The competition that could put the World League debate to bed
The congregation of leading executives within the global rugby fraternity to negotiate details for the much-maligned World Rugby Nations Championship in Dublin earlier this month presented a missed opportunity to discuss a more tantalising proposition.
When details of the competition were exposed by the New Zealand Herald, the annual Nations Championship initially drew criticism from all corners of the globe for diluting the prestige of the quadrennial World Cup and Lions tours, a lack of regard for player welfare and its exclusivity from emerging nations.
Although an updated version of the competition’s structure released by World Rugby presented a pathway for developing rugby countries to compete with tier one nations, concerns lingered about player burnout and the role that the World Cup and Lions tours would play within international calendar.
Complaints from the governing bodies of the English and French club competitions have added to the number of issues voiced worldwide, with their exclusions from negotiations creating a sense of disdain between them and World Rugby.
The extremely negative impact that this proposed Nations Championship has embedded within the rugby world makes it difficult to envision this new competition getting off the mark, despite World Rugby hoping for a start date of 2022.
Even if discussions in the Irish capital somehow satisfied the demands of all involved parties – which it hasn’t, as England continue to stand firm against World Rugby’s proposal amid fears of relegation from the Six Nations – the issue of diminishing the prestige of the World Cup would still be a prevalent concern of which that appears nigh on impossible to resolve.
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While the promotion-relegation mechanism implemented by World Rugby in their updated competition proposal is commendable and some national unions have warmed to the competition concept, there remains fierce opposition against the Nations Championship from all stakeholders since its details were first leaked.
So much so, in fact, that it seems far-fetched for the tournament to get the green light from all national governing bodies by World Rugby’s self-imposed April 5 deadline.
Part of that can be attributed to the running narrative of the whole competition proposal by World Rugby since the idea of a Nations Championship first came to light, in that they are trying to fix or improve international rugby by providing more ‘meaningful’ fixtures in an annual competition format.
In reality, international rugby hasn’t been this strong in many years.
This year’s World Cup will have five genuine contenders to stake a claim for the title through New Zealand, England, Ireland, South Africa and Wales, and if Australia can resurrect themselves after a few abysmal seasons, then they will make it a six-horse race.
That’s a far cry from the 2015 edition of the tournament, when the All Blacks were streaks ahead of any other nations in terms of experience and ability as they won their second successive crown.
Aside from perhaps an alteration to the way in which the game’s eligibility laws are structured – which has bordered on farcical as some players represent nations that they’d have no intention of playing for three-to-four years beforehand – and creating an equitable playing field for tier two nations like Fiji and Georgia, there is little to fix or improve in international rugby.
Rather than radically changing something that needs minimal work done to improve it, the attention that has been focused on the debacle that is the Nations Championship by World Rugby should instead be channeled into another side of the game that contributes significantly to the global calendar: professional club rugby.
Super Rugby, the Pro14, Top 14 and Premiership, as well as the Champions Cup, have provided the international game with a myriad of star players since those competition’s inceptions, while also giving fans a team to cheer for at a domestic and continental level.
Given the importance that professional club rugby holds in terms of preparing coaches and players for the step up to the test arena, as well as providing revenue to national unions and private owners who pay the wages of these coaches and players through the financial investment of fans, it’s saddening that World Rugby has neglected this aspect of the game.
While there is little that World Rugby can do to enhance the dynamics of each individual competition given it doesn’t own Super Rugby nor the Champions Cup and its feeder competitions, it could certainly provide more ‘meaningful’ fixtures for clubs without damaging the reputation of the World Cup and the international game.
Instead of trying to pursue a Nations Championship that has proven to be controversial and largely condemned worldwide, why has the concept of a Club World Cup not been explored by the global governing body?
It would be difficult to fit into the existing calendar due to the scheduling differences between Super Rugby, the northern hemisphere competitions, and the international test windows.
However, a condensed knock-out tournament between the semi-finalists from the Champions Cup and Super Rugby over a three-week period would be doable with some of re-jigging of fixtures prior to the July test window, which would suit teams from both hemispheres as that coincides – to varying degrees – with the end of their club seasons.
Such a competition would be unparalleled within the rugby fraternity, and it would yield plenty of interest from players, fans, broadcasters and sponsors as the best teams from both hemispheres compete to determine which club is the best on the planet.
It’s a far simpler concept to the current proposition on the table, leaves the integrity of the international game and World Cup intact, and possesses the potential to be extremely financially-rewarding for World Rugby, which was undoubtedly a major incentive for them to propose the Nations Championship in the first place.
Of course, a multitude of creases would need to be ironed out in order for a Club World Cup to get the go-ahead, and a host of stakeholders and any pre-existing concerns would need to be addressed, but the potential exists for this tournament to explode into a success.
Potential Club World Cup quarter-final fixtures (based on 2018 Champions Cup and Super Rugby placings):
Crusaders v Scarlets
Lions v Munster
Racing 92 v Waratahs
Leinster v Hurricanes
The Short Ball – The World Rugby Nations Championship Debacle:
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 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
3 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 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.
30 Go to comments