League of Nations

[TRF_Olyy]

I'm with Sexton and Farrell: it's ******* shithouse.

 

[Welshdragon2000]

This would kill rugby without promotion and relegation. We want a global game but with another closed shop tournament, this will harm all T2 and T3 nations except Japan and USA.
What do Georgia and Fiji have to do to get a look in? Georgia have beaten lots of T1 sides at the U20 championship over the past few years and Fiji have always produced excellent talent. All World Rugby are looking at is the size of the market in a country rather than the talent of the rugby there.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

I'm with Sexton and Farrell: it's ******* shithouse.

Yep. Nobody wants this.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Gotta love the hypocrisy of Pichot actively trying to kill the game in the PIs/Eastern Europe/Canada etc. after trashing the tier 1 nations for so long

 

[amz]

More closed shop, no opportunities at all for T2, just for potential huge markets like US or Japan.

It seems rugby union is becoming cricket like.

In this situation, I think it's normal for countries like Fiji, Tonga and Samoa to talk to Rugby League

They don't even bother to create a Tier 2 league to keep some sort of appearance

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Gotta love the hypocrisy of Pichot actively trying to kill the game in the PIs/Eastern Europe/Canada etc. after trashing the tier 1 nations for so long

Are you suggesting Pichot playing the tier 2 hero role was just a thinly veiled act to make Argentinian rugby money?

My gif didn't work but colour me "shocked"!

 

[Thingimubob]

I'm with Sexton and Farrell: it's ******* shithouse.

If the shithouses think its shithouse then it must definitely be shithouse. Mad that they're trying to push this through...

 

[munstermuffin]

Players are barely able to last on the current workloads. Surely someone with a brain on that committee can identify this plan mixed with club game more likely shortens guys careers and puts test rugby more at risk

 

[TRF_Olyy]

World Rugby not angry, just disappointed, in Sexton et al
https://www.world.rugby/news/401100

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Without promotion and relegation this is hard to swallow, but at least it is two additional sides reaching the top table. Two more than is currently the case. Pichot has not got his preference, if the 12 unions are in agreement there is little he can do to impose relegation on them. I can only assume any move from the status quo is considered to increase the potential for future change.

If the commitment to the top Tier 2 nations getting tests with Tier 1 nations until 2032 is dropped (as I suspect it must be as a result of this) then I will be sickened and couldn't support this either.

I hope Uruguay shock the US at the weekend to prove a point.

 

[Thingimubob]

So apparently Pichot wants promotion/relegation, but someone else doesn't?

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

It's complete ******** if this goes through. If there's no pathway for excluded countries to play against the nations involved in this concept, it'll kill international rugby outside the chosen few.

Great to see so many players come out against this. If it comes to it, I hope there's an all out strike of players in the 6 Nations. Hitting the Unions in their pockets is the only way to get them to see sense. The Unions would rather be big fish in a small pond than show any ambition to grow the game and increase their pot that way.

 

[Welshdragon2000]

View attachment 7080

So apparently Pichot wants promotion/relegation, but someone else doesn't?

It's the 6N teams that don't want it. There has to be money below the top tier to make pro/rel an option for them

 

[mdaclarke]

It's the 6N teams that don't want it. There has to be money below the top tier to make pro/rel an option for them

None of the established 6 Nations/Rugby Championship teams will vote for promotion and relegation in a million years. Never ever ever.

 

[pagliaccio_euforico]

it's great for us. we will get an injection of cash plus regular competition. i'd like to see promotion and relegation but the only side i really feel for is Fiji as they are getting absolutely screwed with our involvement.

I'd hate to see the six nations go behind the paywall it should never happen. In fact world rugby should be working to get as many games on FTA as possible.

I don't really understand the two main complaints about the comp:

It hurts tier 2 nations without pro/rel. World Rugby never gave a **** about us anyway and Tier Ones run the game and I don't think they have any interest in growing the sport just getting some cash from the US/Japan every once in awhile. My opinion on WR and the T1s treatment of the game outside their borders hasn't changed.

It will increase player workload. Teams already have 10-12 Test matches a year, looks like it will be the same here.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Anyone find Nadolo tweet ironic and funny.

