George Gregan slams The Greatest Rivalry timing as Wallabies legend suggests alternative option for All Blacks and Springboks
George Gregan has his say on The Greatest Rivalry series between All Blacks and Springboks.
“Can you imagine the Six Nations being postponed a year because England decide they want to play France instead?”
Wallabies legend George Gregan is giving his response to the Rugby Championship being canned next year to enable New Zealand to tour South Africa and is shaking his head.
He has savoured the most competitive edition of the tournament; seen Australia break a 62-year jinx by winning at Ellis Park, watched Argentina beat the All Blacks on home soil for the first time.
He has relished the courage of Wallabies captain Harry Wilson three times turning down a match-tying penalty against Los Pumas in Townsville and be rewarded with an 86th minute winning try.
He has been wowed by the individual brilliance of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and his 37-point personal rout of Argentina in Durban – and by the collective power and brutality of South Africa‘s record win over New Zealand in Wellington.
Final day drama
A four-team competition was won on the final afternoon at Twickenham by South Africa only because Santi Carreras’ late penalty came back off an upright, handing the Boks victory and denying the All Blacks the title.
After seven weeks engrossed in all that drama, Gregan was not expecting to hear the tournament had been put on ice so the world’s top two ranked countries can play amongst themselves in August and September next year.
Argentina legend Agustin Pichot branded South Africa and New Zealand “selfish” for their go-it-alone decision. Gregan, the most thoughtful of pundits, is on the same side of the debate.
“The Rugby Championship is now the Southern Hemisphere’s Six Nations,” says the World Cup winner. “It’s taken a long time to get there and, after such a great tournament this year, it would be good to keep the continuity going.
“No-one had a crystal ball [to know how good the 2025 edition would be] when they made the decision to put this old school tour together with four Test matches, which they’re calling The Greatest Rivalry.
“But you need to remember, I think, the importance of the Rugby Championship. It’s been very, very good for everyone. Look what it’s done for Argentina since its inception in 2012. How far they’ve come in that period of time is unbelievable.”
Gregan is not finished. “My question is: can you imagine the Six Nations Championship being postponed a year because England want to play France instead? [New Zealand and South Africa] could potentially have done it [their series] simultaneously.
“I remember for years we had the Tri-Nations going and we [Australia and South Africa] would still contest the Mandela Cup. We might play the Boks three times. We might play three Bledisloes [against New Zealand].
“So they [SA and NZ] could do that, maybe take a fourth Test to the UK and make it financially viable for both teams. There’s a lot of South African supporters over here. There’s a lot of Kiwis. They come out of the woodwork wearing their All Black jerseys.
“So you could do that. And there you go. But you still maintain… there’s still a competition going on between the other teams who have been part of that for however long.”
The Rugby Championship will also not be played in 2030, when South Africa tour New Zealand. “So ’26 and ’30, years directly before World Cups, whose purpose does that serve?” Gregan asks. “That’s my take on it.”
Pressed on what he hopes will happen to the Rugby Championship after the agreed 2026-30 block, Gregan replies that, like the Six Nations, it will be set in stone as an annual tournament.
The counter argument to The Greatest Rivalry being a negative is that professional rugby is at a crossroads. Financially, across the sport, the numbers do not add up.
Club rugby outside of France is a loss leader, the international game now schedules matches outside the Test window due to a chronic need to raise funds – even though, to take the most recent example, that leaves the Wallabies’ chronically understrength against England.
Rugby Championship fan
Then there is the spectre of R360. Nobody knows what the proposed global franchise league might mean for the sport in its current guise but, if the whispers are true that there is significant interest in players from South Africa, New Zealand and Australia, it is understandable individual unions should explore alternative ways to create new revenue.
Gregan remains a firm advocate of the Rugby Championship. “What we saw this year is what sport’s all about,” he says. “And I think that’s what this Championship can bring.
“The fans want to see that. It showcased the best of the southern hemisphere and fans were voting with their feet, watching and turning up.
“The Wallabies, everywhere they played, I think were sold out. That tells you, straightaway, it’s meaningful. Your national team is playing in a meaningful competition against world-class opposition. It’s not a hard one to sell.”
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