The Nations Cup has been confirmed and will begin in July of next year. It looks lovely wrapped up in a shiny bow and introduced with lovely work on social media. Unfortunately, it is another weak attempt at supposedly “growing the game” whatever the hell that truly means.
It is like a warmed up breakfast that no can quite stomach, it’s basically the same thing with a trophy at the end of it on finals weekend in London in November 2026. Fiji and Japan have managed to scrape in to be part of this so called party.
I have to say I am sick to death of Rugby Union trying and failing miserably at trying to grow the game. Let’s shake it up properly and introduce true jeopardy. Dispense with the traditional elements of the 6 Nations for a trial period of 3 years and bring in promotion and relegation. Give teams like Portugal, Georgia and others a real genuine incentive to improve. Do the same in the Rugby Championship.
This of course would have many people choking and gasping for breath. But It is high time that tradition was done away with and the status quo was put away and real change was seen in a sport that looks inwards for change all the time.
You always hear of tradition and respect within the game but it never happens. We are also in dire need of meaningful games for a large number of teams to “grow the game”, how about instead of the Nations Cup.
Give the so called weaker sides the yearly chance to play the likes of an New Zealand XV who have begun to tour regularly, an Ireland A team could face Portugal over a number of weeks. Let Georgia play a French A side and then travel on to play England A, Wales A etc.
If they want the big boys to meet as regularly as they seem to want them to, then do something to help the rest and don’t just pull the ladder up.
It was good enough in the early years of the professional game for “A” fixtures to have a place in the calendar. So much so that in 5/6 Nations had a “A” Championship that ran alongside the main Championship.
The under 20s has taken that role, but the whole idea can’t be just forgotten about. It has some merit and if applied correctly could easily be used to bring on these so called tier 2 teams.
Rugby is very small in comparison to other sports and should be doing all it can to help itself and not trying to destroy the small steps forward it takes on occasion. It really is time that World Rugby started to look at itself more clearly and using the international windows to better affect that they have been.
The Nations Cup is as an idea that could easily be used to better affect that just a rebrand in fancy wrapping. Globally rugby is in the small leagues and will stay that way but the governing body can do better in terms of marketing there product.
Rugby is apparently a game for all shapes and sizes so why oh why is the latest new-fangled idea just a warmed up poor attempt at a World Cup in disguise.
We hear about player welfare with great regularity but yet again this will be forgotten about as the season will be extended into almost another 12 month season. It’s all about alignment apparently to try and bring both seasons in line with each other but I can’t see that happening in the short term anyway.
Let’s see how it unfolds in a year’s time before I condemn it any further….