Tuilagi will now be available for Sale’s push towards the playoffs when the current Premiership season resumes next month. Does the news that crowds are unlikely to return to Scottish football this year herald fresh financial chaos? The Rugby Pod reacts to the Owen Farrell red card which has ruled him out of Saracens’ European trip to Leinster on Saturday, Georgia rugby under a cloud following a shooting at its Tbilisi offices, Watch The Rugby Championship, Super Rugby AO/AU, & Mitre 10 Cup LIVE, Watch The Rugby Championship & Mitre 10 Cup LIVE, Owens praised tackles caterpillar rucking. Fifteen years ago, Mark Camburn was a Scottish backpacker traipsing around South America. The new autumn international programme has been a challenging process for competition organisers during the Covid-19 pandemic. Please subscribe to sign in to comment. Sign up to our mailing list for a weekly digest from the wide world of rugby. We will issue an update in due course.”. With differing restrictions in place in Ireland and France and positive cases of coronavirus rising again, it is nevertheless an anxious time for all concerned. When Japan pulled out Georgia were lined up to replace them, despite interest in South Africa who are involved in a revised Rugby Championship competition, although doubts are emerging over that tournament. Everything you need to know about following football with BBC Sport Scotland. It’s thrilling to be offering first-class live international rugby on Channel 4 and it’s great to be launching the tournament live on a Friday night with Ireland v Wales. Full details are yet to be confirmed but the competition is serving as a replacement for the scheduled autumn Test series after Covid-19 restrictions initially prevented southern hemisphere sides from travelling to Europe. Scotland had agreed to face Japan in an autumn international before the coronavirus outbreak, but that Test match was to be folded into the new competition. However, given the Covid-19 pandemic there is little prospect of any southern hemisphere teams travelling north, so instead in a bid to boost revenue for the beleaguered unions, there is a proposal currently being thrashed out to run an eight-team tournament; two pools of four teams, each country plays three matches, with those who finish top of the respective groups meeting in a final on December 5th. Georgia v Romania at Tbilisi, Six Nations B, Feb 1, 2020 ABOUT COOKIES To help make this website better, to improve and personalize your experience and for advertising purposes, are you happy to accept cookies and other technologies. It read: “The Six Nations and its six unions are working hard to finalise plans for a proposed competition replacing the 2020 autumn internationals that have been impacted by the pandemic. The presence of Japan in the tournament has never been officially confirmed, nor that of Fiji whose head coach, Vern Cotter, was unimpressed to learn his side would be in a group with England, Wales and Ireland. All rights reserved. Last modified on Thu 27 Aug 2020 23.37 EDT. Or was this always set to be the case? The 43-times capped England centre was a free agent after rejecting a 25 per cent pay cut and leaving the Tigers, the club he joined as a teenager. Scotland's proposed, but still unconfirmed, friendly against the Georgians on 24 October, presented a conundrum for organisers, solved by switching Georgia with Fiji. The Six Nations issued a statement that did not mention Japan. England, Wales and Ireland are set to face Georgia instead of Fiji in the autumn's new eight-team tournament. The World Cup last year turned Japan into a commercial draw and with the tournament expected to be played before paying spectators, even if grounds are likely to be below 50% capacity, and negotiations with broadcasters being held they would add value. England will play in Group A alongside Ireland, Wales and Georgia, with Group B comprising France, Scotland, Italy and Fiji.