Move summer tests!

I noticed recently that theres talk about moving the summer internationals to july because they currently cut through the super rugby season. This got me thinking.


The SH (southern hemisphere) teams play all their internationals almost continuously from june to november. Here in the NH (northern hemisphere) international rugby is split into 3 blocks. Autumn internationals, 6 nations and summer tours.


So wouldn't the best solution be to move the summer tests to march? In other words straight after the 6 nations. It would only be an extra 3 weeks and the leagues and HEC etc could resume after it. It would mean the teams getting to the finals of their league and European competitions would be the last to play that season. Overall players would have a longer summer off.


This would mean the SH teams having to play internationals earlier in their season, just like NH have to play internationals early in their season. I'm sure they'd strongly disagree with that but it would balance things up well. I think theres too much hopping between tournaments in the NH and its hard for teams to get into any rythm.

When does the six Nations end?

YOu will have to start the summer tour first weekend in March so we can begin super rugby in April, even then the teams will have little preparation time.

We need 24 weeks for Super rugby, that is without pre season warm ups or training.

We could move the RC to a bit later to accommodate, but then both hemispheres must compromise to make it work.

By the way, if we play the summer series in March, then it means our national coaches will have a full 4 weeks preparation time, much more than we have now.

Changing the NH rugby calendar would be wonderful. comments were made by Justin Marshall on the weekend about how crazy the NH season is. Teams do not have enough time with players.

I for one would be happier if we could play a far more sensible calendar where European rugby, International Rugby and National based Club rugby are all played separately like the SH.

maestegmafia wrote:Changing the NH rugby calendar would be wonderful. comments were made by Justin Marshall on the weekend about how crazy the NH season is. Teams do not have enough time with players.

I for one would be happier if we could play a far more sensible calendar where European rugby, International Rugby and National based Club rugby are all played separately like the SH.

Huh? This is not the case in NZ.

GloriousEmpire wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:Changing the NH rugby calendar would be wonderful. comments were made by Justin Marshall on the weekend about how crazy the NH season is. Teams do not have enough time with players.

I for one would be happier if we could play a far more sensible calendar where European rugby, International Rugby and National based Club rugby are all played separately like the SH.

Huh? This is not the case in NZ.

OK there are overlaps in the SH but the system you have is far better than what we have. There is less disruption to squads at all levels.

The example Marshall followed showed how either an international or a club/regional coach is lucky to have some of their players for any more than six consecutive weeks in the NH.

Biltong wrote:When does the six Nations end?

YOu will have to start the summer tour first weekend in March so we can begin super rugby in April, even then the teams will have little preparation time.

We need 24 weeks for Super rugby, that is without pre season warm ups or training.

We could move the RC to a bit later to accommodate, but then both hemispheres must compromise to make it work.

The 6 nations could be moved back a few weeks.


At the moment the NH season is all over the place while the SH season is perfectly placed. Its something like this for the international players..

SH: super rugby -  (curry cup for SA players only) - internationals
NH: league - HEC - internationals - league - HEC - league - HEC - internationals - HEC - league - HEC (if team gets to final) - internationals


I'll Im'm suggesting would be a break in super rugby.

I think a calander that went something like

Jan - Rabo / Jeff / T14
Feb - Rabo / Jeff / T14
March - Rabo / Jeff / T14
April - Rabo / Jeff / T14
May - HEC
June - HEC
July - Summer Tour
Aug - 6Ns
Sept- 6Ns
Oct - AIs
Nov - AIs / club Pre-Season
Dec - Rabo / Jeff / T14

The only real issues I can see with that would be whether the weather would be too hot, hard ground etc, during the 6Ns.

Scarlet, why not have the international season for NH like this.

Nov Autumn series
From last weekend in Jan to end of Feb for Six nations
March for Summer series.

Then we can have Sept - October for RC, nov for Autumn series and March for Summer series.

Only difference is we take a break when the six nations is on.

