The Rugby Championship starts this weekend, and the Nations Championship arrives with a travel burden that goes well beyond the normal test window. Fiji are set for all their matches in the UK, while Wales have Cardiff, San Juan and Durban packed into a brutal run.
Fiji and Wales
Fiji’s itinerary is the sharpest example. They are one of the southern teams in a tournament that pairs six teams from the north with six from the south, yet they will play all their games in the north, specifically in the UK. Wales, by contrast, have an away match in Cardiff before heading to San Juan next weekend for Argentina and then Durban for the Springboks.
That is the point of friction at the centre of the new competition. World Rugby says player welfare is the No 1 priority, but the Nations Championship schedule asks teams to absorb long-haul travel over two or three weeks while opening fixtures are still being staged across several countries. The structure is designed to create heavyweight cross-hemisphere matchups, but it also creates some of the most punishing itineraries in international rugby.
Dafydd Jenkins and Wales
Wales go into that run with a front-row problem of their own in the second row. Dafydd Jenkins needs surgery on the shoulder injury he picked up in the Prem final, and Wales have only two locks in their matchday squad, Adam Beard and Ben Carter. Taine Plumtree covers the second row from the bench.
Beard arrives after appearing in Montpellier’s defeat in last weekend’s Top 14 final, another reminder of how tight the international calendar has become for players moving straight from club rugby into Test duty. Wales also met Fiji after a match against the Barbarians at Twickenham, and Louis Rees-Zammit is expected to help fill Fiji’s coffers on the ticket-sales front.
New Zealand, France and Sydney
The opening round stretches beyond Wales and Fiji. New Zealand play France in Christchurch, with Dave Rennie making his first selection as All Blacks coach. Will Jordan starts on the right wing, Ardie Savea captains the side at No 8, and Cam Roigard and Ruben Love are at half-back.
France are missing their Toulouse contingent after Toulouse won the Top 14 last weekend, so Maxine Lucu leads a side that turns to players from Bordeaux-Bègles, who won the Champions Cup. Damien Penaud is back on the wing. Australia then entertain Ireland in Sydney, with Sam Prendergast recalled at fly-half.
The opening weekend gives World Rugby the contest it wanted, but it also leaves Fiji and Wales carrying the clearest welfare burden. If the tournament is going to sell a new global order, it has to answer how it justifies those travel demands while putting player welfare first.
