Six Nations boss rules out relegation after proposed global league plans emerge
14:05, Feb 01 2019
The team captains for the Six Nations pose at the championship's launch this week.
AP
The team captains for the Six Nations pose at the championship's launch this week.
The new chief executive of the Six Nations has categorically ruled out the possibility of relegation being added to the championship after revelations of World Rugby's proposed plan for an annual global league emerged this week.
Benjamin Morel became Six Nations boss in October after 20 years of working to grow the the NBA in Europe and he was in Los Angeles this week to hear World Rugby's draft plans for a radical shake-up of the international schedule.
A report in London's The Times newspaper on Wednesday laid out the proposal for the 12-nation competition, in which test nations would play for points during the existing northern and southern hemisphere competitions the Six Nations and Rugby Championship, before meeting for a two-week finals play-off in Europe in November.
Ireland celebrate winning last year's Six Nations.
GETTY IMAGES
Ireland celebrate winning last year's Six Nations.
The final would be played at a neutral venue, The Times reported, with a World Rugby document nominating Wembley and Camp Nou, the home of FC Barcelona, plus Berlin's Olympic Stadium.
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However, Morel is firmly against altering the Six Nations' format, which could be a blow to World Rugby's plans, and said he wants to protect the world's oldest international rugby tournament.
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"There will be no relegation mechanism," Morel told The Times. "It is not on the agenda. It is clear that any adaptations [to the global calendar] will need to be a substantial improvement on the current set-up, which is successful, as the latest autumn series can attest.
"It would also need to fully consider player welfare aspects and not dilute key existing competitions. I want to make sure the Six Nations is as competitive off the pitch as it is on the pitch.
"There is always a temptation for any sport to build future value on volume. Rugby needs to be cautious of preserving player welfare, the calendar, simple storylines. I would be a guardian of that as much as I can be."
World Rugby's proposal is seeking to boost the commercial and broadcasting value of test rugby but Morel said he will strongly advocate for the Six Nations to remain on free-to-air coverage.
"It makes it valuable for the Six Nations to have [free-to-air] partners like BBC and ITV," he told The Times. "It makes it quite unique that we have scarcity, appointment to watch and free-to-air coverage."
The proposal put forward would mean a huge chance the global rugby calendar, not to mention the test pecking order, offering nations such as Fiji, Japan and the USA their first genuine chance to climb into the realm of tier one nations with more regular test match-ups.
The Six Nations, England, Ireland, Italy, France, Scotland and Wales, would remain as it is in its February-March window.
The current June test window - which will move to July in 2020 - will change so that the traditional three-test tours would be replaced with one test each in three different countries