Risk 6 Nations may not complete this years tournament.

First topic message reminder :

Yes, there is a real chance that not all games in this years 6 Nations may be completed as Italian authorities are enforcing "no go zones" as a result of the Corona virus.

Pro 14 games with Zebre and Treviso against Ospreys and Ulster have already been postponed as well as the women's game this weekend. Now at the moment its hitting the North, but there are real concerns and questions being asked whether the Italian team should withdraw from the remainder of the 6 Nations matches, as they're players themselves are based in those regions.

Of course, this would be an upset for all us rugby fans, but we shouldn't lose sight of the bigger picture here, that being that people are losing their lives to this, so please consider that before you WUM on this thread.

Personally, I hope the 6 Nations completes, but my thoughts go out to all being caught up in this and as such would fully understand if the 6 Nations isnt completed. After all, we delayed the 6 Nations over Foot and Mouth outbreak and even cancelled previous 5 Nations over terrorist threats, so I guess we have to put it into perspective.


*** BEFORE you WUM on this thread... think***


************Update 27th Feb @ 1800hrs ***************

BBC wrote:

Officials from around the rugby world are meeting at a pre-arranged World Rugby summit at the start of next week, with Six Nations unions set to take this opportunity to continue discussions around rescheduling the cancelled games.

While France can still clinch the Grand Slam, if they were to lose one of their remaining matches then the men's Championship may not have a winner unless Ireland's game with Italy in Dublin is rearranged.

Six Nations sources have indicated that matches will only be called off in the event of a governmental directive.

While the Italy against England women's match is under more threat because it is being staged in Padua in Veneto, the virus has not yet spread to Rome, where the men's Italy against England game is taking place.

The Italy against Scotland match in the women's Championship was called off last weekend because it was being staged in the Lombardy region, which is one of the affected areas.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/51666898

If that turns out to be true, it’s absolutely farcical. That’s 13 Welsh games and then a Lions tour for some of them. A lot of players can’t cope with a run of games like that anyway. Wonder how it will work, with regards to international windows and English clubs releasing Wales players too.

Its supposedly from world rugby so international windows will simply be changed.

The over saturation of international games is already tedious in my opinion. I really can't imagine forcing the postponed tests into the autumn leading to them being well supported.

3 AIs, 3 summer tests and the 6 Nations (or rugby championship) is plenty. Frankly half the AIs often seem to float by without too many rugby fans really engaging.

The addition of a 4th test in the Autumn and completely pointless additions at the end of the regular season are just adding to player burnout.

The high injury rates mean that too many internationals are already played with sides way below full strength. Less international rugby and higher quality when it's played is what the calendar needs.

I like the format of 12 tests, the six nations/Rugby championship is right as it is, no need for changes.

I just believe the June tests and November tests should be a three test series rather than random tests.

I believe crowds will engage more when a test series is on the line rather than one off tests.

3 tests series are special these days but I do wonder whether having 2 in a season would dilute that somewhat.

Rugby World Cup years wipe out a summer tour and Autumn international series. The Lions summer effectively removes another summer tour given they are used for development.

That leaves 2 meaningful summer tours and 3 sets of Autumn Internationals every 4 years.

As an England fan I'd love for 1 of those summer tours to be a three test series against NZ/Oz/SA. Then the other be three tests against Fiji/Tonga/Somoa. Or even playing 1 test against Georgia and 2 against Japan.

Then one of the 3 Autumn international windows in each RWC cycle could used for a 3 test series. The other 2 AI windows then used for a mixture of games as current.

Admittedly I'm talking in an ideal world where quality of rugby on show was the sole driving factor. Sadly the game is still in its infancy professionally and most unions are a long way from finding a structure that can survive long term.

Does anybody seriously think there will be any top level rugby in this year (2020)? We’re looking at the middle of 2021 (at best).

Sport will return in june I reckon but behind closed doors.

I'm in 2 minds about sport getting preferential treatment.

On one hand it is a major part of society in most countries round the world so could provide entertainment and distraction for the general public who are stuck in doors, as well as helping out the teams financially.

