Nations Championship?
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@Machpants said in World League Rugby / Nations Championship:
I'll believe this all when I see it, lots of jaw jaw, not much results.
World Rugby's motto, I think
This is the time to make a change, with so much disruption to rugby in the past few years, never been a better time to consider a fairer structure for all countries, not just the traditional strongholds.
Even as I typed that out my optimism slid away. No way Wales, Ireland, Scotland, etc vote for a comp structure that threatens the status quo.
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@Kirwan said in World League Rugby / Nations Championship:
@Stargazer said in World League Rugby / Nations Championship:
Relegation and promotion in both the southern and northern divisions would also be part of the competition, although this would not affect the structure of the Six Nations.
Keen to see an explanation of the bolded bit.
The relegation/promotion aspect of the competition would allow nations such as Samoa and Tonga to play their way into the top division in the southern hemisphere, likely at the expense of Fiji or Japan.
These playoffs would also take place in the last weekend of November, creating a clear pathway for emerging nations while making sure there was a level of drama that doesn’t exist at present.So relegation to and promotion from what in the Southern hemisphere? Will there be a 2nd division? Or will they use the Pacific Nations Championship for that (Tonga, Samoa, USA and Canada?)
My read of that is the divisions are seperate from the competitions, and only the divisions have promotion and relegation.
So Italy could drop to division 2 of the global championship but still be in the six nations.
Same scenerio for the rugby champtionship.
Be a challenge to make the schedule work to accomodate individual comps, the global champs, lions then a world cup.
so basically formaliding the "tiers"? if its not actual competition then i dont see the point
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@Kiwiwomble not how I read it, just seperate comps.
Being in div 1 or 2 makes no difference to your particpation of the six nations.
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Play 3 Nations of opposite hemisphere each touring window. Same as now except will always be the same 6, 3 at home, 3 over seas. So, say we get Ireland, Scotland, & Wales in July, then play England, France, and Italy in November. Then it seems 1st v 1st, 2nd v 2nd play of in Nov, obviously in NH cos that's where they all are. Maybe a double header. That will require another international weekend.
I don't think the RC, 6N count towards it.
Looks like the second division won't be up and running even if this does, i2024. This means no tier 2 teams, aside from Japan & Fiji, get to play tier 1 every second year, at least until second division starts up.
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i know it would kill NZ Rugby
but
part of me would like to see far less international rugby
I just started reading a book about the ABs v the Boks, and the thought of waiting 5 years to avenge a loss as a certain romantic appeal, and would certainly bring back some passion and interest.
I'm not suggesting waiting 8 years, but certainly every other year would be pretty sweet.Anyway, i know i am probably alone in this, and i am well aware it has zero chance of ever being a thing. Just musing out loud.
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@mariner4life you are not wrong though...less is more
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@taniwharugby said in World League Rugby / Nations Championship:
@mariner4life you are not wrong though...less is more
Except when it comes to money, in which case less is NZ rugby broke and fucked
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There's a lot more information in this article... But yes, Six Nations/TRC games are irrelevant, only the July/November windows would affect the two divisions.
Sounds like while it would result in Div 2 teams getting shafted during the two years of the actual competition, there'd be greater opportunities to play (understrength) NH teams during the Lions series (e.g. England might travel to Samoa). Still sounds like an overall downgrade in terms of inter-tier matches but it would still be great to see Tonga play Uruguay regularly etc.
There's a lot of talk surrounding how it will significantly increase commercial interest but it's hard to say what that's based on.
Rugby’s radical plan for new global competition with grand final every two years
Global rugby executives have been urged to embrace plans for the sport’s biggest revolution since the dawn of professionalism — including a world grand final ev
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So in simple terms each SH side plays the NH sides once. The NH sides play each SH side once.
There would be a ladder with 12 teams and the top two sides after the 6 games play the grand final. So it's entirely possible two SH or two NH sides could play the final.
The bottom team from the NH and SH plays a promotion relegation game same weekend I guess as grand final.
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@Stargazer said in World League Rugby / Nations Championship:
@Dan54 I don't think so. I think it's meant to be something like:
year 1: Nations Championship
year 2: Lions Tour
year 3: Nations Championship
year 4: Rugby World CupUnless I've totally misunderstood the proposals.
Makes sense Star! Best of both worlds maybe, though you would think it better to have league champion 2 years before WC, I can understand why it would be this way.
