World Rugby's plan for a Nations Championship that would have introduced Six Nations relegation play-offs has been left in tatters tonight.
It comes after the game's governing body failed to achieve the required unanimous support from the 10 unions that make up Europe's Six Nations and the southern hemisphere's Rugby Championship.
A statement from World Rugby said: "World Rugby can confirm that that it has taken the reluctant decision to discontinue plans for the Nations Championship after the required unanimous agreement by unions to enter into exclusive negotiations was not achieved by Wednesday’s deadline.
"Despite strong progress in collaboration with unions, competition owners and International Rugby Players, including full engagement on the detailed process of financial due diligence, a lack of consensus on key issues, particularly the timing and format of promotion and relegation, left World Rugby with no alternative but to discontinue the project."
It's not known exactly which unions were against the proposal, but there have been concerns among some Six Nations countries over the prospect of relegation.
The Six Nations unions have also been weighing up an offer from a private equity firm. Back in March it emerged an offer from CVC was being considered that would give each union a windfall of more than £100m but see them partially surrender control of the competition.
That was just one of a number of private parties said to be interested, with countries facing a choice between embracing private money or backing World Rugby's radical plan. The latter option now appears off the table.
World Rugby's statement added: "The core objective of the Nations Championship was to secure a strong and sustainable financial and competition model for unions, provide for the first time a meaningful competition pathway for all emerging nations, further inject excitement into the international game for fans and broadcasters and develop new markets for the betterment of all.
"The concept was underpinned by a game-changing 12-year £6.1 billion guarantee from leading sports marketing agency Infront Sports & Media, backed by Hong Kong-based parent company Wanda Sports. Importantly, ownership of the competition would have been retained by the unions and competition owners without any sale of equity. Infront Sports and Media and Wanda Sports remain fully committed to World Rugby's objectives.
"Throughout extensive consultation with unions and the international game’s major stakeholders, World Rugby has demonstrated flexibility and made every effort to provide solutions and reassurance on key areas including the format of the second division, the financial package for relegated teams and key player welfare considerations."
World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont said: "World Rugby undertook this important project with the best interests of the global game at heart in line with our vision to grow the sport as a game for all. While we are naturally disappointed that a unanimous position on the Nations Championship could not be achieved among our unions, we remain fully committed to exploring alternative ways to enhance the meaning, value and opportunity of international rugby for the betterment of all unions.
"This includes our continued commitment to competition and investment opportunities for emerging nations to increase the competitiveness of the international game with a view to possible Rugby World Cup expansion in 2027.
"I would like to thank all stakeholders for their detailed consideration and engagement, World Rugby’s executive team for their hard work and Infront Sports and Media for their full and ongoing support of our vision of global rugby growth."
The new Nations Championship would have featured three divisions, with promotion and relegation allowing for an opportunity for smaller nations to compete with rugby's bigger nations. World Rugby had proposed that the new structure would be introduced in 2022.
The top division would have featured 12 teams, with the Six Nations sides competing in the northern hemisphere conference, and the Rugby Championship teams plus the two highest ranked southern hemisphere teams competing in the other conference - which would have been Fiji and Japan as things stand.
Each team would have played the five other teams in their own conference first (this would be the Six Nations), before then playing the other six teams from the opposite hemisphere throughout the rest of the year.
So for Wales, that would have meant playing their usual five games during Six Nations, before playing three away games to different southern hemisphere opposition in the summer and then three home games with the other three southern hemisphere teams in the autumn - with points being tallied up all throughout the year.
The top two teams in each conference would then have played in a cross-conference semi-final and final.
Division Two was to also feature 12 teams split into two conferences of six teams each, while Division Three would have featured two conferences of 16 teams each, with each conference divided into four groups of four.
Both the Six Nations and Rugby Championship would have had to introduce the possibility of promotion and relegation - with a play-off with the winners of Division Two's northern and southern conference deciding who stayed up and went down.
