There has been a lot of talk in recent years (basically since Italy joined) of including Georgia and Romania in the Six Nations. Their recent good performances in the World Cup have resurfaced this debate. However, expanding the top flight of International European rugby to a seven or eight nations has some inherent problems that make Georgia or Romania’s inclusion unlikely, if not impossible for the time being.
So what are the problems of introducing Georgia or Romania, or both, into the Six Nations?
Firstly, expanding the tournament leads to one or two more weeks of players away from their clubs. In a game already afflicted by the ‘club versus country’ struggle, an ‘Eight Nations’ could lead to the clubs refusing to release players for international duty – as they would be gone for seven weeks of the season. This would obviously be negative for international rugby in the Northern Hemisphere defeating the point of including the Tier 2 sides in the tournament.
Secondly, seven weeks of international rugby sounds like a dream situation for most fans. However, it would be a nightmare for players. The physical toll of playing seven highly competitive, international level, games in seven weeks would be massive. Players could end up fatigued or with serious injury, especially in the Georgia and Romania sides who are not used to competing against Tier 1 teams, let alone facing six within seven weeks.
Argentina’s success in the World Cup can be put, in large part, down to their inclusion in the Rugby Championship. This gave them much needed experience facing Tier 1 sides and has improved the quality of their game immensely. However, the same result may not be replicated for Georgia and Romania – Italy joined the Six Nations 15 years ago and have come dead last ten times since then. They’ve also never been higher than fourth place. More importantly, Italy has never got to the knock-out stage of the Rugby World Cup, despite joining the Six Nations in 2000. It’s fair to say that the benefits of joining the Six Nations are not comparable to Argentina joining the Rugby Championship.
Another problem with the inclusion of Georgia and/or Romania is geography. Simply put, these eastern European nations are pretty far from Rugby’s north-western European heartland. How many fans from the British Isles would travel to these countries to watch the games? In the early years of the ‘Eight Nations’ format it could be very few. Adding to that point how easy would travel be? Romania is in the EU so travel would be fine to get there. But how many fans would go through the hassle of getting visas to watch a competitive game against Georgia? – it’s not exactly a Lions tour.
That said, rugby fans are some of the most passionate on the planet so geography and travel would probably only be a minor issue. The main problem with an ‘Eight Nations’ format is how commercially viable would it be. Would either Georgia or Romania have the infrastructure to host three or four high profile games a year? Both nations are not exactly economic powerhouses and they may struggle to facilitate so many Tier 1 teams and fans in such a short period of time.
So what are the alternatives?
Option 1: ‘Eight Nations’ with two pools.
The franchise could be expanded if the ‘Eight Nations’ adapted the pool system used in the World Cup. This new tournament could have two pools of four teams, where two teams from each qualify for the knockout stage. This would mean the tournament would retain its five week format.
Going by the word ranking just before the world cup (17 September 2015) the pools could look something like this:
Pool A: England, Ireland, Italy, Georgia Pool B: Wales, France, Scotland, Romania
However, as this banned BBC advert shows half of rugby is the rivalries that have developed over the years. This pool format could mean an ‘Eight Nations’ without an England vs Wales game, or an England vs Scotland game or an England vs France game (we get it everyone sees England as their rival). The point is, not having these games would be unpopular for fans and could hamper the popularity of the game, defeating the point of including Georgia and Romania in the first place.
Option 2: Straightforward Promotion/Relegation System
Simply put, the wooden spoon winner of the Six Nations gets dropped down to the European Nations Cup. The winner of the cup gets promoted to the Six Nations. This seems like a rational and fair way to include Georgia or Romania. However, it could lead to some problems:
- As mentioned before if Georgia or Romania did join how many fans would travel to these countries to watch the games? How easy would travel be? How commercially viable would it be. Would either nation have the infrastructure to host 3 or 4 high profile games a year?
- The point of including Georgia/Romania in the Six Nations is to increase the popularity and quality of the sport – this would have the opposite effect in relegated nations. The two most likely teams to get relegated, Scotland and Italy, would definitely suffer from relegation. Scotland already has only a small grassroots game that could shrink even more from the humiliation of relegation. The same can be said for Italy, which also has the behemoth of Italian football to deal with. Relegation would be bad press for any Six Nations team and rugby would possibly suffer in any relegated nation as a result.
Option 3: Contested/Play-off Relegation
Instead of a straightforward process of bottom team of the Six Nations getting relegated and top team of the European Nations Cup getting promoted the teams could compete in a play-off game to decide their place. This would give the wooden spoon winners a chance to defend their place in the tournament without automatically giving it up. It would also give a Tier 2 side much needed experience playing a Tier 1 team. However, this system could be seen as unfair to the teams coming from the European Nations Cup who may already feel they deserve a place in the Six Nations. Moreover, if a team does end up relegated they will still suffer the problems outlined in Option 2.
Other Alternatives
So if none of these options are viable what could be done to help improve the game in Europe’s Tier 2 nations, as well as increase its popularity?
A European Plate Tournament
There has been much discussion recently about the introduction of a shield or plate trophy into the World Cup to promote the sport in Tier 2 teams. So blatantly plagiarising that idea I propose a European Plate tournament.
The idea being the top two nations of the European Nations Cup play the bottom two nations of the Six Nations for a ‘Plate’. The tournament could be knock out style so only take two weeks and it would mean nations that don’t do well in the Six Nations have an extra shot at some silverware, while the top two nations of the European Cup get some badly needed experience facing Tier 1 teams outside of the World Cup. A Plate is a great sponsorship opportunity for the sport bringing more money into the game and the pockets of the smaller unions. How does the McDonald’s European Rugby Plate sound?
National Pledges
I’m sure there are some flaws in my plate idea, however, the Northern Hemisphere needs to do more to cultivate rugby in the Tier 2 nations. If not the Plate idea, then the national unions of the Six Nations teams need to pledge to the Georgian and Romanian unions that they will each play them at least once before the next world cup. That way each of these so-called Tier 2 teams will get six games against Tier 1 teams before Japan 2019 (a huge increase on previous years).
Final Thoughts
Personally I would love to see Georgia and England compete annually for a ‘St George Cup’ (the patron Saint of both nations)… Or how does a ‘Cup of the Romans’ sound between Italy and Romania? The Northern Hemisphere need to do more to encourage their Tier 2 sides, like the south did for Argentina by including them in the Rugby Championship (who are now passing on the favour by including a Uruguayan team in their domestic cup).
An ‘Eight Nations’ tournament probably isn’t viable, nor is it the solution to improving the game in Europe’s Tier 2 sides. However, something has to be done to continue growing the game in Georgia and Romania – using the momentum built by the World Cup will help.
my ignorant opinion 