France, England and Pumas

[psychic duck]

No offense to Canada or the USA teams, but they're clearly Tier 2 while Argentina is clearly Tier 1. I don't think that would help Argentina at all, and we ARE talking about ways for Argentina to get better here...sure it would be amazing for the US and Canada, but not for Argentina.
I think including Argentina in TRC was the best thing that ever happened to them, and though they didn't win a match they've certainly impressed, at times were just amazing in fact for their first ever tournament.

USA and Canada are closer to Argentina than Argentina are New Zealand right now.

Argentine based players currently only play Vodacom Cup level professionally (and that's only the best of them that do that). A professional domestic tournament of their own would allow a larger base of players to be able to train and play at a higher standard (certainly higher than the current Argentine set up).

 

[RedWhiteGreen]

Argentina are certainly a class ahead of us at the national team level, but I don't think with club sides the gulf would be that dramatic, the Canadian CRC teams have regularly beaten Argentine provincial sides in exhibition and tour games. The Canadian team also tends to play fairly well against the Jaguars side which would likely be the talent level which domestic Argentine players would be playing at.

I actually think the biggest hindrance to this league would be logistics, at the risk of being a pedantic dick, I don't think people realize the distance between Argentina/Uruguay and the USA/Canada. The time zones are close which would make matches easy to schedule but it's an 11-12 hour flight from Toronto to Buenos Aires(Toronto to Portugal/Spain is only around 6-7). Let alone from the West Coast of North America which is probably even longer. Also as someone said eariler the seasons are flipped, luckily most of South America other than the extreme South have fairly mild winters so this shouldn't be the end of the world.

You'd probably want to run it in the Super 15 window running from February to August, so on a commercial level the US side of the competition isn't in the shadow of gridiron.

 

[LittleGuy]

You'd probably want to run it in the Super 15 window running from February to August, so on a commercial level the US side of the competition isn't in the shadow of gridiron.

That would work if the Northern teams play away in February, Rugby is impossible in much of North America in February. March is good in most places though a little on the cold side.

 

[Big Ewis]

alright well then I'm probably wrong...hopefully you're all right and such a league would be competitive...I must say I don't know exactly how good the non-int'l Argies are. I do know they annihilate all other Latina America sides despite being like 5th stringers or wtvr...but what does that say really...

I do agree with LitteGuy about the geographic hassle. I may be off a bit but SR has some pretty huge stretches as well...I mean, SA to Oceania on a consistent basis. But of course it's a huge league, they have the resources and the 'stakes' so to speak.

 

[psychic duck]

Just want to point out that England will play 2 midweek matches on their tour this year again, should be confirmed officially over the week. One of the midweek fixtures will be in Uruguay against a South American XV made up of Argentine and Uruguayan players plus one or two from Chile and Brazil, the other is unconfirmed.

So I expect England will be taking a midweek squad and more players will be getting opportunities in front of Lancaster this June.

 

[RedWhiteGreen]

Just want to point out that England will play 2 midweek matches on their tour this year again, should be confirmed officially over the week. One of the midweek fixtures will be in Uruguay against a South American XV made up of Argentine and Uruguayan players plus one or two from Chle and Brazil, the other is unconfirmed.

So I expect England will be taking a midweek squad and more players will be getting opportunities in front of Lancaster this June.

Quite right too, although it would be best if they could organize a game against the full on Uruguayan national side. Midweek games make sense on tours, and you've got teams that need the exposure and matches.

On the US-Canada-Argentina axis thoughts, I don't see any other way you can have a meaningful competition in Argentina, and help the USA and Canada - both of which are (or damn well should be) rugby priorities - without joining them together in some way. Unless you want an Argentinian Super 4 where throughout the season they all play each other six times or or something.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I thought it was standard that from last season all summer tours had mid-weeks?

Presumably the touring squad will the EPS + half the Saxon.