“There will be enter tainment and compelling rugby”
THERE IS one thing you can say for sure about the torrent of international rugby tours taking place in the southern hemisphere – they will do nothing whatsoever for the environment. Let us not become too alarmist or forget that there will be millions of other pollutants around, but the carbon footprint of Test rugby is absolutely monstrous, super-sized.
From the home nations alone, Ireland are touring New Zealand, England are in Australia, Wales in South Africa and Scotland in Argentina. There are myriad other international fixtures when players will be conveyed on thirsty aircraft and there will be hundreds of boots on the ground alongside those giant carbon prints.
If we can take the sport in isolation – not easy, I know – then there will be entertainment and compelling rugby. For those fans back at home, Saturdays can now begin with a dose of Test action, the start of a relaxing weekend – relaxing as long as your favourite teams don’t get thrashed. There might just be a few thrashings on the menu, here and there.
It will be a Tests-only menu for England and Wales, just three big games, then off home. I have never quite understood why the unions have abandoned the old system whereby they took their next-best players to fulfil A-team fixtures at their destination cities.
Left at home are many aspiring to Test rugby, players bubbling just under the selection
process who would love a chance to
