Scotty Stevenson: League of Nations set to be a game-changer
In what could be World Rugby’s most game-changing play since the introduction of the Rugby World Cup in 1987, plans for an annual ‘League of Nations’ tournament show the governing body’s intent to keep the international game on top.
According to reports out of France, the days of the Southern Hemisphere’s annual end-of-year tour schedule could be coming to an end. That’s all thanks to plans to institute a yearly, 12-team international tournament based around the Champions Cup format.
On one level, the plan has plenty of merit. Rugby Union remains one of the few professional sports in which the international game remains the big cheese, the top of the pops, the revenue generator for those with power over the purse. It is the aim of every player to take the field for his or her nation, and the aim of World Rugby to retain a tight grip on the sport, but the introduction of the World Cup has rendered the ‘in-between’ years somewhat redundant.
That’s not to say the traditional tours have become meaningless. For the players and the teams involved there is always a peppering of patriotism about these things, a reductive romanticism that remains rugby union’s Mills & Boon in the age of streaming porn. However, no series – perhaps with the exception of the quadrennial Lions extravaganza – can compete with the World Cup for interest. The annual series have been relegated to canapé contests to quell the rumbles before the carving of the roast.
Despite the convenient invention of world rankings, an anally retentive algorithm is a poor substitute for the extrovert’s choice: the zero-sum bet of the knock-out contest. Why bother with the mathematics of rankings when you can see the blood stains on the canvas? The indelible evidence of victory and defeat, winner takes all.
The caring, sharing types at World Rugby have also envisaged a year-about crossing of the equator, spreading the fever of the global game faster than an Avian Virus. The top twelve teams, in four pools of three, with semifinals and a final. Quite enough to have the fans’ temperatures soaring. The only thing missing is the economic impact report, but it can’t be far away. This is professional sport. It’s’ all about economics.
And therein lies the rub. Is this a genuine play to ensure test match rugby’s standard stays aflutter atop the mast of rugby’s flagship, or is this a semaphore signal to union’s burgeoning bourgeois ownership that the traditional fleet shall fire a few shots in order to protect its waters? Maybe it’s a bit of both.
The European game is now a battleground state in which the blitzkrieg of private investment has punched a hole in the punched leather loungers of the stolid national unions. Cronyism is rarely a match for capriciousness, and while some owners have been cheered on as they have marched down the cobblestones, others have been merely tolerated while a necessary resistance can be organised. That resistance seems to have found shape in these plans.
World Rugby are right to think outside the traditional touring model for something that gives the fans more than a morsel. The World Cup, in all its tattooed glory, has become international rugby’s singular song in a chorus of club competition. For test match rugby to survive and thrive, it needs annual, regular, easy to understand tournament play.
Quite how the governing body will get buy-in for this scheme is another matter altogether. The All Blacks tests against England and Ireland are windfall events for the host unions and one would be overly optimistic to think either the RFU or IRFU would be willing to forfeit their own receipts in an overt gesture of global altruism. It would be an even more interesting question to ponder the cost for nations like New Zealand for whom All Blacks gate takings are resuscitative revenues for a body that cannot hope to compete long term with the wallets of the aforementioned club owners.
So many questions.
One answer though: yes, there is life in the international game yet. Yes, there must be life outside the World Cup. And yes, maybe, just maybe, this is something that could give the ‘inbetweeners’ the new lease of life they require.
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments