World Rugby To Push Ahead With World League Concept

Annual test blockbusters between northern and southern rugby superpowers "are one step closer to reality after World Rugby agreed to push ahead with the so-called World League concept," according to Georgina Robinson of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. But there is "one big catch: New Zealand rugby fans may never see" a World League final on home soil under a model in which the competition would be played during the existing June (July from '20) and November test windows. Officials in Australia and New Zealand have declared it is "full steam ahead" on the concept after a World Rugby working group found there was "enough global broadcast interest to push ahead with a detailed feasibility study." The group will report back to the World Rugby Exec Committee in late January on the post-'19 concept. But after agreeing that any change to the existing int'l windows was "off the table, it appears any final or finals series would always be played in November" and, thus, in the northern hemisphere (SMH, 11/20).