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Rugby World Cup 2019 Japan will be the Worst Wcup ever in history.
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<blockquote data-quote="norcalbuff" data-source="post: 614835" data-attributes="member: 45734"><p>Yep, that was obviously a much better competition format, although it was in an era with relatively few overseas pros for the nations involved. A competition lasting 2 months really couldn't happen today for any country involved other than Japan.</p><p> </p><p>But the change in format from last year to this year really underlines the lack of vision the IRB had here. It's not like they didn't know that these problems existed and drastically changing the format of a competition after one year makes it hard to grow that competition into a commercially successful one. It gets even worse when there is no announced championship and the only possible championship would possibly take place 5 months later in a location far removed from any of the nations involved. It really wouldn't have been that bad if they had a schedule like this:</p><p></p><p>Pool A: USA, Canada, Japan</p><p>Pool B: Fiji, Tonga, Samoa</p><p></p><p>June 7th: Japan vs Canada, Fiji vs Tonga</p><p>June 14th: USA vs Japan, Tonga vs Samoa</p><p>June 21st: USA vs Canada, Fiji vs Samoa</p><p>June 28th (finals series in predetermined location): 1st Pool A vs 1st Pool B, 2nd Pool A vs 2nd Pool B, 3rd Pool A vs 3rd Pool B</p><p></p><p>This does a number of things. It makes it a real tournament that proceeds in a logical fashion that fans can get behind. It doesn't last so long that teams with professional players in Europe don't get a proper off-season (player burn out is a huge concern). It still allows for important Tier 1 visits like Scotland to North America this year. And if the tournament becomes commercially successful, the tournament can be expanded to round robin and players can get (larger) match payments. </p><p></p><p>But of course the IRB would rather just make random adjustments without any forethought and "reward" the winners with a neutral site match in North Wales.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="norcalbuff, post: 614835, member: 45734"] Yep, that was obviously a much better competition format, although it was in an era with relatively few overseas pros for the nations involved. A competition lasting 2 months really couldn't happen today for any country involved other than Japan. But the change in format from last year to this year really underlines the lack of vision the IRB had here. It's not like they didn't know that these problems existed and drastically changing the format of a competition after one year makes it hard to grow that competition into a commercially successful one. It gets even worse when there is no announced championship and the only possible championship would possibly take place 5 months later in a location far removed from any of the nations involved. It really wouldn't have been that bad if they had a schedule like this: Pool A: USA, Canada, Japan Pool B: Fiji, Tonga, Samoa June 7th: Japan vs Canada, Fiji vs Tonga June 14th: USA vs Japan, Tonga vs Samoa June 21st: USA vs Canada, Fiji vs Samoa June 28th (finals series in predetermined location): 1st Pool A vs 1st Pool B, 2nd Pool A vs 2nd Pool B, 3rd Pool A vs 3rd Pool B This does a number of things. It makes it a real tournament that proceeds in a logical fashion that fans can get behind. It doesn't last so long that teams with professional players in Europe don't get a proper off-season (player burn out is a huge concern). It still allows for important Tier 1 visits like Scotland to North America this year. And if the tournament becomes commercially successful, the tournament can be expanded to round robin and players can get (larger) match payments. But of course the IRB would rather just make random adjustments without any forethought and "reward" the winners with a neutral site match in North Wales. [/QUOTE]
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Rugby World Cup 2019 Japan will be the Worst Wcup ever in history.
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