{"id":308159,"date":"2023-06-15T04:20:08","date_gmt":"2023-06-15T04:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=308159"},"modified":"2023-06-15T05:58:58","modified_gmt":"2023-06-15T05:58:58","slug":"rugby-bosses-forced-to-make-bizarre-backtrack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=308159","title":{"rendered":"Rugby bosses forced to make bizarre backtrack"},"content":{"rendered":"

SANZAAR has been forced to walk back comments made by its chairman Hamish McLennan amid talk of a drastic change in the Rugby Championship<\/a> and Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> schedule.<\/p>\n

McLennan recently stated changes to better suit South Africa and Argentina had been tabled but were being baulked by New Zealand Rugby<\/a>.<\/p>\n

South Africa reportedly motioned for the Rugby Championship to be moved from its customary August-September-October slot to earlier in the year across March and April.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific season on the home of rugby, Stan Sport.<\/strong><\/em> All matches streaming ad free, live and on demand<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

That would in turn allow South African and Argentinian players competing in Europe more rest time in their season between fixtures.<\/p>\n

\"Rugby<\/p>\n

Such a move would have necessitated moving the Super Rugby Pacific season, having it start in May and finish in September as opposed to its February through June window.<\/p>\n

A Newstalk ZB podcast released on Thursday indicated that was still an option, McLennan stating "It's going to land on NZ Rugby's doorstep, and they've got to decide what they're going to do."<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Kyrgios 'contemplated suicide' after loss<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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However, the governing body has since clarified such a move was no longer on the table and both competitions will remain unchanged until 2026.<\/p>\n

Several reports indicate World Rugby and Six Nation organisers had been told no changes would be forthcoming after a meeting in Paris chaired by McLennan in May.<\/p>\n

\"SANZAAR<\/p>\n

"SANZAAR would like to clear up any misunderstanding surrounding the future playing window for The Rugby Championship," the statement read.<\/p>\n

"This follows an interview with Rugby Australia and current SANZAAR Chairman Hamish McLennan on a New Zealand podcast Rugby Direct<\/em> in which he discussed The Rugby Championship schedule.<\/p>\n

"SANZAAR can reiterate that until 2026 the existing mini-tour match schedule is locked in," he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Furthermore, The Rugby Championship window will not change from 2026 with the national unions working on competition models for the August\/September window to ensure maximum high performance and commercial outcomes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportRugby\/status\/1669162817662877699<\/a><\/p>\n

"SANZAAR is part of World Rugby's working programme that is exploring the potential creation of a global calendar, and review of playing windows, as part of the Games' work on the wider Regulation 9 (player availability) review.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"The SANZAAR Executive Committee has agreed The Rugby Championship has to fit into the existing sanctioned World Rugby playing windows for international rugby matches.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

"SANZAAR apologises for any confusion on The Rugby Championship playing schedule."<\/p>\n

The comments from McLennan are particularly odd given his position as the SANZAAR chairman.<\/p>\n

It comes as debate rages over the Super Rugby Pacific commission and how that will look.<\/p>\n

This year's Rugby Championship begins in July to accommodate the Rugby World Cup but will return to its customary August slot next year.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SANZAAR has been forced to walk back comments made by its chairman Hamish McLennan amid talk of a drastic change in the Rugby Championship and […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":308161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308159"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=308159"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":308164,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308159\/revisions\/308164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/308161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=308159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=308159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=308159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}