• Help Support The Rugby Forum :

The World Cup format, going forward

yes.. cos` new zealand is nearby

- - - Updated - - -

sorry i used to be a flanker.. didnt know they pulled the bid for 23 italy?? jaja really

And correct me if I am wrong, but they have not ever bid for a RWC before, so any anger/disspointment at the fact you havent hosted one probably needs to be directed a bit closer to home first and foremost! Dont you think??

And yup Italy is a tier one country as well....
 
something cool? the british lions in a word cup. of course almost imposible but cool isnt it?
 
something has to change obviously, japan and france have the same amount of victories, 3 and 1 defeat, one is in quarter, the other isnt.
 
YOU ARE RIGHT! MAN i was just whining. . but yes UAR is slow it took up to now to build a profesional environment and we are sill miles away for instance our current budget is 2.5 million..
 
What ever happens I just hope the IRB take note of the tier 2 teams in this years RWC. With continued support for them, Romania, Georgia, Japan played extremely well and hopefully over the coming couple of world cups the forward momentum of tier 2 teams carries on. What I would like to see is world cup qualifying being completed at least 8 months before the RWC starts, giving teams more time to prepare. From a European perspective a euro champs every 4 years would supplement euro growth. A 10 team format would give 4 tier 2 teams to progress tactically and physically.
 
I think this discussion will be worth having in 3 world cup's time. Lets not jump the gun on expansion and harm the WC.
 
I dont think there should be more teams but I think there should be a second tier competition after the pools. The third and fourth placed teams should be playing mid week knockout games, they are already there, the fans are already there and after the pools a week seems like a long time to wait between games, everything seems to have lost momentum.

Look how much hype Japan created, where are they now? Give them something to play for and give all their new found fans something to watch and spend money on.

Ive been drinking but Ill try to figure out the matches using the same system as the top teams in the pools.

Japan v Fiji
Georgia v Romania

Italy v Tonga
England v Samoa

Would there really be no interest in these games?

England might rather sulk but Im sure the rest of those teams would love to fight it out over some silverware!
 
I think this discussion will be worth having in 3 world cup's time. Lets not jump the gun on expansion and harm the WC.

The discussion IS already happening though mate (outside of this forum I mean) so trying to quash it doesnt make much sesne.

- - - Updated - - -

I dont think there should be more teams but I think there should be a second tier competition after the pools. The third and fourth placed teams should be playing mid week knockout games, they are already there, the fans are already there and after the pools a week seems like a long time to wait between games, everything seems to have lost momentum.

Look how much hype Japan created, where are they now? Give them something to play for and give all their new found fans something to watch and spend money on.

Ive been drinking but Ill try to figure out the matches using the same system as the top teams in the pools.

Japan v Fiji
Georgia v Romania

Italy v Tonga
England v Samoa

Would there really be no interest in these games?

England might rather sulk but Im sure the rest of those teams would love to fight it out over some silverware!

@OneBlackEye It's an intersting idea that a few people have talked about and one which I personally dont like, but out of interest is there any other sports which do this, at world cups I mean?
 
No, ice hockey has a tiered World Championship format, with divisions and promotion-relegation.

I kinda like the idea of involving the 3rd and 4th in groups in a Shield competition which awards only 2 spots to the next World Cup. Makes the matches worth something and opens up 2 qualifying spots.
 
Top