Wild card system proposed for future Rugby World Cups

The 2023 Rugby World Cup has rightfully been labelled the most unpredictable in history, and there are calls to capitalise on that quality of competition by expanding the tournament to accommodate more of the world’s top nations.

Expanding each pool by one team would, from a logistical perspective, of course, extend the length of pool play and the tournament as a whole.

Of greater value than logistics is the growth of the game and fan engagement, both of which would likely be boosted by the inclusion of more countries – especially if it were to be big markets like the United States.

Less established rugby nations are always looking for more opportunities to play top talent and the Rugby World Cup has always offered that opportunity, so facilitating more opportunities for growth adds merit to the idea.

Key to the discussion is not just what you do but how you do it and the Aotearoa Rugby Pod proposed an innovation within the Rugby World Cup structure that could accommodate the new teams and offer more of the drama of knockout rugby.

Podcast host Ross Karl explained the wildcard system which was sent in by a listener.

“The first-place team would get a bye after the pool play and automatically qualify for the quarter-final,” he said. “The second and third-placed teams in the pools would enter into a wildcard round to qualify for a quarter-final.

“This would add more meaningful games and help develop the teams that are knocking on the door of top-tier rugby.”

Adding more teams without the wildcard system would see 16 of the 24 teams pack their bags after the pool stages, while the inclusion of the wildcard system would extend four more of those teams’ World Cup campaigns.

Incorporating the idea could help level out any imbalance in the draw, which could have had interesting consequences in this year’s pool makeup if it had been employed.

“I really love what he’s suggested,” former All Black James Parsons said of the idea.

“So, teams like Scotland, they’re probably worthy of a quarter-final but are likely to miss out. Samoa or Argentina or Japan potentially having a second lick at the cherry and whoever wins gets rewarded, which would mean a team like Australia would get a second chance and then you create a narrative that’s interesting to fans.

“It’s very American I suppose in terms of the wildcard (concept), but I think it’s awesome.

“It makes the tournament longer, it’s an extra game. It’s probably more positive in terms of the game of rugby, in terms of the narrative and the excitement than just adding four more teams that get pumped by 90 – with all due respect.”

American sports leagues have found great success in the wildcard system, it exists in some variation in each of the national sports leagues.

The NBA recently adopted a “play-in” tournament where each division’s six-through-ten-ranked seeds get an opportunity to make the eight-team playoffs.

The system still rewards the higher-ranked teams with home-court advantage and a more direct route to the playoffs in the decisive one-off games.

Without the potential for home-field advantage at a Rugby World Cup, it’s unclear how or if the higher-ranked team would be rewarded for their superior record – other than facing a lower seed from a different pool.

The top four ranked national men’s teams not currently competing at the Rugby World Cup are the USA, Spain, Canada and Hong Kong China.