• F10 unions fear financial loss if they play in second tier

• Promotion/relegation set for 2030 Nations Championship

The Six Nations and Sanzaar are facing another battle with World Rugby over a desire from some unions to ensure that none of them can be relegated from the Nations Championship.

As reported last week by the Guardian, the 10 leading unions have set up a new company, F10, to run the Nations Championship and sell their broadcast and commercial rights for all competitions other than the World Cup, which remains the property of the global governing body, World Rugby.

The creation of F10 has led to concerns elsewhere in the sport that some of the 10 founding unions, particularly Wales and Italy, want to introduce guard rails protecting them from relegation to the second tier Nations Cup, which is run by World Rugby.

In another potential flashpoint there is a desire from the smaller unions, which is shared by World Rugby, for the Nations Cup commercial rights to be bundled with and sold alongside those of the Nations Championship, which would give them a right to a share of the proceeds.

While the Nations Championship has secured more than 80 broadcast deals for this year’s tournament in deals that were brokered before F10 was set up, the Nations Cup has brought in just 13, with games streamed on the World Rugby-owned RugbyPass TV in many markets, including the UK.

Japan and Fiji have been granted invitational status to play in the first three editions of the Nations Championship until 2030, when under the terms of the licence granted by World Rugby promotion and relegation has to be introduced.

The creation of the Nations Championship was approved only narrowly at a vote of the World Rugby Council in Paris before the 2023 World Cup final on the proviso that it would be an open league from 2030, with all sides able to be relegated and one promotion spot available to teams in the Nations Cup.

Sources present at the vote told the Guardian that any attempt to ringfence the 10 founding members in the Nations Championship would need to go to the council for approval, as it would represent a fundamental change to the conditions agreed three years ago and damage the integrity of the competition.

The original vote required a 75% majority to be passed and the motion received 41 votes for and 10 against, meaning it got a majority of 80%, so reopening the debate would be a risky move by the unions as it could throw the tournament into turmoil.

There has been a long power struggle between World Rugby and the unions over the Nations Championship, which was originally proposed by the governing body almost a decade ago but rejected as the unions refused to accept relegation. In addition World Rugby also originally suggested the joint sale of commercial rights, which the 10 biggest unions have now introduced themselves.

The Six Nations’ official position is that relegation will be brought in as originally envisaged in 2030, although they have also conceded that details over the precise mechanism remain to be determined.

Under World Rugby’s vision for growing the sport, the loser of the sixth v sixth Nations Championship playoff between the hemispheres in 2030 would be replaced by the winners of the Nations Cup.

Italy and Fiji are the lowest-ranked teams after four rounds of the inaugural Nations Championship, with Georgia and USA leading the way in the second-tier competition.

While Six Nations sources insist that negotiations over the size of parachute payment to be given to the relegated union to ensure their future financial sustainability is the main outstanding issue, individual unions are lobbying for exemptions.

Abi Tierney, the Welsh Rugby Union chief executive, said recently that it would be “‘cataclysmic” if Wales were relegated, while the Rugby Football Union chief executive, Bill Sweeney, declined to elaborate before last weekend’s matches on how relegation would be introduced.

“There’s a review group that has been set up by World Rugby and is chaired by Brett Robinson,” Sweeney said. “They’re looking at how the aspect of promotion and relegation can be set up. The basic premise is still the same, how that comes into effect needs to be sorted out.”