England coach Eddie Jones has cautioned Six Nations organisers not to tinker with the format by adding more teams, saying the competition would lose its allure like Super Rugby.
As calls persist for World Cup champions South Africa, Japan and Georgia to be added, Jones believes tinkering with a winning format is ill-advised.
“It’s called the greatest rugby tournament in the world and I think it is. So why would you want to add other teams that are going to decrease the level of competition,” Jones said.
“I can only talk from experience. Super Rugby was the golden egg of rugby – brilliant, 12 teams, competitive. As soon as it had gone to 14 and 15, it had lost its allure.”
“You want the best teams playing against each other. There’s something about the Six Nations – because of the history of the relationships between the nations, it makes it more outstanding.
“The competition is much harder contested than the World Cup. It’s become a lot more physical and it’s only going to get more so.
“You don’t want this type of game every week, but southern hemisphere coaches certainly admire the Six Nations.
“From the first Six Nations I did to now, I think we’ve seen a general rise in the quality of the teams.”
England scored a tough 13-6 win over Scotland in Edinburgh on Saturday with a try from Ellie Genge in the 70th-minute that sealed victory.
The fiery 24-year-old prop admits he has had a tough relationship with Jones.
“I was quite lucky. I got my cap in 2016 after playing minimal minutes in the Premiership and I thought ‘here we go, I’m an England player’. And I told Eddie that,” Genge said.
“I thought I was ready for it (2016 debut)and I wasn’t. I got made aware of that last year when we played Scotland at home and we were 30 points up and ended up drawing 38-38.
“We went away and Eddie picked my game apart. I threw a pass out the back for the try that drew the game, but I also missed some tackles that got them back into the game.
“He’s been a very harsh critic of mine behind closed doors and I appreciate that. I need that.
“We’ve had our spats. We’ve had our arguments about what he thinks is going bad and what is going good. You take that stuff personally.
“I’m by no means the finished article. I’m just looking forward to getting better and I’m happy under Eddie.”