P
Prestwick
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_unio...ish/7027567.stm
Les Cusworth, English Director of Rugby for the UAR explains that it is precisely because Argentina has stayed an outpost of amateurism that they've climbed to be the 4th best rugby nation in the world:
Big Les also wants the nation he works for to be in the Six Nations rather than the Tri nations:
Les Cusworth, English Director of Rugby for the UAR explains that it is precisely because Argentina has stayed an outpost of amateurism that they've climbed to be the 4th best rugby nation in the world:
We have 60,000 people playing rugby in Argentina and 82 clubs in the Buenos Aires province alone. There are 400 Argentine players playing rugby in Europe. If you take 400 top players out of the Home Nations, what would be left?
The real reason we are all here is for kids to be playing the game. If we encourage them just to play for the provincial sides, you have 3% in the elite. What about the other 97%?
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Big Les also wants the nation he works for to be in the Six Nations rather than the Tri nations:
Where is this game going, where do we want it to be in 30 years time? Do we just want a Six Nations or a Tri-Nations? What a stagnant game we will have if that is the case.
It would be better for us to be in the Six Nations. We could base ourselves in Brussels, Valencia, Madrid, wherever.
If we are included it will benefit the incumbents. Let's get into the cosy club. The International Rugby Board have been very supportive about our case but they are not the stakeholders. The stakeholders are the Six Nations Committee.[/b]