That leaves us from April to September for our domestic rugby and you guys get April to October for your club rugby.

profitius wrote:

Biltong wrote:When does the six Nations end?

YOu will have to start the summer tour first weekend in March so we can begin super rugby in April, even then the teams will have little preparation time.

We need 24 weeks for Super rugby, that is without pre season warm ups or training.

We could move the RC to a bit later to accommodate, but then both hemispheres must compromise to make it work.

The 6 nations could be moved back a few weeks.


At the moment the NH season is all over the place while the SH season is perfectly placed. Its something like this for the international players..

SH: super rugby -  (curry cup for SA players only) - internationals
NH: league - HEC - internationals - league - HEC - league - HEC - internationals - HEC - league - HEC (if team gets to final) - internationals


I'll Im'm suggesting would be a break in super rugby.

SH rugby used to be nice and simple before the tournament expanded

now its SH : Super Rugby - June Internationals - Super Rugby - Currie Cup (SA) ITM Cup (NZ) - Rugby Championship - Currie Cup Finals - EOYT

Bilts the only issue I have with the club/regional game being played in the NH between April and Sept is we do tend to get hard ground in summer, so the domestic game will be plighted by that, where as the 6Ns would mean that there would only be 6 grounds being used and less water being wasted to keep them moist etc. Maybe a compromise, AIs in November, but only November, none of these extra internationals outside of the windows etc.

Use water mate, it softens pitches

Biltong wrote:Use water mate, it softens pitches

Ah I was being all eco-warrior, 6 pitches to water is far better than 19 pitches, and with there are hose pipe bans etc.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

Biltong wrote:Use water mate, it softens pitches

Ah I was being all eco-warrior, 6 pitches to water is far better than 19 pitches, and with there are hose pipe bans etc.

Could be hugely beneficial to the celtic nations that seem to have a surplus of water...!

Maybe Brecon Carreg would be a keen sponsor?

Now that i think about it . Why do the top NH players have to play their domestic club rugby leagues in the early stages anyway? The All blacks dont play ITM cup and the Boks only show up at the business end of the competition . That way the clubs can develop new young local players while the national players get some rest . That way the national team players only play Heineken Cup and the Amlin Challenge cup .

Not a big fan of summer tours tbh. NH players have the domestic season, Autumn Ints, heineken cup, LV, 6 Nations, maybe the Amlin. Top players are so big nowadays, injuries are increasing. Give them the summer off to recover.

Breadvan wrote:Not a big fan of summer tours tbh. NH players have the domestic season, Autumn Ints, heineken cup, LV, 6 Nations, maybe the Amlin. Top players are so big nowadays, injuries are increasing. Give them the summer off to recover.

If they did they'd have to remove autumn internationals to be fair then theres no international rugby

Breadvan wrote:Not a big fan of summer tours tbh. NH players have the domestic season, Autumn Ints, heineken cup, LV, 6 Nations, maybe the Amlin. Top players are so big nowadays, injuries are increasing. Give them the summer off to recover.

So what you are saying is it is OK for the SH to tour to Europe, where your unions can earn the big bucks, and we should be satisfied with having no tours down south?

Bullsbok wrote:Now that i think about it . Why do the top NH players have to play their domestic club rugby leagues in the early stages anyway? The All blacks dont play ITM cup and the Boks only show up at the business end of the competition . That way the clubs can develop new young local players while the national players get some rest . That way the national team players only play Heineken Cup and the Amlin Challenge cup .

That would be a key benefit, cut out a lot of club vs country BS that other nations do not have to put up with.

If the game is to go the way that currently seems most likely, with leagues in France and England dominating the wealth of the club game and everyone else's players feeding those leagues then a system that means players can still represent their own nations would be beneficial to the wider game.

Else we may lose the International game completely.

The best solution is to move the "Summer Tests" to just after the 6N (which is immutable).

In that way the NH Test sides have a much longer time together en bloc. They would be much better prepared for the SH sides as the current anomaly of some players having had no rugby for a month while others had just been through maybe two finals would be avoided.

