The rugby community has offered a mixed response to rumours suggesting South Africa are set to replace Italy in the Six Nations, but Sir Clive Woodward is unequivocal in asserting the move would be a "brainless" one.
Reports emerged earlier this week that the southern-hemisphere giants are poised to join the Six Nations in 2025 when their current contract in the Rugby Championship expires.
The Azzurri were added to the Five Nations in 2000 and remain whipping boys compared to their peers, currently on course to claim the competition's Wooden Spoon for a seventh straight year.
That failure to develop as rapidly as many might have hoped has led to frustration among some fans, but former England boss Woodward has called for unity among Europe's elite to safeguard the status quo.
" It would be hard to think of a more ill-conceived muddle-headed idea than South Africa being randomly parachuted into the Six Nations," the 2003 Rugby World Cup -winning coach wrote for the Daily Mail.
"It would leave Italy — and other aspiring European nations — banished to the wilderness. I shake my head yet again at rugby’s total inability to manage its affairs properly and promote growth and development.
"Rugby union is light years behind where it should be and a good deal of that can be placed at the Six Nations’ door."
The proposal for South Africa to join Europe's first-tier tournament has been spun as a money-making opportunity, with the world's top-ranked team a much greater draw than their Italian counterparts.
The Springboks—who lifted a record-equalling third Rugby World Cup in 2019—founded the Tri Nations with Australia and New Zealand in 1996, though Argentina have since joined to form the Rugby Championship.
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That being said, South Africa have won only four combined trophies in those competitions from 25 total appearances, with New Zealand (18) accounting for the vast majority of titles awarded to date.
It's no coincidence plans for a potential shake-up have escalated almost one year after private equity firm CVC purchased a 14 per cent stake in the Six Nations for a reported £365million.
Prioritising profit is a policy that threatens to damage the competition, however, as Woodward warned tournament organisers to not become "blindsided by the alleged promises of extra revenue."
" They [CVC Capital Partners] are not a charity," he continued. "They have rightly identified that rugby is disastrously run and is well below its potential. So I give them credit for that but, like any venture capitalist, they want a system that works best for them.
"Who will be benefiting from such a radical change to the Six Nations? Unions or investors; individuals, executives or the grassroots game?
"Europe should be the sport’s powerhouse but the Six Nations has always been an elite, members-only club, deliberately divorced from the world game."
There was a time when England, Wales and Scotland were the dominant rugby forces in Europe, though Ireland and France have, over time, excelled to level the playing field alongside their peers.
Georgia have long been touted as another potential newcomer to the Six Nations, with the Lelos currently competing alongside the likes of Portugal, Romania and Spain in the second-tier Rugby Europe Championship.
A promotion-and-relegation play-off format between the winner of that tournament and the last-place Six Nations finisher has also been touted, but without much momentum to date.
Fiji and Japan, meanwhile, are among those teams who could join up to form an expanded Rugby Championship, with those Test teams hoping to develop by joining an annual competition.
Woodward referenced Italy's recent landmark victory over England in the Under-20 Six Nations as proof of the Azzurri's evolution, despite their senior side succumbing 33-0 to Eddie Jones' men on the same weekend.
There are many different directions in which rugby's major international tournaments could move in the coming years, on the brink of revolution in its latest phase of professionalisation.
Former British and Irish Lions boss Woodward is resolute in his judgement that the advancement of one giant should not come at the cost of a minnow, however, as the sport approaches a major crossroads.
