World Rugby’s proposal for a 12-team global league has been met with resistance from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
According to The Telegraph, the league would split the 12 top-ranked nations in the world into pools, with three pool games for each team hosted in alternate years in the southern and northern hemisphere. Following the pool stage, semi-finals and a final would then take place.
The Six Nations and Rugby Championship would take place as normal but would form part of the league. The June Test series would be replaced by northern sides facing three southern hemisphere nations.
However, when World Rugby provided details of the tournament in Dublin, the reaction from the four home nations, in particular, was not very positive.
Concerns range from player welfare to fears the tournament would dilute interest in the World Cup.
