Six Nations chairman Bill Beaumount said yesterday that rugby chiefs should not change the competition’s “successful formula” by considering staging matches outside Europe.

He revealed that the competition’s committee has never discussed the proposition of staging tournament clashes in the United States.

World Rugby chief executive Brett Gosper said last year the game’s governing body would back any move to stage Six Nations matches beyond traditional heartlands.

Beaumont claimed Six Nations bosses have no current plans to capitalise on rugby’s growing popularity in the US.

“My personal view is that home fixtures obviously drive interest in that country, and it would be a very, very brave man to say ‘I’m going to give up a home game and take it to Chicago’.

“That’s never ever been discussed by us at the Six Nations. And I think I’d be a very old man if we were discussing that.

“Perhaps that would work for one-off games if European teams want to go and do that, but not for the Six Nations.”

Beaumont said home and away fixtures remain integral to the Six Nations’ DNA that builds intense but respectful rivalries.