Some probably thought it was a joke.
But the information is to be taken very seriously and it is likely to be the number one topic of discussion on rugby pitches across Europe… and beyond.
According to the British media the Daily Mail, which cites "well-placed sources", South Africa could indeed join the Six Nations in 2025. The event would not, however, become a rendezvous between seven selections The Springboks would purely replace and simply Italy.
A real revolution.
EXCLUSIVE: South Africa set to replace Italy in the Six Nations from 2025 in a seismic move for rugby's globe structure |
@FoyChris https://t.co/FwGXbp4JHN
— MailOnline Sport (@MailSport) February 16, 2022
If the presence of Italy - which opposes this idea - was regularly questioned because of its poor results - no match won since 2015, six wooden spoons in a row - the arrival of a nation of the southern hemisphere inevitably raises questions.
If sportingly the event would obviously be reinforced by the arrival of the world champions, this reflection would be dictated above all by a commercial logic, by business.
The English daily indicates that the fund CVC Capital Partners, which invested 425 million euros last year in the Tournament last year, would be a "driving force" in this development.
The objective of such a reform would obviously be to greatly increase the income for federations betting in difficulty by the pandemic.
The Luxembourg fund had also announced that it wanted to “develop broader commercial capacities and attract a new, more diversified and global fan base” when signing last March.
Coincidence, or not, of the calendar, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina renewed their commitment to the Rugby Championship on Wednesday – the tournament for the southern hemisphere – for three additional years.
That is until… 2025.
But the South African federation has never hidden that it was eyeing the north.
Unlike its "neighbors" in the southern hemisphere, it also has the advantage of being on the same time zones as the old continent.
The South African clubs have already begun this rapprochement and participate in the United Rugby Championship - a competition which has become known recently because of the numerous contaminations of players with the Omicron variant - with Welsh, Scottish, Irish and Italian.
The revolution already seems to be underway for this tournament that is more than a century old.