Nations Championship relegation would be 'catastrophic', says RFU

England's Rugby Football Union (RFU) has said relegation from the proposed Nations Championship would be commercially "catastrophic" in a potential blow to World Rugby's hopes of launching the new competition. The Nations Championship would involve the existing Six Nations teams and an expanded Rugby Championship, which would add two 'Tier Two' developing nations to the current four southern hemisphere teams.

According to World Rugby's outline, the event would start in 2022 and run twice every four years, excluding those when World Cups or British and Irish Lions tours take place. The governing body said it could be supported by a partnership with Swiss-based sports marketing firm Infront, guaranteeing nearly 5 billion pounds ($6.6 billion) over an initial 12-year period.

The format would see each team play the other once, with the top teams from the Six Nations and the Rugby Championship then playing a final. Relegation would be introduced to provide a pathway for Tier Two nations into the competition. "For us it could be catastrophic being relegated, commercially," the RFU's acting chief executive Nigel Melville told The Times newspaper.

"To be relegated, the catastrophe isn't just the team being relegated, it's our ability to fund the game as a governing body in England. "Can we fund the community game in England to the level we do now if we don't have the revenues we have?

"When you're relegated, you're relegated for two years, not one. It's not quite up and down, one season on the naughty step and go back up, it's actually two years and that could be a disaster." The RFU board is due to discuss the proposal on Wednesday, with the Six Nations making a collective decision on whether to accept or reject it, the newspaper said.

The Celtic nations have traditionally refused to consider introducing relegation into the Six Nations, even though Italy have been the least successful team since they joined the European competition in 2000, with 14 wooden-spoon finishes. Player groups angrily denounced initial Nations Championship proposals that did not involve promotion or relegation as not providing pathways for developing nations.

One player group called for a boycott by Pasifika nations of this year's World Cup in Japan. The International Rugby Players union also said there were player welfare concerns with the proposed playing schedules, particularly involving long-haul travel.

Even the new proposal, however, raised issues of fatigue and burnout, Melville said. "The travel demands, taking in three different countries, could be extreme," he added. "You could end up playing South Africa, Argentina and Japan, which would be a difficult one. I don't think anyone fancies that.

"From a player welfare perspective, is it fair to ask players to jump on a plane straight after a hard season and ask them to play three games? We usually stay in one country or two countries close together. To go to three is bit of a challenge."