Ex-England star blasts ‘incompetent’ governing bodies for removing ‘jeopardy’ from mid-year internationals
England taking on the All Blacks in 2022.
Former England flanker James Haskell has slammed the decision to remove three-Test series from the calendar.
Between 2004 and 2010, teams tended to play two matches on a tour, but the International Rugby Board (now World Rugby) added an extra window to the schedule from 2012.
That allowed for a three-match series to aid the possibility of there being a winning side, albeit draws did still happen.
Incoming Nations Championship
However, with the calendar once again getting overhauled due to the creation of the Nations Championship, there are no full tours this year.
That new competition is set to be launched in 2026 with Qatar being considered as a host for the play-offs in what has been described as a ‘Super Bowl of rugby’
England will face the All Blacks next month in two Tests, one fewer than the last time they toured New Zealand 10 years ago, leaving Haskell very unhappy.
“It’s a shame it’s not a three-Test series isn’t it? That would add a real sense of jeopardy, I don’t know why they do this,” he said on The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast.
“I don’t have a problem playing Japan but surely can’t we cut off some other games somewhere else in the season. A three-Test series against the All Blacks would make it a lot better.”
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The two biggest series see England take on New Zealand and Ireland visit South Africa but, as Haskell stated, the Red Rose do have an extra game with the Brave Blossoms on June 22.
Although the former back-rower insists that giving other teams exposure of playing the traditional powerhouses is vital, the 39-year-old didn’t want it to be at the expense of the three-Test tours.
Professional sport is about winning
“We need to go and visit these countries, playing against Japan is important, but not to the detriment of a three-Test series,” he said.
“It doesn’t make any sense, you’re not really playing for anything. What if it’s 1-1, you’re like, ‘yeah, great, thanks guys.’
“You want jeopardy. Kids sport might be about taking part, no one wins and you’re all friends, but top level sport is about winners and winning, or getting pumped and learning.
“I don’t really get why you wouldn’t do it. From a marketing point of view, it’s very exciting and you can sell it.
“It just comes back to the way rugby’s structured. If you condense the season, made it shorter, got rid of all the irrelevant stuff we don’t want and put a global season in, it would make much more sense, and we can have these things.
“But you can’t organise anything because you’re incompetent.”