The All Blacks' schedule could see a radical shakeup, should a new proposal be accepted at a meeting of rugby's leading governing bodies in two weeks.
June 15 is the date that rugby, as it is traditionally scheduled, could change forever - and a revolutionary global calendar be agreed.
Following recent talks between Six Nations and Sanzaar, the governing body of the Rugby Championship and Super Rugby, a follow-up meeting is now scheduled in Dublin in just over two weeks' time.
This summit will include the Premiership, Top 14 and Pro14 – along with World Rugby – in the hope that an agreement can be reached on the best way forward for professional rugby to better align the disparate fixture schedules north and south of the equator.
French newspaper Midi Olympique is reporting that the various structures on the table have been presented to the Top 14 club presidents, who had been looking at a September start for their 2020/21 season in France following the late April cancellation of the suspended 2019/20 season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The first option would see the Six Nations and the Rugby Championship played at the same time in March and April 2021, with the summer test window moved to October and running into the traditional November schedule, the one piece of the international schedule that would remain untouched.
The annual Rugby Championship - now contested between the All Blacks, Australia, South Africa and Argentina - has been played in some form since 1996, traditionally between August and October.
[Source: NZ Herald]
