WORLD VISION A LITTLE BLURRY
On the face of it, World rugby’s plans to scrap summer tours and november Tests in favour of a global tournament sound exciting.
The northern hemisphere teams involved would be those in the six nations while the southern hemisphere sides would be those involved in the super rugby competition plus Japan and a south sea island team, most probably Fiji.
There would be a second division made up of teams such as Georgia, Germany, UsA, Canada, samoa and Tonga with promotion and relegation to and from the top league.
The suggestion is that the tournament would take place three years out of four and would rest in World Cup years.
But what impact would this have on the existing World Cup? The marquee tournament won’t appear quite so unique and enthralling if it is being played out in miniature every year.
There is certainly not enough detail yet for nations like scotland to jump in with both feet.
World rugby chairman Bill Beaumont, the former England captain, is reportedly helping to push through a plan for the 12-team competition, to be played in late June into early July and november.
Details are sparse and questions have still to be answered by Beaumont and the hierarchy of World rugby before the srU or, for that matter, any governing body gives it their wholehearted backing.
For instance, how many games will be played in the tournament? As things stand scotland play around 11 or 12 international matches a year, which is already far too many.
squeezing in more international matches would be folly and would impact badly on player welfare.
players — especially in France — are being played far too much and there is already concern over burnout and in some cases career-ending injuries due to workloads.
if there were 11 games in the tournament, and with semi-finals and finals planned, too, it would make more sense to spread it over two or three years rather than just shoehorn it into one.
having more international matches would impact on scottish professional club rugby and would put more pressure on Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors to have bigger squads.
The srU fund both professional outfits and claim their resources are stretched as it is. having to recruit even more players — even from the academy — would cost money they claim not to have.
Also, the tournament sounds like a second-rate World Cup as all the top teams are involved. What is the point of that?
Where does the British and irish Lions tour fit into the set-up?
it is a real money-spinner for the nations involved and will also have to be fitted into an already congested fixture schedule.
The new set-up would require re-structuring domestic league fixtures in the pro14, Top14 and English premiership, which would not sit well with club owners.
Yes, another world-wide tournament may sound great but there is a long way to go to make it a feasible proposition.