Keep our World Cup a score
Around the corridors of the International Rugby Board, there is a growing campaign that the lesser rugby nations should be excluded from the next World Cup.
I mean, the sheer cheek of the likes of Namibia, Georgia and the USA, not lying down in front of the leading sides and letting the bigger nations stomp all over them.
And as for Argentina upsetting the party by beating the hosts, and chief dark horses, France – well that was just plain rude. Had the Pumas not read the script?
Well, actually they had. As the win took the Pumas to an unprecedented ranking of fourth in the world, now one above the French, the win is not so much of a surprise.
And the development of the Argentinians – and that of Italy (Thursday’s aberration against Romania aside) – should be used by the IRB as reason to support the likes of Namibia, Georgia and the USA for future tournaments and keep it as 20 teams.
Admittedly, Portugal face a fearful beating from New Zealand, but who doesn’t face that at the moment, until the inevitable choke by the All Blacks in one of the knock out stages.
However, since the inaugural World Cup in 1987 and the advent of the professional game in the mid 90s, there has been a continual development in the sport, with the IRB’s funding of the developing nations since 1999 now, finally, paying obvious dividends.
New Zealand, Australia, England, South Africa et al will remain ahead of the field; however the gap is starting to close. Just look at the Italians. Who would have thought they would register two wins in a Six Nations campaign when they were conceding 50+ points in home matches against the home nations not five years ago?
Argentina’s journeymen have gatecrashed into the world’s elite – even recording a historic first victory at Twickenham and that with only five days’ preparation.
Samoa, Tonga, Canada, Fiji, the USA.. and now even Namibia and Georgia are starting to come through.
The IRB are set to hold further discussions about cutting the number of teams to 16 for 2011 – with the top three in this year’s pools qualifying automatically and four coming through a ‘world trophy’ competition.
However, the guardian angel of the London Underground that is former Canada captain Al Charron is among those who have joined the chorus in urging the IRB not to undo all their hard work in the developing countries.
He said: “The IRB has done great things to globalise rugby since 1999 and there is still a chance countries like Samoa, Fiji and hopefully Canada can make an impression here.
“But if we really want that to go on then the World Cup format should remain in the format that it is.”
To take Namibia’s case, four years ago they suffered 64-7 at the hands of the Irish. However in Bordeaux, inspired by winger Ryan Witbooi, Namibia pegged Ireland’s early lead back to 27-17 before a late score saw Ireland get a more respectable 32-17.
Then we have Georgia. Thumped by England and South Africa at the last tournament, Georgia also slumped against Samoa and Uruguay.
However, Argentina found out exactly how far Georgia had developed in Lyon – with the Europeans actually dominating in the forwards for quite a while, but lacking the cutting edge in the backs.
In four years, and with continued coaching and smoe more meaningful matches, who knows what Georgia and Namibia will be capable of.
The USA are making strides too – with former Gloucester chief Nigel Melville helping to develop the game across The Pond.
But the only way these sides can continue to develop is with funding and testing themselves against the very best – something a ‘world trophy’ won’t offer.
Let’s hope the IRB sees sense and allows the underdogs to continue to occasionally mix it with the elite. Once every four years is already becoming insufficient, taking that away in 2011 would be catastrophic.
By Tony Curtis
