Reports have emerged of plans for World Champions South Africa to join the Six Nations - a move which would rock international test rugby.
It is understood that the radical move would see the Springboks join after the next World Cup.
According to Sportsmail negotiations have been taking place for some time.
The plans being reported at this stage would see the championship extending to a seven-team event — rather than South Africa’s entry coming at the expense of Italy.
Of course the move would also cause huge ructions in the southern hemisphere, leaving Rugby Championship (consisting of Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and South Africa) in crisis.
Although it has been suggested already that Japan could then naturally fill the void.
South Africa of course already have two provincial teams in the Pro14 league and have had designs on greater ties with Europe for some time.
On Friday, it was revealed that the Six Nations will package the men's tournament with autumn internationals, the Women’s Six Nations, the Under-20 Six Nations, and other international Tests in future TV rights deals.
In simple terms it means that all international rugby matches in the UK will come under just one media agreement.
In theory the Six Nations could make huge financial gains from selling the rights to subscription services such as Sky, BT Sport or even Amazon Prime, who can rival current rights holders BBC and ITV and place the free-to-air viewing of the Six Nations under threat.
With South Africa on board that could make any future deal much more lucrative.
