K C
It my be interesting - but will never happen. In reality the November test window allows for 16 ems to play in while he July test levl applies to three or 4 matches to be played and the 4th match be ouside the test window, whie in the only in the two test level purely cater for the 6 NH teams and the RC the heineken Cup catering for 6 NH eams to play each ther.
On average the test teams play an avergae of 11 to 12 test matches a year otside of WC year - so how do you see the top 5 teams should play in a situation where only the ankings are to eb considered in the present esablished system?
.
kingcorn
Senior player
2830 posts
If you believe the journalist you would think that Ireland is the most amazing team in the world by putting 50 points past a small island nation or that NZ was poor and ultimately Italy won the game even though it doesn't show. There were so many pointless games. Don't even get me started on the Welsh. Australia is probably the only team that is improving.
SA ran away from their challengers, but only NZ, Ireland and Argentina against the B team boks troubled the boks this year.
I don't think having these matches preplanned years in advance helps rugby. Then, France and some of the Northern hemisphere teams that don't even send their best team down south during June is another bug bear of mine. It allows the coaches to experiment and their is no incentive for them to improve the team. Unlike football, as a coach you can be 10 games in, lose 4 and get the sack.
Yet, we see old grumpy pants Gatland still guaranteed his job after 11 straight losses. Yet, the Australians are bouncing back and beat England at home in a thriller.
My suggestion is that rugby should adopt a ladder format. Where each match is to challenge the team above to climb up the ladder. We still don't know if the boks are better than Ireland after only winning one game against them over the last 5 years. New Zealand seem better than them but then the boks beat the Kiwis 5 times in a row now.
I think if games were organised that the top 4 play each other with two games each. Then see who is the top team. The top ranked team gets home ground advantage. Then teams from 5 to 8 challenge each other and so on. A team needs to climb up the ladder in order to get to the top.
The top 4 teams are SA, FRA, NZ and Ireland. Would it not have been better to see these teams in action this season?
Then you have Scotland, England , Argentina and Italy hanging around. We could have a first block of seeding and then a 2nd block of matches of title contenders and regulators. SA didn't play France at all this season.. Would SA have beaten in NZ in New Zealand etc. But it makes for a far more entertaining game then the boks playing against 2nd tier games and only playing their rivals 2 and no games against France. What if the game against the Irish were a 3 match series. What if SA played NZ and Ireland at home, France away and Argentina away. The lowest rank team drop to the 2nd tier and the highest rank team in tier two fonup a block. These are 12 test matches of high quality. 6 at home and 6 away. It bringa back the tour element again and it would make each match so much more compelling.
I do think for this to happen, rugby will have to abandon the 6 nations as well as the championship which it finds hard to do, but I think we would see far more meaningful matches.
You could still have the 6 nations and championship in World Cup years. No need for lions tours.
A week team like Wales wouldn't get a sniff of playing the top teams but it would also be good for them to sort our their rugby and build it back up to where it needs to be