South Africa’s bid to potentially join an extended Six Nations championship has been parked by the tournament’s chief executive, Ben Moral, who says they are “extremely cautious on the topic” of expansion.

Following the four big South African franchises’ move from Super Rugby to the Vodacom United Rugby Championship last year, the prospect of SA Rugby’s complete transition to Europe – with the Springboks trading the Rugby Championship for the Six Nations – has gathered momentum in the media.

There are fresh rumours doing the rounds, suggesting that the move could materialise as early as 2024.

But, speaking at the launch of the 2022 Six Nations campaign earlier this week, Morel quashed those rumours. The Six Nations chief said that, while the priority is to agree to significant changes to the existing international calendar, and that conversations are “active” with World Rugby, he remains “extremely cautious on the topic” of a Six Nations expansion and is instead focused on boosting emerging nations.

“In order to give a stronger pathway to the emerging nations, whoever they may be in the northern or southern hemisphere, there could be some adaptation to the July or the November windows,” Morel said. “That could give more competitive matches to those unions, to give them the experience that they need to get to that level. I think a priority right now would be to have a more structured July and November.

“Our current strategic priority is we experienced a really successful Autumn Nations series. We believe that we could enhance the sporting narrative and give every game a meaning and a link, hopefully culminating in some sort of final weekend.

“In order for this to happen post-World Cup, we’d need to have this finalised before the summer. So, these conversations are active. [There are] a lot of people to discuss it with, a lot of consultation … hopefully a good common solution can be identified. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”