The Six Nations championship could be played in full for a second time in 2020, in order help cash-strapped unions reclaim lost revenue.
It's reported that a proposal is on the table to complete the remaining fixtures of the current campaign, before restarting the competiton again in the Autumn.
The Rugby Paper are reporting that an emergency tournament is being planned as a contingency, if southern hemisphere sides are unable to travel for their proposed test matches in November.
The reported championship would see the same fixtures and venues, which would see Ireland travelling to France and England, giving them three home games. All fixtures would be completed across an 8-week schedule.
Ireland are due to travel to Australia for a two-test series in the summer, before another test against the Aussies in November in Dublin, as well as games against South Africa and Japan, but would take a severe financial hit if they were unable to host games.
Should those tours be cancelled, it would leave a significant hole in the coffers of the IRFU.
Ireland still have two games to play in their current Six Nations championship, and remain in the hunt for the title. In order to do so, they would need to win both their postponed games against Italy (home) and France (away) in order to stay in with a chance.
However, social distancing guidlines in the respective countries may dictate whether or not a second championship could be played, with Health Minister Simon Harris hinting yesterday that mass gatherings, including sporting events, may remain banned until 2021.
"It's highly unlikely we're going to be seeing very large kind of mass gatherings this year.
"Could you get to a point where you can't have massive GAA matches, but you could have local kids having a kickabout safely, that's the sort of space that we're in, that we need to work our way through", he said
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