As July tours of the southern hemisphere are about to be postponed or even abandoned, the next threat to Irish rugby’s revenue stream is cancellation of matches in the November series.
South Africa, Japan and Australia are due to play at the Aviva stadium before year’s end. However, it’s increasingly apparent that rugby unions around the world will – if at all possible – focus on completing local competitions over touring in 2020.
Rugby Australia (RA) chief executive Raelene Castle said Monday that two home Tests against Ireland in July were “highly unlikely” to happen, while November fixtures in Europe could be sacrificed in order to complete Super Rugby and the Rugby Championship.
The Wallabies are scheduled to play New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina, twice each, in August and September. Completing at least some of these games is the priority over expensive and potentially infectious trips to Dublin, Paris and London.