Rob Baxter: Playing whole 2022 Guinness Six Nations in one country may be best option | Rugby Union News

“For the national bodies, their responsibility goes beyond the professional sport, it goes right down to grassroots rugby, so if playing the tournament provides a level of income that cancelling it or no crowds doesn’t create, then we’ve got to look at the next best scenario”

With crowd restrictions currently in place in Wales, Scotland, Ireland and France, moving the 2022 Six Nations to England has been argued for

Rob Baxter believes playing this season’s Guinness Six Nations Championship in one country has “got to be better than cancelling it” or playing in empty stadiums. 

The tournament is due to kick off in Dublin and Edinburgh on February 5, but currently finds itself shrouded in uncertainty.

Under current Welsh Government restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic and its omicron variant, Wales would have to play scheduled home games against Scotland, France and Italy behind closed doors.

The Scots are in a similar position for games at Murrayfield, while it has been reported that Wales could consider moving their Principality Stadium fixtures against Scotland, France and Italy to England.

Last year’s Six Nations Championship was played exclusively behind closed doors, but each nation had full crowds back in November

The current rules in Ireland state a maximum of 5000 supporters may attend outdoor sporting events, with Andy Farrell’s side due to host Wales, Italy and Scotland in 2022.

Capacity crowds are currently allowed in England, provided spectators can prove full vaccination status or provide a negative lateral flow test.

Against such a backdrop, playing the whole competition – it takes place across five weekends between early February and mid-March – in one country with permitted crowds has also been mooted in some quarters.

Financial implications of behind-closed-doors home games for any of the unions would be significant.

Full crowds were allowed at the Principality Stadium, Aviva Stadium and Murrayfield for the recent Autumn Nations Series Tests, before fresh restrictions took effect.

“The whole beauty of the Six Nations has been that change of environment, that change of weather conditions, going to play in Scotland, Wales, Ireland – those are the great challenges,” Exeter rugby director Baxter said.

“That’s what makes the Six Nations such a great competition to win.

“You’ve seen French teams in that one week they can beat anyone in the world in Paris, and then the next week it doesn’t go quite so well in Cardiff.

“That’s the beauty of the tournament, that’s what from a rugby perspective I am sure we would all want to see happen.

“That said, we can’t all sit here and pretend the world is in an ideal place at the moment.

Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter says moving the tournament to one place for 2022 may well be the best option

“For the national bodies, their responsibility goes beyond the professional sport, it goes right down to grassroots rugby, so if playing the tournament provides a level of income that cancelling it or no crowds doesn’t create, then we’ve got to look at the next best scenario.

“If the next best scenario is playing it in one country, where you can have sell-out crowds, you can raise some revenue and you can keep that income stream going for all the bodies, then it’s got to be better than cancelling it.

“I think with every sporting body, it’s revenue that is the biggest thing that has been damaged, so anything that can keep revenue online has got to be preferable to just binning things for a season.

“We’ve all had to try and find a way to keep going, to try and keep revenue coming in. It’s the same with any business, you’ve got to explore those options.”