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@mariner4life said in World League Rugby / Nations Championship:
i know it would kill NZ Rugby
but
part of me would like to see far less international rugby
I just started reading a book about the ABs v the Boks, and the thought of waiting 5 years to avenge a loss as a certain romantic appeal, and would certainly bring back some passion and interest.
I'm not suggesting waiting 8 years, but certainly every other year would be pretty sweet.Anyway, i know i am probably alone in this, and i am well aware it has zero chance of ever being a thing. Just musing out loud.
Yep Mariner, I understand why it happens like it does now, but any touring team was gold to have when you sometimes only had 4 tests in a year, and less than that at times. We had great support for provincial rugby in those days too. But as I say I understand what has happened, and was always going to with professionalism
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@chimoaus said in World League Rugby / Nations Championship:
Any ideas on how they will share revenue? Will it be a 50/50 gate takings and then and equal share of the broadcast rights? Could be a good windfall for Fiji/Japan etc
Read that its still being debated. And is a contentious area
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According to the Telegraph (20 March 2023):
Rugby chiefs have agreed a new world league blueprint that will see a northern versus southern hemisphere ‘grand final’ every two years, as well as the ringfencing of the Six Nations Championship, Telegraph Sport can reveal.
The new league structure, which will only include games that take place in the summer and autumn windows, is set to be introduced from 2026 and will be formed by two groups of six teams from each hemisphere – namely the Six Nations and Rugby Championship sides, wth Japan and Fiji also expected to be included.The new format means that:
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The current format of the Six Nations Championship will be ring-fenced, ending any hope South Africa held of joining the European competition or for the introduction of promotion and relegation.
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Northern hemisphere sides will play three southern opponents away from home in the July window, bringing to an end the traditional summer tours of two or three Tests against one host country.
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The fixtures will be replicated at the home venues of the northern hemisphere nations in the November window, with the top team from each pool facing each other in a grand final, and ranking play-off games for the others.
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The tournament will be held every two years from 2026, with fixtures rotated so that every side plays against each other over a two-tournament cycle
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From 2030, a promotion and relegation could be introduced to provide a pathway from a second-tier competition which is expected to be launched next year for nations including Georgia, Samoa and Tonga.
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All stakeholders are confident it will not diminish the status of the Rugby World Cup, and it will be marketed as a battle of the hemispheres.
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The future of the British and Irish Lions tours will be secured and in Lions years countries able to stage traditional tours as normal, and include more fixtures against tier two countries to enhance their development.
It is understood that negotiations, which began in March 2020, are now entering a final consultation phase with the clubs and players’ representatives to ensure it has complete alignment and buy-in for a newly structured global season.
Senior sources have indicated that the new league is on course to be unveiled by the start of the Rugby World Cup in France this September.
“The fundamentals have been agreed,” said one source close to the negotiations. "All key stakeholders have been involved and the structure of the season, the rugby and player welfare issues were resolved some time ago. It's just tying down some of the outstanding commercial issues, but we are well advanced on those as well. We are just about over the line."Central to the negotiations from the northern hemisphere perspective was excluding the Six Nations from the new world league, which proved to be the major stumbling block of talks about the failed ‘Nations Championship’ concept in 2019.
“It was imperative that we didn’t mess around one of the major crown jewels of the game and risked that for a very hypothetical benefit,” said another senior source.
“South Africa made public their interest in joining the Six Nations, but it was never up for discussion. We have never entertained expansion.One of the details still under discussion include the possibility of staging the grand final at a high-profile neutral venue to enhance the profile of the league and grow a new audience, with Hong Kong one possibility.
It is understood one of the outstanding issues is also the timing of the Rugby Championship in the new global season.
This sounds like they want the SH hemisphere nations to adapt their schedule to that of the NH. Changing the timing of the RC will have serious consequences for Super Rugby, and then also the NPC. It will also have consequences for the Japanese Top League One which runs more or less parallel to Super Rugby.Of course this a Telegraph article, and thus written from a NH perspective. Some things more important to the SH nations may have been left out.
North versus south ‘grand final’ the crown jewel of new world league
Exclusive: Six Nations and Rugby Championship sides will form the backbone a new tournament with a 'grand final' held every two years
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It looks to be NZ/Aust vs SA/Arg for the timing of the RC. That's the problem when so many SA and Arg players play in Europe/Japan.
