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This isn't on the table, and likely will never be as the 6 nations stakeholders will never vote for relegation considering the centrality of the tournament to their budgets. this new proposal with 2 groups of 12, to be played across summer and autumn international windows, is basically the proposal to side-step that closed-shop objection and (if you're being generous to the governing bodies) offer some meaningful pathways for the tier 2 sides.
owl
I'd be up for relegation from the 6 nations and promotion for top of the tier 2 lot. Might mean a bit of yo-yoing for Italy/Georgia/Portugal for a few years but would give the latter more exposure to top level matches outside the WC and the jeopardy for the 'big' teams would be great.