Sport

Former Munster coach Rassie Erasmus feels South Africa joining the Six Nations would be a good thing

Rassie Erasmus(Photo by Steve Haag/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

A FEW weeks ago talk of South Africa joining the Six Nations in 2025 was rife. The World Cup holders were set to replace Italy in the tournament, but rumours were quickly quashed by Six Nations chiefs.

One coach, who thinks that the Bok's move to the Northern Hemisphere would make sense is former Munster and SARU Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus.

Part 2 of the Rassie Erasmus interview.

‘I would love to see South Africa in the Six Nations.’

‘We might relapse back to playing attractive running rugby and drop to sixth 🤭’

‘English people might not want me but I’d love to coach Genge. He’s a dog.’https://t.co/47ooC4WEkf

— Nik Simon (@Nik_Simon88) March 7, 2022

Speaking to Mail Sport, Erasmus spoke about the benefits for his home- country.

Just remember this is purely my own personal opinion. I don’t need to get myself into any more trouble!

I’ve always been a massive fan of the Six Nations. Murrayfield is awesome, the Aviva is awesome, Twickenham is awesome. I love the atmosphere and their rich tradition of singing.

He believes that the timezones and travel requirements in the Six Nations would suit the World Cup winners.

Speaking from the South African side of the fence, I would love to see the Springboks in the Six Nations. The style of play, the travel and the time zones would all suit South Africa, he said

"You could fly in overnight on Thursday, play on a Saturday and fly back on Sunday. It would be easy. When we go to Australia or New Zealand, you wake up at 2am and don’t know what day it is."

"We are locked in with the Rugby Championship until 2025, so for now it is still hypothetical."

Just please don’t mistake this for me saying the Rugby Championship is bad. I love New Zealand, I love Australia and I love Argentina. Gus Pichot is a legend.

If someone with proper research showed me that South Africa joining the Six Nations would make the Rugby Championship weaker and damage the growth of the global game, then we shouldn’t do it. But right now, speaking as a South African, I think joining the Six Nations would be awesome.

As mentioned above, any South African move to the Six Nations could not come before 2025 and any attempt to increase revenue and viewership figures would be the biggest factors in the move.

In other news at Munster loosehead Jeremy Loughman has been called up to the Irish squad for the first time

A product of Athy RFC and Blackrock College, Loughman played five times for Leinster before switching to Limerick. He has played 63 times for Munster to date, a dozen of those coming this season.