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
#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)