Six Nations relegation
WHY SHOULD the team finishing bottom of the Six Nations be guaranteed re-entry the following year? Money and stability are nice – the CVC deal means status quo for now – but I don’t see the current situation as being healthy for the competition… Or Italy, who have become perennial wooden spooners.
They’ve not won a game since beating Scotland in 2015 and it seems a foregone conclusion their opponent will win with a try bonus. Despite hope that Benetton would become competitive in the Pro14, that proved a false dawn and both Italian sides play Challenge Cup rugby next season.
There should be a play-off with the bottom side and the winner of the Rugby Europe Championship. I’m open to the Six Nations team playing only one leg, at home, but there should be the carrot for every country in Europe to play on the top stage.
The Premiership and Top 14 have relegation and clubs like Quins, Northampton, Bayonne and Lyon have bounced back from the drop, arguably stronger. A season spent winning can galvanise a team. It should not be the end of their journey, as some suggest. Also, sides lower down have an opportunity to develop and grow – that would be good for rugby across Europe.
Before 2000, Italy earned the right to enter the Six Nations but I feel that 21 years is a sufficient period to adapt and develop. Ringfencing hasn’t made the competition stronger, so I’d advocate a promotion/relegation play-off.
IT’S THAT time of year when rugby’s most tedious annual debate rears its ugly head. I don’t care for the bleating quite as much as I worry about the dangerous caveat it sets.
This maelstrom of thought isn’t so much about the issue of relegation as it is about the ‘Italian question’, accentuating their seemingly eternal quest to find a competitive edge in the competition. I’d put it like this: would rugby fans accept England, France, Ireland, Scotland or Wales not playing at the pinnacle of European competition?
Although not a simple conundrum to solve, I’m all for the likes of Georgia, a team central to the debate, being given a chance in an expanded tournament, not one threatening relegation. In a period where global development of rugby is begging for a wider appeal, is it necessary to prop up one team at the expense of another? Expansion of the game must surely rely on a team’s aspiration to climb and stay on the ladder, rather than the constant threat of falling off.
Despite dominating European rugby’s second-tier tournament, Georgia have failed to show any inkling that they would provide more stable and competitive opposition. World Rugby rankings fail to tell the full tale here.
Italy joined the competition 117 years late. Time to stop maligning a growing team with the constant threat of the ‘r’ word and give them (and potential new friends) the space and time to flourish.