International – New Zealand and South Africa are heading towards more confrontations with hosting the 2027 World Cup on the horizon

This is one of the scenes from the group stage of the 2023 World Cup: the best teams from the southern hemisphere beat their counterparts from the north. Therefore, even if the Webb-Ellis Cup is far from being awarded, the South has begun negotiations to quickly reorganize itself, especially since the Club World Cup and Nations Cup projects – the latter will not be registered at the end of the year. October by World Rugby but definitely in May 2024 – it shouldn’t start soon enough.

New Zealand, Australia and South Africa do not want to risk waiting and not seeing anything concrete happen before the next World Cup in 2027. It is already known that the Rugby Championship unions have agreements in place to create an under-20 version. While France dominated the World Cup in this category in the last three editions, after defeating Ireland in the last final on July 14.

Choices against the provinces

Above all, the New Zealand Federation has approached its counterpart in South Africa in recent days, according to the media Things. In fact, All Blacks captains lament the departure of South African franchises towards European competitions because those rivals allowed the New Zealanders to encounter another form of rugby. The two entities began negotiations to consider returning to the tourist tour system between the two countries to increase the number of matches. The Springboks will of course face the All Blacks when they come to New Zealand but also the local Super Rugby counties.

Conversely, the All Blacks will also face South African franchises during their tour of South Africa. This would allow as many players as possible to progress at a very high level, while providing new income to the South African and New Zealand franchises through prestigious posters. This could provide a breath of fresh air for the two federations on a financial level against the backdrop of sporting justifications.

This project is particularly supported by future All Balcks coach Scott Robertson: “In the first year, we thought we wouldn’t regret the South African provinces being eliminated from Super Rugby because the competition was tough and interesting; This was the reaction of the future former president of the Crusaders. But in the second year we had a two-level competition. Above all, when you watch the Bucs play, you realize that they have a different mentality, a different style of play and other strengths. That’s what’s great.