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6 nations - who would be the hypothetical 7th?
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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Great game - and good to see the Italians doing so well!
I remember when the 5 nations became the 6 - and for years everyone expected the Italians to be the whipping boys!
They've just gome 20-18 up, and looks like they stand a reasonably good chance of winning this!
So if the tournament was to be expanded again - who would be the 7th side? Northern hemisphere only, obviously - but any suggestions who could be a good addition? |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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There are no other northern hemisphere teams in Tier 1 but Georgia and Romania are in Tier 2, so I'd go for one of them. Southern hemisphere Tier 1 teams already play in The Rugby Championship. |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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There was apparently (so my dad tells me) talk many moons ago of Romania joining before Italy. But this ran in to trouble when a lot of the team died in the troubles over there.
17th to 22nd in the current rankings are Georgia, Spain, Romania, Russia, Belgium and Portugal - Holland are 38th and i;m sure a fair few would enjoy a trip over there - for the social side if not the rugby!! |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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"23-18 to Italy, great match."
Cracking game - wonder how long it'll be before Italy actually win a grand slam?
They've come a long way over the last few years!!  |
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Gotta love the Italians. Struggled over the years but this is another big scalp of the team tipped to win the tournament. I had France to win this as I did Wales to beat Ireland. Glad I didn't back them with money...congrats to Italy and Ireland. Next up England v Ireland which could decide who wins the title. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Could be useful to look at a closer relationship with the ENC. I'm not suggesting a promotion/relegation system or anything like that, but maybe a couple of guest teams every year would work. If the lesser teams don't play more rugby against the bigger nations they won't improve, and the game won't improve. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"do the Basque or spanish play rugby ?
would of thought they would make pationate and flambouyant players "
It's played in most countries, to varying standards obviously. Spain and Portugal are 'Tier 3' teams. To give you an idea what that means, Tier 1 is your Six Nations plus New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Argentina. Tier 2 is Fiji, USA, Samoa, Georgia, Romania, Tonga, Japan and Canada. Tier 3 is more or less the rest of the world. Bringing Spain and Portugal in as permanent Six Nations members now would be akin to chucking a couple of Conference teams into the Premier League. I'm all for expanding the influence of the game, but it needs to be done properly. Watching a team get beaten 100-0 six times is going to benefit nobody. More exposure for the European Nations Cup would be a good start.
At this point, the only other European nations that could come close to competing with the big six are, as previously said by others, Georgia and Romania, who often dominate in the ENC. |
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