With the World Cup just around the corner, the teams involved are now starting to put together their squads with an eye to going as far as possible in the tournament in France.
Northern Hemisphere sides will do all they can to avoid coming into the tournament undercooked, with the club season having finished earlier this summer.
There will be no such issues for the Southern Hemisphere sides. Whereas training camps will be the norm north of the equator, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Argentina will take part in the Rugby Championship prior to the World Cup.
Ahead of that tournament, Eddie Jones has made a rather unorthodox decision when it comes to the Australian captaincy.
Eddie Jones makes unorthodox Australia decision after AFL visit
The role of national team captain is a prestigious one in test rugby, with the player in question playing an ambassadorial role both on and off the pitch.
However, Australia have taken the rather unusual step of naming Michael Hooper and James Slipper as joint captains, with the pair set to share the role for the Rugby Championship and World Cup.
Speaking to Nine Sports, Eddie Jones explained that he came to the decision after a recent visit to AFL side Sydney Swans.
Last Wednesday mate, I went out and spent the day at Sydney Swans with John Longmire.
And they've got a tradition of having co-captaincy, you know, they've had up to eight captains, they've had three captains and I just wanted to delve down into the area of the advantages, of the disadvantages.
And I think with Slips and Hoops, we cover the range of the squad. Both have got a slightly different approach to leadership, both have got a slightly different approach to the way they play the game.
I think together they can be a really strong captaincy group.
This is a move that you don't often see in top level rugby.
It will be interesting to see how it affects Australia in the months ahead.
SEE ALSO: The 2016 Ireland U20s Team That Made The WC Final - Where Are The Now?
