SAANZAR have today announced that current chief operating officer Brendan Morris has been elevated to the CEO role, while Argentina’s Marcelo Rodriguez has taken over as the executive committee’s chairman.

Morris will replace Andy Marinos, who spent five years in the chief executive officer role but has now been appointed head of Rugby Australia.

Morris has previously held senior positions with the Queensland Reds, the Wallabies and Rugby Australia.

Rodriguez’s appointment, meanwhile, temporarily increases Argentina’s presence on the SANZAAR exco, with the president of the Argentina Rugby Union taking over from New Zealand’s Brent Impey – who is also standing down from the NZR board.

SANZAAR have agreed to rotate the chairman role between the four member unions, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, on a 12-month basis.

Following the first meeting of 2021, new the new chairman said, “I would like to deeply thank the unions of South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, our partners in SANZAAR, for this recognition. It highlights that as a group we are committed to working together for the benefit of all our national unions, and in the continued pursuit of the growth of our sport globally.”

“This appointment as SANZAAR Chairman stands as strong recognition of the UAR and Argentine rugby. Indeed, in recent times we have seen Argentina rugby grow stronger and produce some great performances and this appointment is a clear demonstration of the respect and international prestige achieved by Argentinean rugby all over the world.”

world champion Springboks must play the British & Irish Lions in 2021 or wait until 2033 to face the famed men in red.

A postponement of the Lions eight-match tour of South Africa until July 2022 is an impossibility because of World Rugby’s 10-year calendar that simply cannot accommodate the tour at the expense of as many as 11 national federations’ commitments and several other club competition structures.

The hyped Lions tour of South Africa, in its original guise, will not take place in 2021. Covid-19’s second wave, the threat of a third wave and the uncertainty about when South Africans will benefit from mass vaccinations have crushed all aspirations of the Lions being the biggest sporting event in South Africa since Fifa’s 2010 Soccer World Cup.

The world is a very different place a decade on from that fabulous sporting occasion, in which all of South Africa combined with visitors from across the globe to celebrate soccer’s biggest occasion.

There has been such anticipation in relation to the British & Irish Lions. So much work has gone into making it the most memorable and lucrative extravaganza this country has ever seen when it comes to rugby.

Ticket sales for the three-Test series were oversubscribed, with the second Test at Cape Town’s Stadium oversubscribed by 500%. South Africans, so desperate to see their 2019 World Cup winners and world champions play the best of England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland had no hesitation in committing to ticket purchases for the biggest Test matches outside a World Cup final.

It is a tour, in which 40,000 travelling Lions supporters, would have painted South Africa red for the month of July and into the first week of August. The tourism industry in South Africa was in a state of delight two years ago. The country’s leadership was equally enthusiastic because of the economic injection from a Lions visit to South Africa that happens only once every 12 years.

This was always going to be the tour that retained the best of amateur traditions and married it to the financial and commercial realities of professional sport. It was a tour about ensuring the future of the Lions, through commercial sustainability, and also adding to SA Rugby’s financial stability over the next decade.

Having joined their new team-mates at last week’s pre-season training camp, the Western Force’s four Argentinian representatives are delighted to be back doing what they love.

Tomás Cubelli, Tomás Lezana, Santiago Medrano and Domingo Miotti faced the media for the first time this morning, as they expressed their passion and excitement to be at the Force, who they joined from the Jaguares late last year.

With over 130 combined international appearances for Los Pumas between the quartet, the players are embracing the familiar summer heat and tough training sessions at the Force.

“The training has been very hard. The Super Rugby competition is very difficult and it is necessary that the training is demanding,” young fly-half Miotti told the Western Force’s official website.

Star playmaker Cubelli, who boasts a wealth of Super Rugby experience with Jaguares and the ACT Brumbies, is determined to continue his great form.

“I want to compete in this competition and really go hard and make the most of this season,” said the 76-time Test capped scrum-half.

The four internationals, who all played their part in Argentina’s successful and much-heralded Tri-Nations tour of Australia, are excited ahead of the upcoming Super Rugby season.

“There are a lot of strong clubs here and in New Zealand, it’s a great place to grow as players,” said 24-year-old prop Medrano.

“The basics of rugby stay the same. You can play in different competitions, but there are things that don’t change, like the scrum and tackling. It’s in the blood of the Argentinians, we like the scrummage.”

The Force are full steam ahead in their preparations for the Super Rugby season opener against the Brumbies on February 19 at HBF Park in Perth.

The southern hemisphere’s four-nation Rugby Championship will kick off with world champions South Africa playing Argentina in the first match of a double-header at Brisbane’s Lang Park on November 7, organisers said on Thursday.

Hosts Australia meet New Zealand in the second match at Lang Park, which also doubles as the third fixture of the Bledisloe Cup, the annual series played between the trans-Tasman nations.

Brisbane will host only the first of six rounds of double-headers, with most matches played in Sydney at Western Sydney Stadium and Stadium Australia.

The fourth round will be played at Newcastle, with the Wallabies playing the Pumas before the Springboks clash with the All Blacks.

Australia play New Zealand in the final round at Stadium Australia, the last of the four Bledisloe Cup matches.

New Zealand host the first Bledisloe match in Wellington on October 11 with the second in Auckland a week later.

With the Covid-19 pandemic limiting international travel, Australia were awarded sole hosting rights of the tournament by governing body SANZAAR.

Argentina coach Mario Ledesma has named a squad of 45 players to compete at the Rugby Championship in Australia next month, but centre Matias Moroni will miss out with knee ligament damage.

The loss of the experienced Moroni will be a blow, but there is a recall for versatile outside back Juan Imhoff, who could play his first test since the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England.

Imhoff, 32, has impressed for French Top14 side Racing 92 to force his way into the plans of Ledesma.

The home-based players in the squad have been in camp in Uruguay and will leave for Australia on Sunday, while the remaining 13 European-based players are expected to link up with the team on Oct. 19.

Players and staff will have to go through a 14-day quarantine period in Sydney, with the team’s first fixture scheduled to be against world champions South Africa on Nov. 7 in Brisbane.

Teams have been allowed to bring extended squads to the competition to make up for possible injuries, with quarantine restrictions meaning players cannot be flown in as replacements.

The entire Rugby Championship will be staged in Australia and also includes New Zealand, with each team playing the other twice and the final round of games to be played on Dec. 12.

(Reporting by Nick Said; Editing by Toby Davis)