South Africa's former coach and World Cup winner Rassie Erasmus has weighed in on the Springboks' playing future, backing an eventual move to the Six Nations.
The Springboks' future has been a discussion point in recent seasons after the changes to Super Rugby saw the South African clubs shift north to play in the United Rugby Championship alongside European clubs.
Fans and officials have debated whether the current world champions should follow the lead of the franchises.
Erasmus, now South Africa's director of rugby, believes the move north is both logical and exciting.
“Speaking from the South African side of the fence, I would love to see the Springboks in the Six Nations. The style of play, the travel and the time zones would all suit South Africa,” Erasmus told the Daily Mail.
“You could fly in overnight on Thursday, play on a Saturday and fly back on Sunday. It would be easy. When we go to Australia or New Zealand, you wake up at 2am and don’t know what day it is."
Erasmus stressed that his thoughts were purely personal and didn't reflect where South Africa Rugby were at currently.
“We are locked in with the Rugby Championship until 2025, so for now it is still hypothetical. Just please don’t mistake this for me saying the Rugby Championship is bad. I love New Zealand, I love Australia and I love Argentina.
“If someone with proper research showed me that South Africa joining the Six Nations would make the Rugby Championship weaker and damage the growth of the global game, then we shouldn’t do it.
“But right now, speaking as a South African, I think joining the Six Nations would be awesome.”
Erasmus said those wanting to hold on to "tradition" and keep things split by hemisphere's should think about the betterment of the game.
“I don’t think we can hang everything on [tradition],” he said.
“Traditionally, the Six Nations was the Five Nations. Traditionally, the Rugby Championship was the Tri Nations."
Erasmus added a prime example of tradition giving way to change a game for the better was cricket, which now had ODIs and T20s alongside Tests.
“I think you only screw up tradition if you make something worse,” Erasmus said.
“Will South Africa make the Six Nations worse? Well, we might have a relapse, go back to playing attractive running rugby and be sixth in the world.
“If we are number six or seven in the world it probably doesn’t benefit the Six Nations. Or we might keep playing boring rugby and stay at number one, two or three. Surely the more high-class teams you get in the competition the better.”
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