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What a potential Club World Cup for rugby should look like

By Alex McLeod
(Photos / Getty Images)

If reports in recent days and weeks are to be believed, rugby could be on the brink of creating a revolutionary, and long-awaited, new global tournament.

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For years, fans have wondered which club team is the best in the world. Would the Crusaders replicate their dominance in Super Rugby against the might of European giants such as Toulouse, Leinster and Saracens?

That question, and many others, could finally be answered in three years’ time as speculation mounts that a Club World Cup could soon be added to the global rugby calendar.

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Former Wallabies head coach Michael Cheika talks about handling pressure

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Former Wallabies head coach Michael Cheika talks about handling pressure

Whether there is any room for such a competition in an already congested calendar, which isn’t even aligned between the northern and southern hemispheres, is a sticking point that springs to mind when discussing this proposal.

In saying that, it cannot be denied the concept of a Club World Cup certainly holds plenty of intrigue.

Following in the footsteps of FIFA’s Club World Cup and the ICC’s Champions League, the prospect of a World Rugby Club World Cup appears to have drawn the attraction of Kiwi administrators.

According to United Rugby Championship [URC] chief executive Martin Anayi, New Zealand’s Super Rugby franchises are interested in throwing their collective hats into the ring in what is a promising sign for the tournament’s future.

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It comes after Highlanders chief executive Roger Clark voiced his excitement about the idea after having discussed the project with other franchise bosses for a year.

Anayi, who said his league is involved in discussions about staging a quadrennial Club World Cup, added that Rugby Australia’s Super Rugby teams are also keen on getting involved.

Others reportedly eager to get the tournament up and running include Top League chairman Osamu Ota, Scarlets board member Sean Fitzpatrick, Toshiba Brave Lupus coach Todd Blackadder, and Panasonic Wild Knights boss Robbie Deans.

To put the cherry on top of all the anticipation surrounding a potential Club World Cup, outgoing European Professional Club Rugby chairman Simon Halliday last week confirmed plans were advancing about bringing the competition to reality.

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All of this should be music to the ears of rugby fans worldwide, while the financial lure of the competition is also likely to be enticing for rugby’s leading figureheads.

However, to uphold the integrity of the competition, any iteration of a Club World Cup must include teams from every corner of the planet – or at least gives teams from all parts of the world a chance at qualification – to be a truly global tournament.

While the support and enthusiasm of this concept is encouraging, the apparent radio silence from English and French clubs in all of this hype may be a point of concern.

The Premiership and Top 14 are two of the richest and most powerful competitions in rugby and have some of the game’s biggest names in their ranks.

It is, therefore, imperative both of those leagues have teams participating in a Club World Cup from competitive, credibility and financial viewpoints.

At the very least, some kind of acknowledgement of getting onboard with the rest of the rugby world would alleviate any source of concern.

Perhaps the idea of splitting revenue with Super Rugby Pacific, URC, Top League, Major League Rugby [MLR] and Super Liga de Americana Rugby [SLAR] teams is off-putting for those within Premiership and Top 14 circles.

Or, as addressed earlier, it could be that there is a sense of uneasiness about the scheduling of the Club World Cup, which would require all of those competitions to be wrapped up simultaneously in order for the global tournament to be played in June.

That would enable the July tests to go ahead as planned every four years from 2024 onwards, but getting all the different leagues from across the planet to cooperate with one another, with their own self-interests at play, presents numerous difficulties.

Nevertheless, Anayi’s comments that there is a genuine interest in providing a pathway for the minnow competitions like the Top League, MLR and SLAR is positive for the globalisation of the tournament.

There is also plenty make note of from Halliday’s comments as he suggested the Club World Cup would effectively replace the latter stages of European Champions Cup in the years that the former competition is held.

In essence, it seems as though the eight teams that qualify for the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup would progress to the Club World Cup rather than the play-offs of Europe’s premier club tournament.

That presents a big indication of what shape a prospective Club World Cup would take should it come to fruition, and it goes against the format proposed by Bernard Laporte in the lead-up to last year’s World Rugby elections.

The World Rugby vice-chairman suggested a Club World Cup could comprise of six teams from Super Rugby, four each from the Premiership, Top 14 and URC (then known as the Pro14), and one each from the Top League and MLR.

Laporte’s proposal came before the downfall of Super Rugby as it was known in April of last year, as the South African franchises have since shifted to the Pro14, thus creating the URC, while neither the Jaguares nor the Sunwolves exist anymore.

As such, gifting six qualifying berths to the revamped, 12-team Super Rugby Pacific, also featuring Moana Pasifika and the Fijian Drua, would be excessive.

Furthermore, the idea of 12 teams from Europe’s three main leagues competing at a Club World Cup appears to have been shot down by Halliday’s comments, which are indicative of a 16-team knockout competition rather than Laporte’s vision of 20-team tournament with pool play followed by a play-off series.

Based on what Halliday suggested, half of those 16 teams will be the best eight from the Champions Cup, but who would join the eight top clubs from Europe remains to be seen.

As already mentioned, filling the remaining eight spots with Super Rugby Pacific franchises would be counterproductive to the credibility and globalisation of a Club World Cup.

However, qualifying berths for the semi-finalists from New Zealand, Australian and the Pacific Island-based competition reflects a more equitable spread of teams while allowing for representation from Japan, North America and South America.

With four spots up for grabs, the Top League, rebranded next year as Japan Rugby League One, would be worthy of claiming two of those berths given the growing reputation and star power evident in that competition.

That leaves two available spots to join the Champions Cup quarter-finalists, Super Rugby Pacific’s semi-finalists and the finalists of Japan Rugby League One, and those could be handed to the champions of MLR and SLAR.

In doing so, teams from each continent have a chance of featuring on rugby’s global stage in a four-week, straight knockout competition that pits Europe’s best against the rest of the world.

Possible Club World Cup layout (based on 2021 competition results)

Champions Cup qualifiers: Toulouse, La Rochelle, Leinster, Bordeaux Begles, Clermont, Sale Sharks, Exeter Chiefs, Racing 92

Super Rugby qualifiers: Crusaders, Blues, Chiefs, Reds (based on cumulative points total in Super Rugby Aotearoa, Super Rugby AU and Super Rugby Trans-Tasman)

Top League qualifiers: Panasonic Wild Knights, Suntory Sungoliath

MLR qualifier: LA Giltinis

SLAR qualifier: Jaguares XV

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Jon 1 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 4 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 6 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

15 Go to comments
T
Trevor 9 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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