French company in new Six Nations bid.

Byline: anthony woolford Sports writer [email protected]

WELSH Rugby Union chiefs and their Six Nations counterparts have received a new multi-million pound offer from France to take financial control of Europe's blue riband tournament.

World Rugby council members met in Dublin yesterday when plans for the global Nations Championship - a 12-country tournament incorporating the Six Nations the Rugby Championship, plus two others - will get a further airing.

That reportedly will get financial backing from Swiss-based marketing company Infront providing each nation with annual PS10m income over a 12-year period.

But The Times report Six Nations unions met on Tuesday to discuss whether the Nations Championship remains a viable proposition or to press ahead with offers to boost the European tournament, won by Wales this year, with financial muscle from high-profile bidders.

The newspaper say CVC Capital Partners have an offer worth in the region of PS500m to buy a 30% share of the Six Nations commercial revenue and all other internationals in Europe while IMG, a global giant in sports agencies, have submitted a 12-year deal worth PS1.75 billion for TV rights.

But a French company Lagardere have now entered the bidding war with their own multimillion pound offer.

The multinational media conglomerate, based in Paris, have undertaken advisory roles with EPRC, the organisers of the Heineken European Champions Cup, and also act as the agency for the British Olympic Association.

It's claimed the Six Nations unions are set to look at two of three proposals during the next week before choosing a winner within the next month.

In the meantime, the next 24 hours will be crucial for backers of the Nations Championship as the 51 members of the World Rugby council meet in Dublin.

Scheduled to launch in 2022 the 12-nation league would play each other once in a calendar year, either through traditional competitions like the Six Nations or an enlarged Rugby Championship during the summer and autumn Test windows.

The top two teams would then meet in an end-of-year showpiece final. Promotion and relegation remains a major sticking point as does ring-fencing the tournament that would hit the Pacific Island nations.

But some nations, who were initially lukewarm over the Nations Championship have reportedly been swayed by the financial package on offer from World Rugby.

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Wales won the 2019 Six Nations Championship