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Does Africa deserve a second spot in RWC
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<blockquote data-quote="wayner" data-source="post: 607468" data-attributes="member: 39097"><p>I understand that point but why give a spot to Africa but not South America (or North America for that matter)? Are they not continents just like Africa? Isn't that inconsistent and unfair to South American countries? Americas gets two spots but it is not a continent - it is two continents plus some islands. To be consistent with the "Americas" spots then why not give 2-3 spots to Europe+Africa.</p><p></p><p>That's a fair comment with respect to Canada but we have generally been ranked in the top 15 and we have consistently qualified as Americas 1, including for RWC 2015. You can leave Canada out but then you are likely also leaving the USA out, and then you are starting to drop out some countries that have large economies and where rugby is gaining some traction and where you should want to grow the game. I would argue that if Japan can hold a RWC than so can North America - maybe that makes sense for something like 2019 or 2023 to help to grow the global footprint of rugby. And North America is an easier trip for Europeans than Japan is for Aussies or Kiwis due to length of flight plus language.</p><p></p><p>If you had a situation where the 20 best countries in the world have to go through a global qualifying process or if you gave the "Big 10" automatic qualifying while the rest had to qualify, then Canada would still very likely have always qualified. You can't say the same for Namibia.</p><p></p><p>I am not arguing that the RWC should become less global, just that the dedicated spot to Africa should go away because the African countries are not strong enough to justify it. They can still qualify through a playoff system and you will still always have African representation with SA.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="wayner, post: 607468, member: 39097"] I understand that point but why give a spot to Africa but not South America (or North America for that matter)? Are they not continents just like Africa? Isn't that inconsistent and unfair to South American countries? Americas gets two spots but it is not a continent - it is two continents plus some islands. To be consistent with the "Americas" spots then why not give 2-3 spots to Europe+Africa. That's a fair comment with respect to Canada but we have generally been ranked in the top 15 and we have consistently qualified as Americas 1, including for RWC 2015. You can leave Canada out but then you are likely also leaving the USA out, and then you are starting to drop out some countries that have large economies and where rugby is gaining some traction and where you should want to grow the game. I would argue that if Japan can hold a RWC than so can North America - maybe that makes sense for something like 2019 or 2023 to help to grow the global footprint of rugby. And North America is an easier trip for Europeans than Japan is for Aussies or Kiwis due to length of flight plus language. If you had a situation where the 20 best countries in the world have to go through a global qualifying process or if you gave the "Big 10" automatic qualifying while the rest had to qualify, then Canada would still very likely have always qualified. You can't say the same for Namibia. I am not arguing that the RWC should become less global, just that the dedicated spot to Africa should go away because the African countries are not strong enough to justify it. They can still qualify through a playoff system and you will still always have African representation with SA. [/QUOTE]
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Does Africa deserve a second spot in RWC
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