Springboks' Rugby Champs commitment remains fly in ambitious URC's ointment

Without criticising the Springboks' continued involvement in the tournament, URC chief Martin Anayi has pinpointed the Rugby Championship as the fly in the ointment for the fledgling competition reaching its true potential.

Feedback on the inaugural edition last season revealed the teething problems of World Rugby not having finalised a global calendar, meaning the URC in particular will still need to compromise on optimal competitiveness.

SA Rugby, who'll become a full shareholder in the tournament in 2024, is currently contractually obliged to stay in the Sanzaar alliance until 2025 and also still dependent on the revenue derived from the Rugby Championship.

As a result, the Boks' itinerary will remain unsynchronised with its local franchises.

"We've been pretty vocal with World Rugby that the calendar can better, certainly in terms of internationals trying not to overlap with club rugby. We're getting there in the northern hemisphere. We try not to play in the Six Nations window and neither do we play in the November internationals," Anayi told a URC roundtable hosted by Roc Nation, one of its commercial partners.

"But of course, when the Rugby Championship is at the start of the season, there's a misalignment. I'd love to align those two streams up at some stage so that we don't get this mismatch and overlap. That would make this tournament even better than it already is."

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Better alignment would also mean the URC avoids a proverbial season of two halves, which was very much evident last season.

"One of the main points of feedback we had was that until there's better alignment in the calendar, you're going to have seasons of two halves, which was very