Tier-two rugby nations must be further developed, and provided with regular tier-one opposition, before the World Cup is expanded to 24 teams, writes SIMON BORCHARDT.
It should be of great concern to World Rugby that 36 years after the staging of the first World Cup there have been scores of 82-8, 71-3, 76-0, 96-0, 71-0, 96-17, 84-0 and 73-0 in the pool stage of the tournament’s 10th edition.
It’s also become apparent that what was billed as “the most competitive World Cup ever” can realistically be won by only four teams (Ireland, France, South Africa and New Zealand), two of which will be heading home after the quarter-finals due to a ridiculously lopsided draw (held three years before the event, with rankings from 1 January 2020 used to determine seedings).
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However, instead of explaining World Rugby’s plan to reduce the gulf between tier-one and tier-two rugby nations, and ensure more competitive World Cups in future, CEO Alan Gilpin was waxing lyrical about why the tournament should be expanded from 20 to 24 teams from the 2027 event in Australia.
“I personally believe you’ve got to do it, you’ve just got to commit to it and then you invest in the high-performance programmes of the teams that are likely to be those four-to-six teams,” he said.
“Chile had a tough match against a very strong England side who played some great rugby. Chile played brilliantly against Japan the first game in this World Cup. Portugal, I mean, how amazing have Portugal been in this tournament? In the World Cup for the second time; Chile for the first time. And so on. The signs are very positive.”
Chile, who qualified for their maiden World Cup at the expense of the USA, have done relatively well, but the reality is in four matches they have scored 27 points and conceded 215, including 71 to England after keeping them scoreless for the first 20 minutes.
Portugal were involved in one of the best matches of the tournament – an 18-18 draw against Georgia – were competitive against Wales and Australia, and beat eventual quarter-finalists Fiji 24-23. No doubt some Portuguese boys would have been inspired to start playing rugby and the game in Portugal will grow as a result of its national team being involved in the World Cup. But how will that team develop over the next four years when it’s unlikely to face any tier-one opposition?
Gilpin also didn’t mention a team like Romania, ranked 19th in the world, who shipped 82 points against Ireland, 76 against the Springboks and 84 against Scotland in three successive pool matches. What value did they add to the tournament?
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Ironically, this situation will be exacerbated by a new tournament that World Rugby is set to sign off on – the Nations Championship. Set to start in 2026, the biennial competition (played in alternate years to avoid clashing with the World Cup and Lions tour) will involve the Six Nations teams, the four Rugby Championship sides and two invitational teams (tipped to be Japan and Fiji). Matches will be played during the existing July and November Test windows, with two groups of six teams in the top tier and a final to be played in Europe.
Promotion and relegation will supposedly be introduced in 2030, to give tier-two teams a chance to join the party, but until then, the likes of Georgia, Portugal and Chile will just have to play against each other and wait until the 2027 World Cup to take on the big boys again. There are also doubts over whether promotion-relegation will happen at all, considering a Six Nations team like Italy is likely to be relegated from the Nations Championship at some stage.
If World Rugby was really serious about “growing the game” it would provide tier-two nations with more funding and ensure they play at least two Tests a year against tier-one opposition. Otherwise, in 2027 in Australia and 2031 in the USA, we will just have more pool-stage thrashings and ‘global’ tournaments that can only be won by a handful of teams.
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