On the other I think it sends out the wrong message - nothing shocks a country into how serious this is like having your favourite sport not playing. The more 'normal' you make life for people the more likely they'll relax and not listen to the lockdown measures etc. and that could be dangerous if sport is brought back well before the rest of the country has rules relaxed. I'm sure a lot of other sectors would have something to say about sport having their finances helped by allowing them to come back early too. Not to mention the health risk for the players and all the support staff - it's not just the playing, it's the training and travel. Are they going to have to all isolate together away from their families to ensure it doesn't spread (in either direction)? That's hardly great for family life and their mental health.

NRL here in Australia is a prime example - they kept on playing for as long as they literally could, even after pretty much every other sport had stopped. They are also brazenly saying they are going to charge ahead and get started again in May despite not having the backing of the government - they're only in it for themselves, screw everyone else. They're even talking about setting up residential camps for teams to all stay and play in the same location to avoid community transmission.

Australia is doing well just now in terms of pandemic response and the government are very much stressing we can't let our guard down as it could start to go wrong quickly - I really hope they stand up strong to the NRL and only let them resume when it is safe and sensible to do so.

From a UK perspective I really don't see how it could be sensible to let teams resume any time soon, even behind closed doors. UK is still in a very precarious situation. I'd be amazed if we see major sport resumed before the end of the summer.

Latest modelling suggests a long plateau of critical care demand rather than a huge peak which suggests isolating etc is working to an extent however that plateau is expected on into august and possibly beyond.
It's going to be a political choice in the end.

6 nations may be replayed in the Autumn, thoughts?

I think its wrong. Blatant bias to stop England winning the 6 nations.

I wonder what happens to my bets placed, on the last one.

Who has said it's to be replayed? I've read a proposal to complete it in the autumn.

No 7&1/2 wrote:Who has said it's to be replayed? I've read a proposal to complete it in the autumn.

Here we go again

I understand that the cash injection the home unions would get would be very helpful, lets face we will buy tickets and spend big on having a ruddy good time.

But it just doesn't seem right to wipe away the results of the unfinished 6 nations.

Is this a real proposal tight? Who has it come from: Beamount?

If there's time for a run of games it would make more sense to extend it to a home and away tournament as opposed to classing all the previous ones as null and void. There's a bit of complication in this with the original set of games not all being completed, but could maybe class those ones as double headers (which isn't ideal for the away team granted).

So who is saying this RDW. I've had a look and cant see where this ideas has come from. The only thing I've seen is via walesonline from wr saying there could well be a longer autumn international window which will be used to complete the 6nations play some of the summer tours and complete the normal ais fixtures.

I dunno, I wasn't the one that said it!

Ah thought you'd seen confirmation. It's just tight head getting mixed up then.

We aren't going to be seeing any team sports played behind closed doors or otherwise until 2021. I know we're all missing sport but the fact is with social distancing etc teams cannot train together let alone play together. It's not a great thought I know but based on what the health professionals are saying we're in for a bit of a wait until we see team sports becoming a viability.

Serie A: Teams set to return to individual training on 4 May - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52436317

Serie A preparing to play at the end of May. Individual training is being resumed.

Cant find the thread where talk of the tv rights are but something in the guardian here.

https://amp.theguardian.com/sport/2020/jul/02/rugby-union-nations-may-decide-to-take-pay-tvs-money-and-run?CMP=share_btn_tw&__twitter_impression=true

Bernard Laporte confirms that 6Ns have sold a stake to CVC.

If the €75m each is correct then that gives the smaller nations nearly a year's income.

Hope Italy and Scotland use it to grow a third team down the line. With the English Championship going semi pro of sort, there would be players looking for contracts that would have been yoyo players in times past.

With the Principality Stadium currently unavailable for use, WRU in negotiations to use Twickenham for this autumns home matches - Wales v Scotland at Twickenham would be interesting. How many Welsh fans travelled to Wembley for the 1999 home matches (certainly there were more English than Welsh for the final game).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/53384247