The Australian Rugby Union has expressed its support following news rugby powerbrokers have taken a "significant step" towards a global calendar.
Following a two-day meeting in San Francisco this week, World Rugby said major stakeholders have been working together in a bid to create a global calendar that could come into effect after the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
![A global rugby season is a step closer to reality.](/web/20170202125014im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/k/n/z/s/0/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu2u5f.png/1485946659297.jpg)
The meeting focused predominantly on the potential tweaking of the June and November international windows and the alignment of the northern and southern hemisphere domestic seasons.
The ARU has been a supporter of a global season for some time, given the financial value of an uninterrupted Super Rugby season as opposed to one in which a June Test series breaks up momentum in the form of crowd numbers and broadcast figures.
With a global calendar the June Test series would be pushed back to the first week of July, which would give the Wallabies a continuous run of matches through to their annual tour of the northern hemisphere.
World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont said he was hopeful a recommendation would be made to the body's council in May.
"During a positive, collaborative and highly productive forum, key principles were agreed that will underpin the development of the calendar, which has player welfare and the harmony of the international and club game at its heart," Beaumont said.
"There is no silver bullet. Compromise has and will continue to be achieved by all stakeholders on the road to agreeing to an optimised calendar ... Â I am optimistic that a recommendation will be made to the World Rugby Council in May."
The key word in the statement is "compromise", for while the ARU may get their wish to push the June series back a month, northern hemisphere unions might be compensated by not having to tour in the June after a World Cup year. It would still be a high price to pay for southern hemisphere unions who rely heavily on the revenue made in those June series – which can be the difference between making an end-of-year profit or not – as well as British and Irish Lions series  every 12 years.
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