 

[Groundhog]

Glad to see the players have come out against this awful idea. Shutting the door in the faces of the T2 nations would be disastrous for rugby’s attempts to become a global sport. Beyond the relegation issue this tournament is also something I wouldn’t give a **** to watch. Completely waters down the international game and runs players into the ground. There’s literally nothing good about this idea.
Another thing, trying to cash grab in the US is a bad idea. Wait to see how their professional league develops and test the water with odd high profile tests or invest like the IRFU have tried to do.

 

[miccloarch]

Rugby needs promotion/relegation to the 6N and RC more than it needs a league of nations. The tier 1 nations deserve a lot of the blame here. They're just as greedy as World Rugby, because in a sense, they are World Rugby. They seem to be calling the shots, and they're gonna sign off on this stupid idea because it benefits them. Pichot seems more like a PR spokesman than someone with real power so putting the blame on him is classic Eurocentric racism.

 

[Leinster Fan]

It's complete ******** if this goes through. If there's no pathway for excluded countries to play against the nations involved in this concept, it'll kill international rugby outside the chosen few.

Great to see so many players come out against this. If it comes to it, I hope there's an all out strike of players in the 6 Nations. Hitting the Unions in their pockets is the only way to get them to see sense. The Unions would rather be big fish in a small pond than show any ambition to grow the game and increase their pot that way.

It'll kill international rugby full stop. No one actually wants this. There'll be zero widespread public interest. The Six Nations will always be 10 times as popular as this (that's not an exaggeration either). If this goes ahead, no one will be watching.

The USA have done nothing to deserve to be ahead of Fiji, Georgia etc. An Ireland team made up mostly of third/fourth choice players put over 50 points on them last year. Meanwhile Fiji beat France. And here World Rugby are proposing to permanently exclude countries who've been playing (brilliant) rugby for over a hundred years to accommodate them. It'd be like Italy in the Six Nations except much, much worse. The way rugby has been chasing after the USA market (which is already saturated) for years is actually pathetic. I've got nothing against American Rugby but this is beyond a joke. Pichot can say what he likes but he's never cared about any country other than Argentina. His priority from day one has been to improve their situation while if possible, f****** things up for everyone else. His childish and uninformed tweet on where players were born last November is a perfect example. He never really cared about Tier 2 countries, and is now the leader of a proposal that will kill the sport there forever. He can say he has to compromise but if he really cared he'd just withdraw his braindead idea full stop.

If I was a Georgian/Romanian/Fijian fan I'd be beyond raging. What's keeping those countries playing rugby now? If they all go off and play league it'd be completely fair.

The biggest problem with this for me, though, is PUTTING THE F***ING SIX NATIONS ON PAY TO WATCH TV. I MEAN WHAT THE ACTUAL F***? With the exception of Premier League soccer (and let's not kid ourselves into thinking that we're anywhere near that popular), it destroys interest in the sport in question. Just look at English cricket. That's where Northern Hemisphere rugby will be in 20 years if we go through with this. Bar a relatively small collection of committed fans, most people have no interest in rugby outside a passing interest in the World Cup and the Six Nations. These people will simply stop watching rugby en masse. Outside of the South of France and small pockets in the UK/Ireland like South Dublin, no one will care. If it goes off free to air television, I'll stop watching international rugby. Leinster can keep me happy.

Massive respect for Sexton, Farrell and Read coming out like this. Even World Rugby aren't arrogant enough (I hope) to think that they can just ignore the players. I'd fully support a strike if it came down to it.

 

[Leinster Fan]

Rugby needs promotion/relegation to the 6N and RC more than it needs a league of nations. The tier 1 nations deserve a lot of the blame here. They're just as greedy as World Rugby, because in a sense, they are World Rugby. They seem to be calling the shots, and they're gonna sign off on this stupid idea because it benefits them. Pichot seems more like a PR spokesman than someone with real power so putting the blame on him is classic Eurocentric racism.

This wouldn't even be in the pipeline if it wasn't for Pichot. The whole thing is his idea. But sure, it's racist (you should be more careful with that word) to blame the Vice-President of World Rugby for something World Rugby did.