With the post-Covid calendar needing a radical redraw, shifting the northern hemisphere game to the warmer months could help clubs finally turn a profit
Decades from now, when people ask how professional rugby union was decisively shaped, it will boil down to one simple question: did a forward or a back win the argument? In the northern hemisphere forwards have traditionally held sway for the most part, helped by the winter mud and rain that inevitably alters behaviour. But what if summer rugby becomes a regular occurrence? How might the game develop then?
Dinosaurs did not respond hugely well when faced with sharply changing climatic conditions. It may yet be a similar story for a few lumbering club forwards if they are suddenly required to play the majority of their rugby on fast, firm surfaces in temperatures nudging 27C. It’s rugby, Jim, but not as we know it.
Written by Robert Kitson
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2020/jun/02/summer-rugby-union-could-be-the-chance-to-deliver-best-of-both-worlds under the title “Summer rugby union could be the chance to deliver best of both worlds | Robert Kitson”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
