May 09 2008
A Call For Ten Nations Rugby
The future of rugby union in the southern hemisphere appears to be up in the air. Super Rugby is considering a complete overhaul to try and revive sagging interest in club rugby union in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. At the same time, the Tri Nations series could expand and add more nations, but it faces one key problem:
The bulk of Argentina’s players, as well as those of Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, are based in Europe. Whatever else might change in the brave new world, the timing of the competition will remain roughly the same - running from July to September.
That prevents both Argentina and either a combined Pacific Islands team or one of the three individual nations, depending on how things are structured, from gaining access to their best players. A competition featuring full-strength New Zealand, Australian and South Africa teams and a half-strength Argentina and Pacific Islands would be a disaster.
Indeed. That’s why it’s time for SANZAR and Europe to come together for the good of the sport. It’s time to combine Tri Nations with Six Nations, add Argentina and create Ten Nations Rugby.
Think about how big an event this would be in world sport — ten giants among national rugby union teams, criss-crossing the planet for nine weeks to play each other in a competition to determine true supremacy in the sport. Tell me that wouldn’t attract a huge international audience. Granted, it might be a scheduling nightmare, and those long plane trips would certainly test the limits of those athletes’ endurance, but it might be worth it to keep interest in rugby union alive in the nations where it’s most popular.
What do you think, rugby fans? Would you like to see Ten Nations Rugby? Or is there something else SANZAR could do to keep Tri Nations interesting?
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Dave, I think that your idea of a Ten Nations tournament will devalue the Rugby World Cup, as your idea is basically just an annual World Cup.
Personally, I would like to see the Super 14 disbanded, South Africa go with the European schedule, and have Australia and New Zealand have one joint competition.
Joe: I suppose you’re right about devaluing the RWC, but how valuable is the RWC anyway? Does it really have enough history to protect?
As for South Africa, it’s about a 13-hour flight from the UK to SA, and that alone might make the ERC a little hesitant to let SA into the Heineken Cup. SA won’t care, because flights to Australia and New Zealand are just as long for them, but would they leave Super Rugby for a domestic league and European competition? I’m not so sure.
Joe and what of the pumas?
I’d rather the pumas in than the South Africans who have a competition already
Dave as Jo says this is just a 10 annual world cup plus the travelling would be a nightmare.
It appears to me the big 3 down south should sit down and decide what the hell they want before issuing crazy press releases, they’ve refused the pumas on a number of occasions now they want them ?
SANZAR should introduce the Pumas for a four nations with a two tier super 9’s , 4 new teams from Argentina ,the current issue with super 14’s in the amount of meaningless games just look at the table ,some of these teams would of been out of contention by week 4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Super_14_season#Table. A league where the top 4 play of and both 2 go down would leave very few pointless games
Or better yet a 20 team Heineken cup style with either
format a)5 groups of 4 , top 5 into the quarter finals and 3 best placed .
format b) 4 groups of 5 top 4 into the semi’s
format c)current 14 +2 Argentinian top 4 into semi’s
And in other news…
http://sport.scotsman.com/sport/Super-14-looks-to-China.4095419.jp
” Super 14 looks to China and USA for resurgence as crowds plummet
THE SUPER 14 competition is to be radically overhauled, with the preferred outcome a new 18-team franchise-based “Super Rugby” competition starting in 2010 that could include teams in Tokyo, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Rising concern at the loss of top Springboks, Wallabies and All Blacks to European rugby, plus plummeting gates and television audiences for Super 14 rugby, has prompted the three Sanzar nations of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa to completel
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y re-evaluate the basis on which their main competition is organised.
Over the next month the Sanzar nations will meet with representatives of Argentina, the Pacific Islands (Fiji, Samoa and Tonga), Japan, the USA and Canada, with a final decision being taken in September on the exact format of the new competition. “
Personally I doubt a lone rugby union club in the USA would make much headway (in terms of attracting ticket buying fans or TV viewers) in a competition with teams from Japan, China, and the southern hemisphere. Plus the travel costs and jet lag would be horrendous.
http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/championship/
Gaelic football to watch online
Dave: Agreed on the L.A. club. If there’s any city that is distinctly NOT clamoring for rugby union, it’s Los Angeles.