The Northern Hemisphere Tests should be scrapped for the benefit of Super Rugby

Bakkies you are also confusing the NH teams not having games against SH meaning they play less games. England only plays 3 home games against 6 Nations teams. How is it possible that that cannot be increased. It could easily be doubled if the SH teams did not arrive. You are confusing two separate things - who plays with how many games there are. Wales and France can Simply play more games against each other and England to boost revenues if they so wished. Easy peasy.

Bakkies if the June tests were Axed Australia could simply play 3 more tests against Australia or SA/ARG/Japan/Samoa/USA/Fiji in August - October around the Rugby Championship. It is not a case of less tests or less money. Just a case of when the tests are played and who they are against.

...which has nothing to do with the article posted which related to the awkward timing of the June International Window for both hemispheres. There is no problem with there being enough weeks in the year. The current compromise, it is argued in the opening article, is less good than having no June window at all. The tests could be made up at other times against other teams.

Removing tests is a terrible idea. There's 52 weeks, which is enough for Super Rugby (20 matches), Rugby Championship (6 matches) and Tests (6 matches).

That's due to the WRU paying off the debt at a faster rate and cutting back hand outs to the club and regional games. As for the SRU, FFR, IRFU, FIR and WRU being super rich you are having a laugh. The FFR pay a barrel to the SdF to rent it out and are contracted to play a certain amount of games there. Hence them building a national Rugby stadium that will lead to a stadium debt to address. The ARU can't afford to axe the June window. End of. Where are they going to make up the lost revenue from their golden goose? They are already dropping a lot this year due to less domestic tests due to the RWC and the compensation isn't going to make up the short fall. Do that every year with no June tours and they will be up the creek without a paddle.

'The revenue argument does not hold up. England plays just 3 home tests in the six Nations each year. Even if SH nations didn’t tour north in November England could still make enough Revenue by playing 4 more matches against Ireland, France, Wales, Scotland or USA at home.' You're grasping there. The RFU is not like the ARU. Twickenham is a year round money making machine but they aren't going to turn down big pay days especially when the cheats play there. I am pretty sure that the RFU has an agreement with the ARU to play the Cook Cup annually. As for the other unions they have to have these internationals as they don't generate as much coin as the RFU does. Even the FFR is not saddled with cash.

Disagree, shorten the Super Rugby and play 12 tests. Why must tests be sacrificed for the sake of a "super rugby" tournament that will only be a trans tasman competition in disguise? Super rugby is getting longer and we are playing ourselves more than ever before, what a waste.

The revenue argument does not hold up. England plays just 3 home tests in the six Nations each year. Even if SH nations didn't tour north in November England could still make enough Revenue by playing 4 more matches against Ireland, France, Wales, Scotland or USA at home. This shows that the real reason for the November and June tours is not money. It is a chance to play the other hemisphere. The benefits of eliminating the June Window and retaining just the November Window are that pro competitions would gain a lot and reciprocal tours could happen in alternate years each November. Revenue can be made up by more home tests against neighbors.

Let's face it, the SANZAR nations would not lose that much money if the June window were scrapped because an extra two tests would be added to the The Rugby Championship. The NH teams can also play each other once or twice more and recoup the money if they so please. They only play eachother once a year each. Faced with not 'having' to come down South at the end of a long season NH teams are likely to forgoe the revenue and not play eachother in June at all anyways. SH teams would rather continue Super Rugby and play more tests during the TRC. So the June window will just die out because nobody wants it if it were abandoned.

It just isn't the responsibility of the SH nations to prop up the super rich Northern Unions. Not our responsibility. They can play more tests against eachother if they wish to make up short falls. The Southern Hemisphere could unilaterally scrap the June Window and Northern Unions would lose more because they make more revenues from their Window. The resulting negotiations for a new Window would then better suit everyone.

According to PwC "The WRU’s debt now stands at £25m (in 2011) – its lowest level for ten years. It now has a financial model which could lead to the debt being eliminated entirely by 2021."

Those networks are more subscription reliant rather then on viewers. They also run up against the Super Rugby games from SA and they get priority as they often feature NZ teams.

No it still won't happen. What you need to remember in some Six Nations seasons you only end up with two home games and when you are paying off a huge amount of stadium debt while trying to fund the domestic game which Scotland and Wales are doing nothing is going to change. I don't blame them as they are reducing their debt but the domestic game has taken a hit as a result. The ARU's financial problems is chump change in comparison to those two unions. You can see why the Wallabies are playing Wales every November now as it pulls in more gate than say Argentina, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji plus those tickets would have reduced prices. The WRU get criticised for playing an extra international outside of the window but you can't blame them either as they only have a few chances of making big coin. Not all of the games sell out either.

I think that's because it's played in the middle of the night and cost a lot more to purchase it live. Cheaper to buy when it's not live and put it in a time slot where you will get more viewers.

They could be convinced if they no longer had to send tired players to SH on a 3 test tour every season. NH teams can schedule extra home tests amongst themselves to generate revenue and the pro competitions will fill the void.

I totally disagree. I don't love the timing, but the 3 match series format has breathed a lot of life into inbound tours from my perspective.

Unfortunately I think we've just had a drop off in interest in the 6N in NZ with Sky/ ESPN dropping live 6N. I'm only interested in watching it live with some live blog going on. Here it plays 12 hours after the result is known so I don't bother. That and losing the LPGA live coverage with Ko a huge attraction here really puts a dampener on things.

That's in the June tour which I argue could be scrapped. In the November match Wales beat the Springboks. November internationals come at a much better time for NH teams as you explained.

Depends. Gatland last season had to organise a squad trial as none of the regions made the Pro 12 semis and were well out of the Heineken Cup so Welsh based players had a good month without any games to prepare for the Boks. They also played the Kings when they got to SA. The Welsh were poor in the First Test but really fired in the 2nd test and threw away a strong lead.

The ITM midweek games seems to be working but I don't know if it's a positive thing for those players that aren't full time who have jobs as well unlike the Super Rugby boys who play in both comps.