Global Season Closer?
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I hope this means the third Bledisloe Cup test gets ditched. It's so boring, to win the cup back the challenger should have to beat the holder home and away. Three tests series should be reserved for tours, so the opposition changes, not Australia every year.
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@KiwiMurph said in Global Season Closer?:
@Stargazer It mentions Lions tours shortening from 10 weeks to 8 weeks. Interesting.
10 weeks? There are only 6 consecutive Saturdays.
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@Crucial said in Global Season Closer?:
@KiwiMurph said in Global Season Closer?:
@Stargazer It mentions Lions tours shortening from 10 weeks to 8 weeks. Interesting.
10 weeks? There are only 6 consecutive Saturdays.
I think that was games and not weeks.
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On the face of it, looks like SANZAAR has got the better part of the deal - shifting June tours into July.
It will mean different things to different unions in the Six Nations.
There was a lot of discussion around the holding of the European final and that it should be the finale of the European season. McCafferty seems to be getting his oar in early by saying the Premiership will finish last.
Besides that, the PRO12 plans to shorten its regular league season anyway, reducing from 22 to 18 weeks with a two conference structure from 2018/19. This will take games out of the international windows. The season will now start in late September following the decision for new season end to be in last week of July.
The European Cup pool stages will be run en bloc during December and January. The English and French clubs want the Six Nations compressed to six weeks instead of seven to suit their revised season.
A new British & Irish development cup competition could emerge during the 6N test window replacing the dead duck Anglo-Welsh cup. This would feature the academy players from the 24 senior teams in the two leagues. The current B&I Cup would disappear or be reduced to lower club level.
The aim was supposedly to reduce player fatigue and number of matches.
Still not sure if that will be the outcome.
