Rugby evening headlines as Sam Warburton welcomes change even if Wales don't like it

Here are your rugby evening headlines for Friday, 13 May.

Former Wales captain Sam Warburton believes a new global tournament that could see the Six Nations and Rugby Championship giants relegated can only be good for the growth of the sport.

The sport's leading unions met this week in Dublin, with World Rugby keen on getting plans for a new two-tiered biennial tournament signed off ahead of a potential vote later in the year. As well as aligning the global calendar more closely, it would open up the prospect of tier one nations such as Wales being relegated to a lower tier - meaning they would play tier two nations in summer and autumn Tests.

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However, Warburton believes this would actually add to the jeopardy of Test rugby - claiming that matches against tier two nations with promotion and relegation on the line would mean more than the usual tours of fellow tier one countries.

"If countries don’t like this, and I am thinking about Wales here, then tough," he wrote in his column for the Times. "It should sharpen their minds to improve their rugby programmes and business models to ensure that they don’t get relegated. Life is about sinking or swimming. It can hopefully precipitate change in countries where it is obviously needed.

"If Wales are not good enough, then they should get relegated. As a Welshman if Wales were playing Georgia, Spain and Italy in three Tests in a summer and they needed to win all three to get promotion, I would be supporting them every week. I think it is a great idea. I know that there will be those who don’t like it, but I just think that the game needs it to avoid complacency across the board.

"I think the players will like it.