SA Rugby reaffirm their committment to SANZAAR
Following months of speculation on the future of the Springboks and where they will play their rugby, SANZAAR announced on Wednesday that South Africa will remain as part of the Rugby Championship until 2030.
Along with this commitment to the competition, SA Rugby are excited by the decisions made to refresh the approach to the Rugby Championship.
The competition is going to be restructured in 2021 to follow a 12 match home and away competition that will follow the same structure as the truncated competition of 2019.
Despite the re-commitment to the international Southern Hemisphere rugby body, it seems that the domestic franchises from South Africa will still make the move to Europe according to CEO of SA Rugby Jurie Roux.
“Although we had to change our domestic focus, we still have a long history with the All Blacks and Wallabies as well as a long-standing friendship with the Pumas and we look forward to more world class Test rugby," Roux said.
“We welcome the changes announced to the Castle Lager Rugby Championship with our SANZAAR partners and we are looking forward to see what the new strategic plan for the competition entails, with possible international expansion on the cards.
“Ever since the Tri-Nations was first contested in 1996, and more recently the Castle Lager Rugby Championship from 2012, a team from the southern hemisphere has won the Rugby World Cup five out of six times – which is testimony to the high quality of test rugby played on this side of the equator.”
It's going to be an interesting development to follow as the competition tries to reignite the fire that made the Tri-Nations such a popular tournament.
The All Blacks have continued to dominate the competition even after the inclusion of Argentina but the Springboks will return to the competition in 2021 as defending Rugby Championship champions.
This year the Tri-Nations will return with Australia hosting the All Blacks and Argentina for the competition following South Africa's withdrawal due to a lack of match practice following the lifting of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.
