Title holders Boks could be out of Rugby Championship

The Springboks could give the Rugby Championship a miss this year, with SA Rugby reportedly considering a switch to a new Eight Nations competition in Europe.

The Eight Nations series was initially expected to include all the teams from the annual Six Nations – England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales – along with Fiji and Japan.

Japan pulled out last week, however, ahead of the scheduled start of the tournament on November 14.

Should the Springboks take their place, they would not be able to defend their Rugby Championship title, with the Southern Hemisphere competition starting a week earlier in New Zealand.

It remained unclear, however, whether SA director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus and new Bok coach Jacques Nienaber would be satisfied with the time they had to prepare, regardless of the quality of their opposition.

French Rugby Federation president Bernard Laporte hoped the Boks would replace Japan to form a new Eight Nations line-up.

“The Japanese will not come to Europe,” Laporte told Le Progres.

“We are looking for a nation to replace them. We are in advanced talks with South Africa.

“It would be great to be able to take on the Springboks, the reigning world champions, but it hasn’t been confirmed yet.”

South African teams were set to resume full contact training next week, and the Boks could be in action in the first round of the Currie Cup competition in the first week of October, which would give them at least four weeks of game time to prepare for the international campaign.

Aside from the Rugby Championship, however, the Super Rugby competition was also still on the line, with local teams looking likely to follow the Boks in a move north after apparently already being told they would be joining the Pro14.

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