Ben Morel, CEO of the Six Nations, has firmly stated that the Springboks will not be joining the championship, despite interest from the South African Rugby Union.
Due to the fact that South African club franchises now play in Europe, rumors have persisted that the South Africa national team is interested in joining the Six Nations in order to increase broadcasting revenue and address concerns about Italy's competitiveness.
“There is no conversation about expanding the Six Nations right now, the entire focus is on finding the right solution and improvements to the July and November windows and finding a more competitive narrative for those fixtures,” Morel told Telegraph Sport.
”Our whole energy of the Six Nations is focused on that. So there’s no conversation regarding anything else.
”There never has been. There has obviously been some interest, but we are not engaging in any of those conversations. We are focused on what we think is the right balance for the game, and that is finding competitive fixtures that will bring some pathway to the developing nations as well.
”We are having really productive calls and exchanges with the southern hemisphere on that and hopefully we can come to some agreement in the relatively short term and we believe that is in the interest of the game.”
RANKED: Which 2023 Six Nations Team Has the Most Foreign-Born Players?
The 2023 Six Nations Championship is the 24th edition of the competition since expanding to include Italy in 2000.
It was originally conceived as the Home Nations Championship and first contested by England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales in 1883. France joined in 1910 to create the Five Nations Championship.
There were 59 foreign-born players in the 2021 Six Nations. The player rosters for the 2022 competition number totalled of 73 foreign-born players
#6. England (4/36) - Up by two
On 16 January 2023, Borthwick named a 36-player England squad for the 2023 Six Nations Championship
Bevan Rodd (Scotland)
Mako Vunipola (New Zealand)
Marcus Smith (Phillipines)
Manu Tuilagi (Samoa)
Manu Tuilagi of England during the Autumn Nations Match between England and Tonga at Twickenham Stoop on 6 November 2021. Photo: Tom Sandberg/PPAUK
#5. France (5/42) - Up by one
On 17 January 2023, Galthié named a 42-man squad for the 2023 Six Nations Championship.
Uini Atonio (New Zealand)
Dany Priso (Cameroon)
Paul Willemse (South Africa)
Émilien Gailleton (England)
Yoram Moefana (Wallis and Futuna)
#4. Italy (6/34) - Down by three
On 10th January Kieran Crowley announced a 34-man squad for the Italy's opening two matches of the matches against .
(5 Feb) and England (12 Feb)
Marco Manfredi (Germany)
Sebastian Negri (Zimbabwe)
Jake Polledri (England)
Stephen Varney (Wales)
Ignacio Brex (Argentina)
Ange Capuozzo (France)
#2. Ireland (6/37)
Finlay Bealham (New Zealand)
Rob Herring (South Africa)
Joe McCarthy (USA)
Bundee Aki (New Zealand)
Jamison Gibson-Park (New Zealand)
James Lowe (New Zealand)
Bundee Aki of Ireland watching the on going scrum during the Six Nations Championship match between England and Ireland at Twickenham Stadium, Twickenham, London on the 12th March 2022 - PHOTO: George Tewkesbury/PPAUK
#2. Wales (7/37) - Down by five
On 17 January 2023, Wales coach Warren Gatland named a 37-man squad for the Six Nations.
Bradley Roberts (South Africa)
Tomas Francis (Wales)
Taulupe Faletau (Tonga)
Taulupe Faletau during the Gallagher Premiership Rugby Match between Bath Rugby and Saracens at the Recreation Ground on 17 Oct. Photo: Steve Haag/PPAUK
Christ Tshiunza (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
George North (England)
Nick Tompkins (England)
Alex Cuthbert (England)
#1. Scotland (21/40) - Up by two
On 17 January 2023, Scotland coach Gregor Townsend named a 40-player squad for the 2023 Six Nations Championship.
Ewan Ashman (Canada)
Simon Berghan (New Zealand)
WP Nel (South Africa)
Pierre Schoeman (South Africa)
Javan Sebastian (Wales)
Cameron Henderson (Hong Kong)
Sam Skinner (England)
Josh Bayliss (England)
Andy Christie (England)
Jack Dempsey (Australia)
Hamish Watson (England)
Final whistle celebrations for Scott Steele of Scotland and Hamish Watson of Scotland during the Six Nations Championship, 127th Calcutta Cup match between England and Scotland at Twickenham Stadium, Twickenham, London on January 6 2021. - PHOTO: Phil Mingo/PPAUK
Ali Price (England)
Ben White (England)
Ben Healy (Ireland)
Chris Harris (England)
Cameron Redpath (France)
Sione Tuipulotu (Australia)
Sean Maitland (New Zealand)
Ruaridh McConnochie (England)
Kyle Steyn (South Africa)
Duhan van der Merwe (South Africa)
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- Jordie Barrett over Damian de Allende is far from being correct. The hype around Dupont is also overreaching, he's probably 4th in the world and has been since the 2023 WC. He also avoids certain matchups which is strange. The rest of the list is pretty good apart from minor subjective biases.JasonMarlow16-09-2026
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