Four days before the World Rugby council, the National Rugby League wanted to make its voice heard and by extension that of the French clubs. The LNR sent a letter on Friday that we were able to consult to the international body – via its director general Alan Gilpin – in order to “share (its) observations on the proposals communicated on October 6 which will be submitted to the council of World Rugby”, insisting on “the need to achieve an overall balance between national team competitions and club competitions, by supporting the creation of new international competitions with precise and proportionate compensation”.
Last July, Six Nations Rugby and SANZAAR (South Africa New Zealand Argentina and Australia Rugby) announced that they were working in partnership to create a new international competition. It would begin in 2026 and would take place every two years during the already existing international windows, in July and November, instead of the traditional summer and autumn tours. The six nations of the Tournament and the four of the Rugby Championship would participate as well as two other guests which should be Fiji and Japan. World Rugby would also create a new second-tier competition.
Request for the establishment of “fair financial compensation for clubs”
The League mentions in its letter having made proposals to World Rugby earlier in the year relating to changes to rule no. 9, which concerns the provision of internationals, “in particular on the establishment of a fair financial compensation for clubs. “We can only regret that the work on this last point was not carried out by the deadline of the council meeting on October 24,” it is stated. We reiterate the importance that this work is carried out rigorously and ends by the announced deadline of May 2024 and that at the end a decision on the establishment of a balanced system is taken in the fall of 2024 established for an application from 2027.”
This letter reveals the difficulty for World Rugby to harmonize the international calendar, each actor, Federation, League etc. defending its interests (which often do not match) in a difficult economic context. Example of these points of friction: the NRL is seeking confirmation that the Six Nations teams will only have to play two matches in July in years when the future new international competition will not be played, “as provided for by the agreement of San Francisco.”
Opposition to the organization of the 2031 World Cup in June-July
The LNR also highlights several other issues, particularly regarding the World Cups. She wants the duration of the event to be six weeks to be included in rule 9. Above all, she shows her disagreement with a planned shift in the periods during which the next two Worlds could be contested.
The League thus reiterates its opposition “to the planned movement of the 2027 World Cup (in Australia) from October 1 to November 13” (which would reduce the availability of international players for their club over the season) and “to the hypothesis envisaged during the preparatory work for a 2031 World Cup (in the United States) organized in June-July which would involve, taking into account the periods of rest then preparation, an upheaval in the organization of competitions over two seasons with considerable impacts on the economic model of rugby in Europe. »
