Loose Pass: Free rugby, Europe’s Tri-Nations and South Africa’s drop-off in tradition

Rugby’s most numerous stakeholders in the UK, us armchair judges, were dealt a rare treat in this most challenging of times this week, with the news that this year’s Premiership Final will be broadcast live on free-to-air TV.

In an era of precipitous drops in participation – a result of both the pandemic and some quite well-founded fears of concussion and other lingering injuries – rugby has badly needed a better, bigger shop window than that it is usually afforded. BT Sport and Sky do good jobs but play to such limited audiences that it’s almost a shame their good efforts are so frequently drowned out by the soccer.

Meanwhile, with the Six Nations now disappeared behind a paywall, albeit a more easily accessible one than most of the rest of rugby, it seemed the era of free-to-air rugby, the family generations and friends gathering on Six Nations weekends to watch at someone’s place (because so many of the pubs were dominated by Jeff Stelling) was over.

"Our ambition is to grow the game and make the Premiership available to as many people as possible."

#GallagherPrem final one of five games broadcasted by ITV. https://t.co/ZDgL7WtWXb

— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) January 20, 2022

Which, as this column has often lamented down the years, would be a terrible shame. Your correspondent’s own first rugby memory of any kind came on Dad’s knee when Wales were playing Scotland; most of the motivating images involved in my taking up the game in the first place were of Six Nations games.

The sheer avalanche of anecdotal evidence among my peers suggests I am not alone in this sort of memory. What could happen to the players of tomorrow if the game’s most impressive tournament is suddenly locked away?

Perhaps we’ll see. But in the