Could Super Rugby champions like the Hurricanes beat Europe's best? A world club championship would answer that.

A world club championship appears a realistic goal of the proposed rugby calendar revamp.

World Rugby is set to consider a new season structure at its November meeting, according to a BBC report.

The main thrust is a scrapping of southern tours by northern unions in June the year after a World Cup and an alignment of the major provincial and club competitions on either side of the equator to finish in June.

If Super Rugby and the heavyweight competitions in Europe like the English Premiership, PRO12 and French Top 14 championships can be operated in symmetry, there is the real prospect of their best teams meeting to find who is the best "club" outfit in the world.

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That opportunity could conveniently fall into that window the year after a World Cup.

That's the theory being promoted by The Times in London, as rugby media follow up developments over the past 24 hours.

There is certainly an appetite for what would effectively be a club world cup.

Recently Mark McCafferty, chief executive of Premiership Rugby, said: "We've long been a proponent of a world club championship but we've got to find space in the calendar to do it."

That space may now be about to happen.

The money-rich French game has long been a problem. Their club season runs from August 20 to June 4 with no break for international weekends.

The Times reported that negotiations were progressing with the goal of expanding the French competition to 32 teams and creating four conferences of eight clubs, which would cut the domestic season by seven weeks.

When a World Rugby spokesman was asked about the bigger picture that has been suggested in terms of a better global calendar, he told The Times: "Discussions are positive, strong momentum is being generated and all stakeholders are focused on delivering a calendar that is to the benefit of the whole game by the end of the year."