WELCOME TO THE RANT, OUR FORTNIGHTLY COLUMN ABOUT WHAT’S GETTING THE RANTER’S GOAT IN THE RUGBY WORLD
No.1 The Seven Nations Debate
Ever since Argentina reminded the world just how good they are at this rugby lark thanks to their efforts in putting France (twice), Ireland and Scotland to the sword, the whole question about which major tournament they should play in has been bandied about by all and sundry. And so, why should www.rucked.com be an exception? First of all there’s the question of why they’re not in one already. Well that’s down to the Tri Nations and their decision that it would be much more fun to play each other once more every season rather than introduce a side that could, I don’t know, maybe make the tournament even the remotely bit interesting. I mean much as the southern hemisphere are such big mates, surely meeting up three times a year rather than two is too much isn’t it? But, no, it seems that they do want to see each other a bit more often and, y’know, see how things work out. Meanwhile the rugby world keeps spinning around them.
And as the rugby world spins, Argentina loom large on the horizon and why should the Tri Nations be given a second chance? No, let’s let them into our party and, as northern hemisphere continues to thrive, the southern hemisphere can play among themselves and, in four World Cups times, they can wonder why they haven’t managed one to win since 2007. But there has to be a methodical approach to Argentina’s entry and that’s why the Six Nations is a natural home. Whatever anyone bleats on about, the French and English top flights are big enough and financially wealthy enough to help support other nations by making their players professional. Even if we fill half of our Guinness Premiership sides completely with overseas players, we’d still have six pro sides to choose an England side from. And that’s not including the pros in National One who are fast becoming a hot breeding ground for quality English talent: David Strettle, Dan Ward-Smith, Shaun Perry, Nick Easter – we could go on.
So, as virtually the whole Argentina squad plies their trade in Europe it makes sense that they play in our tournament. Or do we want them to play rugby for 12 months of the year, eventually suffer severe burnout and then fall off the rugby radar and never trouble the traditional superpowers of the game ever gain? Hmm, that’d be handy. Nope, while some may suggest that them playing their home games in Spain is wrong, if the Argentina rugby union don’t have problems with it, then why should we? From a selfish point of view, a trip to Spain every other year would be lovely. And from Argentina’s point of view, they can use their game back home as a breeding ground for young talent with the wealthier European nations taking them onto the next level. Ah, but what about fixture congestion? There’d be too many games wouldn’t there?
The solution has to be to say ‘thanks, but it’s just not working’ to the Anglo-Welsh Cup. That would save enough time in the schedule for Seven Nations – which, let’s be honest would be fantastic prospect with Argentina on board. And, honestly, who really gets excited by these fixtures anyhow? When it comes to Argentina’s place in the world rugby order, the RFU believe that ‘they would be better off in the Tri-Nations’ because ‘increasing the six of the Six Nations could leave to fixure problems’. But without the Anglo-Welsh Cup, there’d be bags of time. Although the RFU and clubs would be loath lose money from not playing the Anglo-Welsh Cup, surely some of the wealth gained from an extra international fixture and added Seven Nations interest could be spread? Or, now here’s a crazy idea, a knock-out format – as opposed to a money-orientated group concept – could be used for a national cup competition and give the ever-growing number of pro clubs beneath the Premiership a chance to test their mettle against the big boys. So that way, we’d be doing a bit for: a) the wider world rugby community – i.e. helping Argentina’s growth; and b) the domestic rugby community – i.e. by giving the likes of Exeter Chiefs, Plymouth Albion, Cornish Pirates and Doncaster Knights a chance to prove themselves.
And all we’d have to do is say goodbye to a tournament barely out of its infancy anyhow… Who says rugby is complicated?
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