Expansion.

Southern hemisphere governing body SANZAAR made it clear this week that they were disappointed talks regarding World Rugby’s proposed ‘Nations League’ had failed – and now they could be set to go with an expansion of their own.

The body that represent South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina were really hoping a deal could be struck, with the unions desperate for a cash injection, unlike their Six Nations counterparts who continue to flourish.

So what next? It’s clear they need to do something and it appears they’re going to rock a revised championship of their own, with Rugby Australia chief Raelene Castle revealing they have been working on new models for the Rugby Championship all along in case the Nations League fell through.

“Certainly what World Rugby Nations Championship has done with this project is allow us to think outside the box about different things, around the calendar, the timing, inclusion of different teams, all of those things,” she told the Rugby Australia website.

“It’s allowed the SANZAAR nations to think about the expansion of TRC, how does that would work from a team participation point of view, a commercial sustainability point of view, how does it work to grow the reach of TRC, and one of the options is the expansion of TRC.

The expansion could see them create a ‘Six Nations’ of their own down south with Fiji and Japan joining the Rugby Championship. It could even become a seven-team competition with USA also said to be an option.

Either way don’t expect things to stay as is. SANZAAR’s next broadcast deal is due to take effect from 2021 and we certainly expect to see a new look Rugby Championship by then.