against the dying light. He has been dominated in the collisions this year and struggled at times. Rassie is now pulling him in the 50th minute as he drops of severely after that. I cant see him making the next world cup unless he wraps himself in cotton wool for large parts of the domestic season. DDA and Kriel are also too slow as a combo now. That was obvious in losses to Aus and NZ and more so in the final 20 against Argy in London. Boks have some backup at 12 and 13 though with Willemse, Sacha, Hooker all able to play there but I would like to see Henco Van Vyk given a chance. Front row and backfield look healthy and 9 and 10 have many options. Boks in good shape but would love to see even more youngsters given a chance on this tour.

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