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I've not been paying too much attention to this in terms of who has who, but I've just been looking at this now and it looks like there is going to be a lot of chaos in this "Southern Hemisphere" round with all the travelling that appears to be required. I guess this is why venues haven't been confirmed yet. But looking at it we have for the NH teams, their away games are:
England: South Africa, Fiji, Argentina
France: New Zealand, Australia, Japan
Ireland: Australia, Japan, New Zealand
Italy: Japan, New Zealand, Australia
Scotland: Argentina, South Africa, Fiji
Wales: Fiji, Argentina, South Africa
In terms of confirmed venues, the South African, Australian (except the Italy game) and New Zealand games have been confirmed to be in their home countries. Statements seem to suggest that Fiji and Japan games will be played in other SANZAAR countries rather than at home (but this needs confirming), while Argentina games seem to be planned to be played in Argentina... Looking at that schedule I assume Fiji games will be in either South Africa or Argentina. Now it's important to note these games are every 6-7 days...
England, Wales and Scotland seem to have the worst travel requirements looking at this - Three continents in 3 weeks, with notable time zone jumps back and forth (depending on where Fiji is hosted/If it is hybrid in SA and Argentina). The other three, France, Ireland and Italy, seem to just need to go back and forth between Aus and NZ, so should be fine.
If this was flight times alone then fine... but this is big shifts in time zones and comes back to the biggest issue for South Africans in Super Rugby. There were very clear reasons why teams would do tours of specific countries in the Southern Hemisphere historically in this period vs jumping around - and the above highlights the problem.
To be fair though, I am posting this without anything being confirmed on exact host locations, so could be less painful than assumed. Maybe first Fiji game in Argentina and then the remaining two in South Africa? Overall means no one has to jump across the ocean more than once, but Fiji gets the rough end of the stick as a home hosting country (which isn't anything new to be fair)
England: South Africa, Fiji, Argentina
France: New Zealand, Australia, Japan
Ireland: Australia, Japan, New Zealand
Italy: Japan, New Zealand, Australia
Scotland: Argentina, South Africa, Fiji
Wales: Fiji, Argentina, South Africa
In terms of confirmed venues, the South African, Australian (except the Italy game) and New Zealand games have been confirmed to be in their home countries. Statements seem to suggest that Fiji and Japan games will be played in other SANZAAR countries rather than at home (but this needs confirming), while Argentina games seem to be planned to be played in Argentina... Looking at that schedule I assume Fiji games will be in either South Africa or Argentina. Now it's important to note these games are every 6-7 days...
England, Wales and Scotland seem to have the worst travel requirements looking at this - Three continents in 3 weeks, with notable time zone jumps back and forth (depending on where Fiji is hosted/If it is hybrid in SA and Argentina). The other three, France, Ireland and Italy, seem to just need to go back and forth between Aus and NZ, so should be fine.
If this was flight times alone then fine... but this is big shifts in time zones and comes back to the biggest issue for South Africans in Super Rugby. There were very clear reasons why teams would do tours of specific countries in the Southern Hemisphere historically in this period vs jumping around - and the above highlights the problem.
To be fair though, I am posting this without anything being confirmed on exact host locations, so could be less painful than assumed. Maybe first Fiji game in Argentina and then the remaining two in South Africa? Overall means no one has to jump across the ocean more than once, but Fiji gets the rough end of the stick as a home hosting country (which isn't anything new to be fair)