It is understandable that the SH sides would want the Summer tests moved to July, but having too long an International period isn't good as an injured player may miss the entire series and it could be a year before he gets his next chance. It also spreads the games further apart from the RC for the SH public helping to keep demand for tickets high. In RWC years it would also allow more scope for RC scheduling adjustment.

For the NH clubs it allows a much needed R&R period prior to the pinnacle of the club season in both cup and leagues. Injured players have more time to recuperate for the seaon climax. Every club's players will finish their season at the same time as their team mates allowing for much better planning of the following pre-season.

Bullsbok, the thing with the NH is we have two different systems, we have Provincial/Regional/Superclub system in Wales/Ireland/Scotland/Italy that is similar to the SH, with our own national leagues below, but the English/French have a club system. If the English and French went to regions or provinces then we could ditch the Rabo and have the HEC last longer and more like Superrugby, but as it stands we have to have the Rabo to keep the regions/provinces playing regular enough to stand a chance when it comes to HEC time.

Biltong wrote:

Breadvan wrote:Not a big fan of summer tours tbh. NH players have the domestic season, Autumn Ints, heineken cup, LV, 6 Nations, maybe the Amlin. Top players are so big nowadays, injuries are increasing. Give them the summer off to recover.

So what you are saying is it is OK for the SH to tour to Europe, where your unions can earn the big bucks, and we should be satisfied with having no tours down south?

Alternate them in a four year cycle -: AIs one year, Lions Tour the next year, Summer Tours the year after, then RWC.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

Biltong wrote:

Breadvan wrote:Not a big fan of summer tours tbh. NH players have the domestic season, Autumn Ints, heineken cup, LV, 6 Nations, maybe the Amlin. Top players are so big nowadays, injuries are increasing. Give them the summer off to recover.

So what you are saying is it is OK for the SH to tour to Europe, where your unions can earn the big bucks, and we should be satisfied with having no tours down south?

Alternate them in a four year cycle -: AIs one year, Lions Tour the next year, Summer Tours the year after, then RWC.

Scarlet, tests are the cash cows of rugby.

you cannot reduce tests.

The main problem is that in the NH our International players are expected to play in the national competition, so they play internationals (11) HC(6-9) & national comp(Aviva,Top14,Rabo) (22-28) as this is obviously too many if fit they miss the national comp. We like to see our top players playing in the national comp. In the SH it seems that your top players play Internationals & Super Rugby only playing in the national comp if returning from injury & don't seem to mind that your International players are not involved in your national comps. This is how it seems to me if incorrect please enlighten me.

broadlandboy wrote:The main problem is that in the NH our International players are expected to play in the national competition, so they play internationals (11) HC(6-9) & national comp(Aviva,Top14,Rabo) (22-28) as this is obviously too many if fit they miss the national comp. We like to see our top players playing in the national comp. In the SH it seems that your top players play Internationals & Super Rugby only playing in the national comp if returning from injury & don't seem to mind that your International players are not involved in your national comps. This is how it seems to me if incorrect please enlighten me.

Its not that we dont mind , rather its in their best interests for them to not play during most of the Currie Cup in SA's case. Besides it would be hard for them to play in the currie cup as it partly runs concurrently with the RC unless i'm mistaken .

Biltong wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

Biltong wrote:

Breadvan wrote:Not a big fan of summer tours tbh. NH players have the domestic season, Autumn Ints, heineken cup, LV, 6 Nations, maybe the Amlin. Top players are so big nowadays, injuries are increasing. Give them the summer off to recover.

So what you are saying is it is OK for the SH to tour to Europe, where your unions can earn the big bucks, and we should be satisfied with having no tours down south?

Alternate them in a four year cycle -: AIs one year, Lions Tour the next year, Summer Tours the year after, then RWC.

Scarlet, tests are the cash cows of rugby.

you cannot reduce tests.

lol. Yeh I was looking at it purely from one p.ov.