Six Nations should stage Ireland matches in USA, but not England ones
There have been calls this week for Six Nations matches to be played in the United States, and I agree. But it should never be England crossing the Atlantic, and should almost always be Ireland.
Andy Farrell’s Ireland successfully staged an epic spectacle at Soldier Field in Chicago against New Zealand. The game was pretty dire, and the pitch was even worse, but it shone a light on the opportunities that could arise in the Land of the Free.
America will host the 2031 men’s and 2033 women’s Rugby World Cups, and it is not ready to do so – the US men’s team was pummelled 85-0 by Scotland at Murrayfield last week and show few signs of being competitive for their home event.
And it has led to World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin questioning whether regular, competitive Six Nations games should be played Stateside to help spread the word.
Across the pond
I say they should, but England must be spared the trips across the pond. That’s not to say England are superior or more worthy of their home matches in the six-team annual competition, but you hardly see any Americans tap into their long-lost English heritage.
America’s Irish descendants – with former President Joe Biden among them – on the other hand lean into their heritage. It is a natural audience to use to help foster rugby Stateside.
Likewise with President Trump and his Scottish heritage or the millions of Americans leaning into their Italian ancestry, there are natural markets for some of the Six Nations teams over there.
For Ireland in particular, who look to have already outgrown their 52,000-capacity Aviva Stadium and whose fans regularly see huge chunks of the international team playing together in the regions, it could be a commercially revolutionary affair.
Throw in the long-shot success of R360 on the East Coast and the 27 US cities desperate to prove they’re able to stage major rugby matches ahead of the World Cup, and the Six Nations could be looking at grabbing some of that sweet Stateside market.
Six Nations future
How would I do it? Take Ireland for example. In the biennial season they play three home fixtures in the Six Nations. They should look to take one to Chicago, New York or Florida.
That would mean one in every five home matches, across a two-year period, being played away from Dublin.
And sure, it is a risk to do this with fans keen to see their best players on the pitch for Ireland in their national stadium, but that’s why they would suit the US so well given the potential audience they can attract.
If you were to get even more radical, the three Celtic nations of Ireland, Wales and Scotland could form some sort of agreement where two out of three of them face each other across the pond each year.
Rugby’s financial woes are well recorded and the Six Nations is a rare commercial outlier. The teams within it should exploit that.
Former England Sevens captain Ollie Phillips is the founder of Optimist Performance. Follow Ollie @OlliePhillips11