MELBOURNE - While Australia will host the Rugby Championship from November 7 to December 12, the Springboks’ participation is yet to be confirmed.
Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina would participate in a six-week, 12-match tournament, governing body Sanzaar said in a statement on Friday.
However, South Africa's participation is “dependent on several factors outside the control of Sanzaar", it added.
“The Springboks’ participation will be dependent on the relaxation of that suspension as well as overcoming a number of other logistical challenges including the opening of international air borders. South Africa is only expected to return to competitive play next month [October], leaving a relatively short time to prepare,” Sanzaar chief executive Andy Marinos said.
The matches will be played primarily in New South Wales state, with a round in Queensland.
"Traditionally TRC is played as an international, cross-border series of home and away matches between Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, but due to the pandemic this is obviously not possible this year,” Marinos said.
"We have, therefore, worked very hard as a group to ensure TRC takes place this year, albeit in one country, and Sanzaar was meticulous in assessing the two options for hosting presented to it by New Zealand Rugby and Rugby Australia."
The tournament was moved from its traditional August-September window due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, with Sanzaar later tentatively nominating New Zealand as sole host.
However, a recent outbreak of Covid-19 in Auckland placed New Zealand's hopes of hosting in some doubt.
"We're obviously disappointed at the decision to not have New Zealand host the tournament, but we understand and accept it," New Zealand Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson said.
New Zealand will instead host two non-TRC matches against Australia in October as part of the annual Bledisloe Cup series contested between the trans-Tasman Sea neighbours.
Rugby Australia, which has suffered a big financial hit and a slew of redundancies at head office due to Covid-19, welcomed Sanzaar's decision.
"We will now knuckle down to make these plans a reality,” RA interim CEO Rob Clarke said.
Reuters